2018 NFL Draft: 24 prospects to watch in the College Football Playoff semifinals
An assortment of future NFL stars will take the field in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff
The College Football Playoff semifinals are oozing with top-level NFL Draft prospects, and there are a plethora of eventual late-rounders who'll ultimately find themselves as role players at the next level.
Let's examine the most notable 2018 draft prospects playing in the seminals later today.
Before we begin, you can see the CBSSports.com college football staff's predictions for the semifinal games here. Now let's get into it.
Rose Bowl
Georgia
LB Roquan Smith
The consensus top off-ball linebacker in the 2018 class, Smith plays with a rare combination of speed and power. Beyond that, he's typically in the right position against the run and in coverage. Smith can change an NFL defense in a positive way.
RB Nick Chubb
Chubb probably would've gone in the second or third round of the 2017 draft, and he solidified his stock with another strong campaign with the Bulldogs. He averaged 6.2 yards per carry with 13 rushing scores. Chubb isn't a home-run hitter but his experience shows in his vision and cutting off blocks to efficiently move downfield.
OLB Lorenzo Carter
A tall, athletic edge-rusher, Carter emerged as a freshman for Georgia, had a two-year long lull in his development, and impressed again in his senior season with eight tackles for loss and four sacks. Carter's not super consistent but his flashes are first-round caliber. Our very own Dennis Dodd pegged Carter as Baker Mayfield's "key tormentor" in the Rose Bowl.
RB Sony Michel
The lightning to Chubb's thunder, Michel is a make-you-miss scat back with plenty of ability between the tackles despite not being a bulky running back. He has 30 touchdowns in his career and saved his best for 2017 at Georgia. On 131 rushes this season, he's averaged 7.2 yards per carry.
OL Isaiah Wynn
A shorter offensive tackle, Wynn is a routine personification of the "low man wins" football adages. He's the foundational piece to setting up Georgia's excellent run game on the left side.
Oklahoma
QB Baker Mayfield
Mayfield has been the most discussed quarterback during a spectacular final season with the Sooners en route to winning the Heisman Trophy. He thrashed the entire Big 12 and will face his most difficult challenge against Georgia's top-five defense loaded with speed at every level. Oklahoma's skill-position players are outstanding but Mayfield will have the opportunity to prove himself while throwing to receivers who likely won't be wide open often.
OLB Ogbonnia Okoronkwo
No edge-rusher in college football is as bendy around the corner the Okoronkwo, a senior who's had an underrated but super-productive career at Oklahoma. Actually, his shorter frame helps him win the leverage battle against taller offensive tackles, and he has the flexibility to dip on his way to the quarterback. He had 17 sacks this season.
LT Orlando Brown
Brown is a devastating run-blocker at 6-foot-8 and 340-plus pounds, and he's come a long way in pass-protection, as he's become rather quick footed relative to his size. Even if he's beaten to the pass-rushing apex, his long arms typically push defenders well beyond Mayfield. He seems like a first-round lock.
TE Mark Andrews
Andrew is the security blanket at all levels of the field for the Sooners' offense. At 6-foot-4 and around 250 pounds, Andrews has good size for the tight end spot, but it's his route-running and yards-after-the-catch ability that separate him from other prospects. He should be picked in one of the first two rounds.
FB Dimitri Flowers
A fullback by position title, Flowers is a smooth mover who can lay the wood on a lead-block. At 6-foot-2 and 237 pounds, with plus athleticism, he very well could be productive in a true H-back role in the NFL. Flowers caught 23 passes for 411 yards with four touchdowns this season.
Sugar Bowl
Clemson
DE Clelin Ferrell
Ferrell is the model pass-rusher based on his physique and athletic talents, albeit the latter is seemingly not fully tapped. That's not a major criticism though -- Ferrell is only 20 years old. His flashes are Top 20-caliber, as he combines speed-to-power explosion with refined hand use and bend around the corner. He's part of what Dennis Dodd believes is best defensive front the Alabama offensive line has faced all season.
DT Christian Wilkins
Wilkins has it all talent-wise. Gifted a large, wide frame built to play in the NFL, Wilkins moves fluidly from all positions along the defensive line. He's kind of a hybrid end/tackle, and he didn't really seem comfortable this season, but he did do a fantastic job eating a variety of blocks. Based on skill a lone, Wilkins is a top-10 pick. But his film says late first-rounder.
WR Deon Cain
Cain's production dipped without the high-flying passing attack led by Deshaun Watson, but there's no doubting his ability as an NFL speedster on the outside. In the open field, he's an effortless glider who picks up yardage quickly. He appears to be a wideout who'll come at a great value beyond Round 1.
LB Kendall Joseph
Joseph is a twitchy but mostly downhill linebacker who has the athletic talents to eventually become reliable in coverage. He played a little more out of control this season progressed than he did in 2016, which likely hurt his stock. And while Joseph doesn't have a totally refined game, his upside makes him an intriguing linebacker prospect.
WR Hunter Renfrow
Mr. Reliable for Clemson has slowly but surely become a legitimate prospect out of the slot. According to Pro Football Focus, Renfrow didn't drop a pass on 49 catchable targets this season. His awareness to find the soft spots in zone and subtly beat man coverage in space will allow him to play an important niche role at the next level.
Alabama
WR Calvin Ridley
Ridley might be the craftiest route-runner in the class, as he's seemingly always generating separation after the top of his stem. His numbers don't indicate his receiving quality. There's a good chance Ridley is one of the first wideouts taken in April.
G Ross Pierschbacher
With the way Alabama loves to run the ball, especially to seal games late, you know they must be stout up front. Pierschbacher is a classic, blue-collar Crimson Tide interior linemen, yet his movement skills and "accuracy" at the second-level set him apart from the rest. He's one of the premier guard prospects in the class who'll rise up boards over the next few months.
RB Damien Harris
A bouncy, low-center-of-gravity power runner, Harris looks the part of an NFL feature back. He's been ultra-efficient for Alabama in his career in Tuscaloosa, as he's average slightly more than 7.5 yards per carry in his last two seasons. Don't let his 5-foot-11, 221-pound frame fool you -- he's more than capable of making linebackers and even defensive backs miss in the pros.
DB Minkah Fitzpatrick
Likely the first member of this Alabama team to be picked in the 2018 draft, Fitzpatrick is a secondary coach's dream. He's an efficient blitzer who's played all the cornerback spots and held his own at the safety position in 2016. Beyond that, Fitzpatrick is long and athletic and tackles with tenacity.
CB Levi Wallace
Wallace didn't enter the season as a highly-touted draft prospect. However, a superb 2017 put him in the conversation to be a mid-round selection. Per PFF, he allowed a quarterback rating of 37.5 on passes thrown in his direction.
LB Rashaan Evans
An old-school linebacker who's a vintage Alabama inside linebacker, Evans has a compact frame which creates plenty of pop on contact. He reads his keys quickly and is a force against the run. Because of his relatively impressive athletic talents, he has upside in coverage.
S Ronnie Harrison
Harrison is another Crimson Tide prototype. He's a hard-hitting safety who is perfectly fine jumping into the box to thump in run support. He's not a true game-changer from center field yet is a sound coverage safety and has the size at 6-foot-3 and 214 pounds to match up with tight ends.
RB Bo Scarbrough
Once thought to be the next Derrick Henry, Scarbrough is a ridiculous athletic specimen, and he shouldn't be able to run as fast as he does at 6-foo-2 and 235 pounds. He essentially was "passed" by Harris this season in Alabama's backfield pecking order but undoubtedly has NFL-caliber talent.
DT Da'Shawn Hand
Hand has mastered the two-gap responsibility Nick Saban puts on his defensive linemen. He locks out offensive linemen then sheds them with ease against the run. He did flash some pass-rushing ability this season, which should boost his stock a bit. The team that drafts Hand will be doing so to bolster its run defense.
















