NFL Draft: Stock Up, Stock Down – Week 15

Our final stock up, stock down article for the season. The regular season has ended and the conference championships have taken place. All that’s left in this 2024 college football season are the playoffs. But before we get there lets go over some final players who raised their stock over the last few weeks of the season.

Stock Up

Mishael Powell-Miami: Powell transferred to Miami in the off-season and got very little talk. He ended up being a big pick up for a Miami defense that struggled throughout the season and was one of its lone bright spots. Powell played in more of a nickel/overhang defender role for Washington in 2023, but he got play more free safety in 2024 in Miami. He responded big with five interceptions with one returned for a TD. He was able to show his range. His play against the run has always been meh, but teams will want a player who can create turnovers like he can.

Jay Higgins-Iowa: Higgins had a big year in 2023 that went kind of un-noticed. He had over 170 tackles, two sacks and an interception. Some said they were empty stats because the Iowa defense was on the field so much because their offense was bad. Well, while they weren’t one of the top offenses of 2024 Iowa’s offense was much better. Higgins did have less tackles with 118, but his big play count went up. He forced two fumbles and also had four interceptions. With the linebacker class this year being just ok, Higgins definitely add some talent and depth to the group. He is the modern do it all linebacker.

Derrick Harmon-Oregon: Harmon came to Oregon after spending the last three seasons at Michigan State. Harmon is a big man at 6’5 320 pounds with surprising quickness and agility for his size. He showed some flashes in his time at MSU, but never put it all together. Harmon finally was able to breakout this season. Some may be due to actually having talent around him and some is probably due to coaching. He had five sacks and two forced fumbles this year in addition to playing good run defense. He has moved his stock up big time. He could sneak into the end of round one.

Mario Williams-Tulane: Mario started off at Oklahoma and showed some big flashes, but once Caleb Williams transferred to USC he decided to transfer over to USC with him. His first season there was ok with 631 yards and five touchdowns, but his second year he got buried in a deep depth chart and had just 305 yards and with Williams off to the NFL the writing was on the wall and Mario decided to leave and transfer to Tulane where he finally blossomed into the receiver he could be with his speed and route running.

He quickly became Darian Mensah’s #1 receiver and put up 54 catches for 940 yards and five TDs. Williams could be an impact slot receiver and returner at the next level. His stock has definitely gone up. He could see his name called early day three.

Stock Down

Ricky White III-UNLV: White came into the season as being possibly the top senior wideout in a not very good class. While he didn’t have a bad season, he didn’t reach or exceed the numbers he put up last season. UNLV was a significantly better team this year versus last. His catches, yards and yards per catch all went down the season. Playing in the Mountain West he had just five 100 yard games with four of them coming in the first half of the season.

He was never going to be an elite tester, but he was always really skilled and had a knack for getting open deep. He might just be a 2/3 receiver at the next level. This is even with Hajj-Malik Williams taking over at QB and being more of a passer than Sluka was.

Isaiah Bond-Texas: Bond came into Texas from Alabama with some fanfare. It was thought that the Texas offense with Ewers and everything else would be able to unlock his talent and upside. While he did start kinda fast with at least 75 yards over three games in a row from week three to five, after that he became an after thought in the Texas offense. Bond did not eclipse 54 yards receiving the rest of the season and he just did that once. Coming into the season he was seen as a potential early day two pick, but with the season he has had, he’s likely a day three pick at this point if he comes out.

DeMonte Capehart-Clemson: Capehart was seen in summer scouting as a player that could be a late riser through no fault of his own. He was stuck behind three NFL defensive linemen at Clemson, so he didn’t see a lot of snaps. He was a big strong DL that was an impressive athlete that just needed reps. Capehart showed some flashes in 2023 collecting two sacks in a back up role. Some in the draft community even thought he could jump into the first round conversation. That never happened this season. Capehart is still a large and strong individual and can hold the point of attack. Outside of that he hasn’t shown much else thought.

While he started six games this season he played just a total of 213 snaps which is usually what a 3rd or 4th defensive lineman plays. Its possible he still needs time, but he turns 23 in July. He now is seen as more of a project that some team will take a shot on, but likely won’t be until day 3.

Jabbar Muhammad-Oregon: Muhammad started out at Oklahoma State where he had a pretty good year as a first time starter in 2022. He parlayed that into a transfer “up” at Washington where he started the whole year and they went to the national championship. He finished the season with three interceptions and 12 pass break ups. Now granted he’s on the smaller side at a verified 5’9 181 so he will likely have to play the nickel in the NFL.

His draft stock was unlikely to get higher, but he decided to transfer “up” again to Oregon where he ended up starting again and having a decent season, but his flaws were more exposed and he seemed to give up bigger catches. He also didn’t have a single interception, but did have nine pass break ups. He also missed out on starting his transition to the slot and will probably lose some draft positioning in a strong class.

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