Nine Tennessee Football players ranked on Mel Kiper Jr.’s final NFL Draft Big Board
ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. has four Tennessee Football players ranked in his top 150 on his final NFL Draft Big Board and nine former Vols ranked in total.
James Pearce was ranked highest, at No. 34 overall, ahead of running back Dylan Sampson at No. 100, wide receiver Dont’e Thornton at No. 137 and defensive tackle Omarr Norman-Lott at No. 142.
Pearce is Kiper’s No. 5 outside linebacker in the draft and Sampson, who Kiper wrote is one of his favorite running backs on the board, is ranked as his No. 6 back. Norman-Lott is the No. 18 defensive tackle and Thornton is ranked No. 21 at wide receiver.
Five other Tennessee players were ranked in Kiper’s position groups. Bru McCoy is his No. 32 wide receiver, Cooper Mays is the No. 13 center, Elijah Simmons is his No. 27 defensive tackle, ahead of Omari Thomas at the No. 42 defensive tackle, and Will Brooks is Kiper’s No. 39 safety.
NFL Draft: First Round, Thursday, 8 p.m. ET
The NFL Draft begins Thursday with the first round at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN and NFL Network. Rounds 2 and 3 will be held Friday night, beginning at 6 p.m. ET, and Rounds 4-7 will take place Saturday afternoon, starting at Noon ET.
Kiper’s most recent two-round NFL mock draft had Pearce getting picked at No. 32 overall, selected by the Philadelphia Eagles with the final pick of the first round.
“The defending Super Bowl champs lost some key parts of their defense in free agency, including edge rusher Josh Sweat,” Kiper wrote earlier this month. “Being able to get after the quarterback is important for Vic Fangio’s defense, and there’s a glaring void now on the edge.
“There are mixed opinions around the league on whether Pearce is a first-rounder, but he has the traits to develop into a speedy disruptor in the right system. He had 17.5 sacks over the past two seasons and ranked second in the nation in pressure rate last season (19.0%).
Pearce last season had 7.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss in 13 games, despite having just 0.5 tackles for loss and no sacks through Tennessee’s first three games of the season. In three seasons at with the Vols he had 71 tackles, 30 tackles for loss, 19.5 sacks and one interception returned for a touchdown.
Tennessee’s last first-round pick in the NFL Draft was Darnell Wright in 2022, when the offensive tackle was selected at No. 10 overall by the Chicago Bears.
Mel Kiper Jr.: ‘I just love watching Sampson take off when he gets into space’
At running back Kiper has Ashton Jeanty (Boise State), Omarion Hampton (North Carolina), TreVeyon Henderson (Ohio State), Quinshon Judkins (Ohio State) and Kaleb Johnson (Iowa) ranked ahead of Sampson.
Sampson broke Tennessee single-season rushing records for yards, with 1,491, and touchdowns, with 22, during his junior season. In 35 games over three years at Tennessee, he ran for 2,492 yards and 35 touchdowns while averaging 5.9 yards per carry.
Kiper earlier this week singled out Sampson as one of his favorite prospects in the draft class.
“I just love watching Sampson take off when he gets into space,” Kiper wrote, “he’s a home run waiting to happen every time he touches the ball … I see burst and conviction on the tape — he sees the hole, commits and explodes through the gap.”
“Sampson will be a really good third- or fourth-round pick for a team that needs a boost in the run game.”
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