Each Saturday during the college football season, we’ll highlight five prospects with locally televised matchups who could be a fit for the Detroit Lions in the 2023 NFL Draft, based on projected needs.
The list aims to highlight early-, mid- and late-round prospects. This will give you a chance to watch the players performing live, instead of playing catch-up in the weeks before the draft.
Hendon Hooker, QB, Tennessee (No. 5)
No. 8 Tennessee at No. 25 LSU, 12 p.m., ESPN
Ok, at this point, maybe it’s time to give Jared Goff the benefit of the doubt. Sure, he was responsible for a pick-six in Sunday’s loss against Seattle, but he was otherwise solid, despite a significantly depleted arsenal, lacking Amon-Ra St. Brown, D’Andre Swift and DJ Chark.
On the season, Goff is posting a stat line in line with his Pro Bowl campaigns with Los Angeles and making a strong case to be Detroit’s long-term starting solution.
Regardless, the team would still need to address its backup situation, and drafting and developing a viable option at that spot, particularly one stylistically different and capable of producing in a pinch, would be a tremendous asset.
Hooker fits that bill. The Tennessee dual-threat has the Volunteers in the top 10. It’s the highest the school has been ranked since 2006, and it’s in large part due to a quarterback who is completing 71.7% of his throws with eight touchdowns and zero interceptions, while averaging nearly 44 yards rushing and scoring three times on the ground.
Strong-armed and athletic, Hooker would give the Lions a mobile option on the bench, which would add strain to opposing defenses if he was ever pressed into action. There’s some development needed with his ability to work through multiple reads, but offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is a capable teacher who could maximize the short-term skill set while developing the long-term one.
Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson, CB, TCU (No. 1)
Noah Daniels, CB, TCU (No. 21)
No. 17 TCU at No. 19 Kansas, 12 p.m., FS1
We’re cheating a little bit here, but TCU has two talented corners with significantly different skill sets — as well as concerns — each carrying middle-round appeal.
Hodges-Tomlinson has earned all-conference honors each of the last two seasons, including a first-team selection from both the media and coaches in 2021. The obvious knock is going to be the size. He’s listed at 5-foot-9, 180 pounds and both numbers might be generous. Teams may want to pigeonhole him as a slot corner with that frame, but that would be a mistake.
The film is pretty exciting. Hodges-Tomlinson’s ability to read and react is special and he can change directions on a dime and close ground in a hurry, making him particularly effective in both off-man and zone coverages. He’s a feisty competitor and not afraid to throw his entire body behind making a tackle, even if he’ll always have issues defending taller receivers, especially those back-shoulder fades that are so popular in the red zone.
As for Daniels, he has the preferred build, at 6-foot, 200 pounds, but a significant red flag with his durability. Injuries cost him much of the past two seasons, limiting him to just eight games since 2018. When healthy, he’s athletic and instinctual, holding opposing quarterbacks to completing a mere 51.2% of throws in his direction.
Both corners will be tested against a surging Kansas team averaging 420.0 yards and 41.6 points per game during its undefeated start to the season.
Mohamoud Diabate, LB, Utah (No. 3)
No. 11 Utah at No. 18 UCLA, 3:30 p.m., Fox
A two-year starter at Florida, Diabate transferred to Utah this offseason, acknowledging he wanted to compete for a championship. That probably made the season-opening loss to his former team sting that much more.
But even if he falls short of the team goals he had this season, Diabate still has an opportunity to bolster his draft resume in 2022. Long and lean, he’s listed at 6-foot-3, 227 pounds. He effectively uses that length to keep blockers off his frame and it is a valuable tool when in man coverage.
Primarily an off-ball defender, he can situationally rush the passer, generating 19 quarterback pressures for the Gators last season. And after recently returning to the Utes lineup after a two-game injury absence, he tallied 4.0 tackles for loss in a victory over Oregon State.
There is room to improve, particularly in his feel in zone coverage and his processing speed when playing downhill. But if he can pack on a few pounds, his length and athleticism could make him a valuable weapon on third down with three-down potential as he develops his overall skill set.
Andre Carter II, Edge, Army (No. 34)
Army at No. 15 Wake Forest, 7:30 p.m., ESPN3
One of the nation’s best pass rushers a year ago, Carter set the school’s single-season record with 15.5 sacks. Overall, he generated 59 total pressures for the Black Knights, despite only 293 opportunities.
Carter is big, standing 6-foot-7 and weighing 260 pounds, but just looking at him, you can tell there’s room to add more weight to the frame. Often rushing out of a two-point stance from wider alignments, he’s a long strider who gets up on the offensive tackle quickly, while showing the ability to both bend the edge or get narrow and cross the face of a blocker.
His leverage and play strength will likely be more of an issue at the next level, where he’ll face much better offensive linemen. He needs to learn to play lower to the ground, potentially rushing with his hand in the dirt to keep him low through his initial rush steps.
Those concerns could also present some problems setting a hard edge against the run, although his length and explosiveness work in his favor when defending mobile quarterbacks, particularly zone-read assignments.
For those concerned about Carter’s service requirement coming out of a service academy, a 2019 policy allows him to defer it to pursue an NFL career.
Antonio Johnson, DB, Texas A&M (No. 27)
Texas A&M at No. 1 Alabama, 8 p.m., CBS
We may feel differently about Detroit’s need for a safety — particularly in the first round of the draft — once we have a better sense of how Kerby Joseph and Ifeatu Melifonwu are developing, but Johnson is a special talent who can fit in the lineup a number of different ways.
In 2021, Johnson’s breakout year, he spent much of the season operating out of the slot. Imagine a 6-foot-3, 210-pound nickel corner. But in a league where many defenses are in nickel 70% of the time and there’s a demand for big, athletic players to cover increasingly talented tight ends, Johnson’s size and skill set are valuable.
But he’s far from a slot-only defender. He’s increasingly getting more opportunities to play as a split safety at Texas A&M, matching Detroit’s schematic preference at safety. And in either spot, whether it’s patrolling the middle of the field or coming downhill in run support, Johnson is a hard-hitting, sure tackler who sets a tone for a defense.
And maybe more than anything else he brings to the table, that’s Johnson’s greatest appeal. He brings unmistakable intensity and energy, which, if we’re being honest, the Lions currently lack on that side of the ball.
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @Justin_Rogers