The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and California Golden Bears kicked off the 2016 FBS college football season, and there were a number of 2017 NFL draft prospects that emerged in Sydney.
College football is back baby! On September 3rd, there will be a draftnik’s buffet of NFL draft prospects to watch.
But before we gorge ourselves, let’s enjoy an appetizer in the form of Hawaii vs. California. Cal defeated Hawaii. 51-31, in Sydney, Australia.
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And there are a few prospect performances from that game, who you should familiarize yourself with. Starting with the top prospect in Cal running back Khalfani Muhammad.
Khalfani had one heck of a performance showing home run hitting speed, the ability to earn tough yards inside and a lot more power after contact. It is Hawaii, but Khalfani looked like a 90 percent version of Warrick Dunn coming out of Florida State.
If he keeps up this level of play throughout the college season, then he will quickly become a Day 2 selection in the 2017 NFL draft. That was followed up by wide receiver Chad Hansen, who made up around 38 percent of Cal’s passing yardage.
Hansen didn’t show advanced level route running, or incredible athletic ability. However, he did show great determination after the catch and plus smarts against zone coverage.
Hansen will need to show more, but he’s intriguing going forward. In addition to former Texas Tech and now current starting quarterback Davis Webb.
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Webb did not show consistent accuracy throughout this game, but he did show a stronger arm compared to this year’s number one overall pick Jared Goff. Webb will need to show more consistent accuracy before I give a draftable grade, but he did show some intriguing throws in the intermediate areas.
On the Hawaiian side of this match up were strong performances from running backs Diocemy Saint Juste and Paul Harris. Saint Juste showed decent speed and vision.
While Harris displayed the same patience and subtle moves that made him Hawaii’s leading rusher in 2015. Both backs are worth another visit this season and could develop into Day 3 selections.
The only negatives from the Cal vs. Hawaii game were on both defenses and Cal’s offensive line play. I couldn’t find one defensive prospect on Cal or Hawaii worth mentioning.
But I will revisit each team later in the year to see if they just had a bad game, or opening game jitters.
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Did you check out the Cal vs. Hawaii game? And who do you believe has a shot of becoming a 2017 NFL draft prospect from the game?