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Evan Neal, Derek Stingley Jr. lead list of 15 SEC stars on way-too-early 2022 mock draft
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The SEC could produce nearly half of next year’s first round picks, according to Yahoo!’s way-too-early 2022 mock draft.
That’s per Derrik Klassen, who released his way-too-early mock on Sunday. It includes 15 SEC players, including two who are in the top five — Alabama’s Evan Neal and LSU’s Derek Stingley Jr.
Alabama is sending four more first round picks to the NFL next season, per this projection: Neal, linebacker Christian Harris, DB Josh Jobe and WR John Metchie III.
Georgia and Texas A&M are projected to send three players each. Florida has two players on this list, and Arkansas, Tennessee and LSU each have one.
Here’s the full list of SEC players in this mock:
- Alabama OL Evan Neal, No. 3 overall
- LSU DB Derek Stingley Jr., No. 4 overall
- Alabama LB Christian Harris, No. 7 overall
- Florida DB Kaiir Elam, No. 12 overall
- Tennessee OL Cade Mays, No. 13 overall
- Georgia WR George Pickens, No. 15 overall
- Arkansas WR Treylon Burks, No. 16 overall
- Alabama DB Josh Jobe, No. 18 overall
- Georgia QB JT Daniels, No. 20 overall
- Texas A&M DL DeMarvin Leal, No. 24 overall
- Texas A&M OL Kenyon Green, No. 25 overall
- Florida LB Ventrell Miller, No. 26 overall
- Georgia EDGE Nolan Smith, No. 28 overall
- Alabama WR John Metchie III, No. 30 overall
- Texas A&M TE Jalen Wydermyer, No. 31 overall
Georgia receiver George Pickens might be the biggest question mark here. With his ACL surgery earlier this offseason, his status is somewhat in doubt for at least part of the 2021 season. However, he had a very impressive 2020 campaign that included 513 yards and six touchdowns in eight games.
The two top picks in this draft are projected to be Oklahoma QB Spencer Rattler and North Carolina QB Sam Howell. However, Georgia QB JT Daniels could get himself into that mix as well.
Things can still change, but things look very promising for the SEC producing a record-breaking amount of NFL talent again in 2022. The SEC produced 15 first round picks in 2020 and 12 first round picks in 2021
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
