NFL Draft 2012: Jacksonville Jaguars Think Highly Of Stephon Gilmore

There is a common belief that the Jacksonville Jaguars will either take Oklahoma State wide receiver Justin Blackmon or look for defensive line help with their first pick in the NFL Draft. Of course, they would ultimately like to trade back, but those are the two most talked about options.

However, there may be another candidate for the Jaguars pick if they are unable to find a trading partner — South Carolina cornerback Stephon Gilmore.

In SI.com Peter King’s latest mock draft, he has the Jaguars taking Gilmore with the seventh overall pick and  states that Jacksonville “likes” Gilmore “a ton.” It’s also believed that Gene Smith would consider Stanford guard David DeCastro over Blackmon. The fact is, Blackmon isn’t viewed as the elite prospect that many media outlets hype him up to be.

Gilmore is a very intriguing cornerback prospect that has seen his stock take a meteoric rise over the past few weeks. He’s got a rare size/speed ratio that interests teams and he has the ball skills that you look for in a corner. If the Jags don’t select Gilmore, he could very well still go in the top ten to a team like the Carolina Panthers.

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