Texas A&M Aggies star right tackle Cedric Ogbuehi.
The Texas A&M Aggies have been producing elite tackle as a record rate, as they put last year’s No. 2 pick in to the draft, Luke Joeckel, and they have two more elite tackles set to enter the draft this year. While Jake Matthews is a lock for the draft and is the top-rated tackle overall (he’s my No. 2 overall prospect behind Jadeveon Clowney with Teddy Bridgewater checking in at No. 3), fellow star tackle Cedric Ogbuehi isn’t a “lock” for the 2014 NFL Draft only because he hasn’t declared yet. Ogbuehi is rated by most scouts as the No. 2 or 3 tackle prospect in the class, and I have him third behind Matthews and Michigan’s Taylor Lewan.
Anyway, Ogbuehi is an incredible prospect, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him selected in the top ten, especially since there was a huge run on tackles last year; its definitely a premier position. Ogbuehi sure as heck is a premier draft prospect, and this latest news is a testament to that.
Per ESPN’s Alex Scarborough, the NFL Draft advisory committee gave Ogbuehi a first-round grade, and it’s rare for the board to give that high of a rating to a prospect; they usually like to play it “safe” due to worries about giving false hopes. But Ogbuehi is so athletic and talented that there’s no doubt he ‘s a first-round prospect, and even the board isn’t going to shy away from this. It’s further evidence that he’s a special talent (though we don’t exactly need evidence to prove that), and this rating is a sign that he could forego his senior year.
For the longest time, Ogbuehi stated that he would stay in school and do what Jake Matthews did; stay his senior year to move from right tackle to left tackle. Matthews did that after Joeckel left last year (Matthews would have easily been a top ten selection), but Ogbuehi has recently seemed to indicate more interest in declaring; this is something to watch for closely.