This Week In Mock Drafts
Some of the talk about the Giants’ 2012 NFL Draft plans revolved around GM Jerry Reese possibly adding to his stable of pass rushing defensive ends and many mock draftniks believed the Giants would be inclined to draft a DE or two or three during the draft; even one in the first round.
By the time all seven rounds of the 2012 NFL Draft in April came to pass the Giants wound up walking away with a grand total of 0 DEs. Although they did draft a defensive cog for the middle of the D-Line in N.C. State DT Markus Khun.
Now that the 2012 NFL Draft is in the books and Reese didn’t take a DE some 2013 MFL mock drafts have already started talking about how Reese will look to make up for not drafting a DE in this past draft and take one in the upcoming NFL Draft. And that’s something this week’s edition of ‘This Week In Mock Drafts’ addresses.
According to Walter over at walterfootball.com who has already come out with a couple of 2013 NFL mock drafts where in each one of them he has the Giants selecting a DE. Walter’s mock draft order is based on his 2012 NFL Power Rankings, where he has the Giants at the top of ranks, thanks in part to their Super Bowl win, and that means Walter has the Giants picking once again at the bottom of the first round
In his earlier 2013 mock he had the Giants taking DE Jackson Jeffcoat out of Texas with the 32 overall pick and his updated mock draft from May 15 has the GMEN going in the same direction but with a different player. So, with Jeffcoat being the previous pick for the Giants who does Walt have them drafting in his most recent mock?
Well, that would Michigan State DE William Gholston. The name Gholston should be familiar to NFL fans, as William is cousin to former top ten NFL Draft pick and bust Vernon Gholston. Let’s hope that the only similarities the two share are their freakish athletic abilities and that Vernon’s negative attitude towards playing hard and his lack of toughness doesn’t transfer to William once he becomes a pro in the NFL.
In his quick write-up for Gholston being mocked to the Giants Walt had the following to say:
"“I imagine that Jerry Reese is crying in his sleep right now because he didn’t get to add a pass-rusher in the 2012 NFL Draft. I’m sure he’ll make amends next April.”"
By taking a look at some of the profiles on Gholston it’s easy to be drawn into him with his physical attributes. What NFL fan wouldn’t want their team to draft a 6’7, 280-pound D-Lineman that can physically impose their will against offensive linemen? You wouldn’t hear any complaints from me; until Gholston didn’t produce, that is.
But produce he has so far in his short Spartan career where he has recorded 83 tackles, 17 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks. A couple of stat lines during his 2011 sophomore season immediately stand out while looking at his numbers, as he had back to back games in October against Nebraska and Minnesota where he recorded 15 and 14 tackles, respectively!
The former five-star high school recruit has used his physical tools quite effectively at the collegiate level where he has been named to the All-Big Ten second team by both coaches and the media, the Yahoo! Sports All-Big Ten, the CollegeFootballNews.com’s All-Sophomore second team and he has also won the Danzinger Award for defense, which is awarded to the Spartan’s most outstanding player from the Detroit area.
While it’s no guarantee that Gholston will come out after his junior season if he does some have projected him to be a top-15 pick but he’ll have to compete with what could be a potentially deep DE draft class with the likes of Florid State’s Brandon Jenkins and LSU’s pass rushing duo of Sam Montgomery and Barkevious Mingo.
For now Gholston still has at least one more year to go at Michigan State but he is a name to possibly remember, if all goes according to his plans, or someone we’ll forget about just as quickly as cousin. What do you GMEN HQ fans say? Is Gholston the type of player you’d like to see line up on the D-Line for the Giants? Let us know in the comments section.