At one point in his collegiate career, Jarrett Stidham looked like he could be the next great quarterback to come out of the Southeastern Conference and go on to NFL glory. Then Auburn’s quarterback suffered a shoulder injury at the end of the 2017 season and finished his career as a Tiger with a very inconsistent season in 2018.

While those events may have hurt his draft stock, there are still many at the NFL level that believe in Stidham’s ability to succeed at the game’s highest level.

ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper can be counted among those that are still buying Stidham’s NFL stock. During a recent conference call, Kiper projected Auburn’s former quarterback to be selected somewhere between the second and third rounds of the upcoming draft. (Quotes come via Tom Green of AL.com):

“I think Stidham, when he was at Baylor and then Auburn, it showed that he could — at one point, I thought he could be a first- or second-round pick, so he’s got talent,” Kiper said. “I don’t think he gets out of the third round. It wouldn’t shock me if he went mid-to-late second, so he’s going to be up there.”

The big question for many will have when it comes to Stidham is how much of his lack of success last season was due to him and how much of that was Auburn’s offense? The team’s offensive line struggled for much of the season, offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey left for Kansas before taking the head coaching job at Troy and the running game never really got going against quality opponents.

Despite those issues, Stidham still managed to complete over 60 percent of his throws last season with 2,794 passing yards, 18 touchdowns and five interceptions. Following the conclusion of his college career, Stidham was also invited to compete in the Senior Bowl.