The Athletic’s Dane Brugler released his NFL Draft 2023 “The Beast” Guide earlier this week, which features 401 scouting reports and 1,893 player rankings. In the player rankings were several FCS alum with 13 being projected as draft picks.
Brugler does not have any first-round grades for FCS players, but there are a couple projected to go Day 2 in rounds 2-3.
North Dakota State’s Cody Mauch is ranked the No. 4 offensive guard with a second-round projection. South Dakota State tight end Tucker Kraft is another second-round grade, ranked No. 5 at his position group. A fast riser in the draft process who can sneak into Day 2 is Sacramento State safety/OLB/nickel hybrid Marte Mapu. He is ranked the No. 7 safety with a third-fourth-round projection.
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Day 3 (round 4-7) is the busiest for FCS prospects in the draft.
Brugler ranks Kobie Turner, who played multiple seasons at Richmond before transferring to Wake Forest in 2022, as the No. 12 defensive tackle and a fourth-round grade. Princeton’s Andrei Iosivas is ranked the No. 22 wide receiver with a fifth-round projection. Chattanooga’s McClendon Curtis is the No. 12 offensive guard with a fifth-sixth-round grade.
Florida A&M’s Isaiah Land has a sixth-round projection as the No. 18 linebacker. NDSU’s Hunter Luepke (No. 21 running back) has a sixth-seventh-round projection along with the No. 32 cornerback Myles Brooks, who played multiple seasons at Stephen F. Austin before transferring to Louisiana Tech in 2022.
Seventh-round projections include NDSU’s Noah Gindorff (No. 17 tight end), Arkansas Pine Bluff’s Mark Evans II (No. 18 offensive guard), SFA’s BJ Thompson (No. 34 edge rusher), and Jackson State’s Aubrey Miller Jr. (No. 23 linebacker).
Brugler ranks dozens of players by positon in his guide and separates them into two sections — a top rankings by positions with breakdowns and then a “best of the rest” section. Below are FCS players featured in his top rankings, who all have priority free agent grades as undrafted free agents:
Fordham’s Tim DeMorat (No. 17 QB), Incarnate Word’s Lindsey Scott Jr. (No. 22 QB), SFA’s Xavier Gipson (No. 44 WR), South Carolina State’s Shaquan Davis (No. 45 WR), Furman’s Ryan Miller (No. 53 WR), Southeastern Louisiana University’s Cephus Johnson III (No. 55 WR), Butler’s Tyler Adams (No. 56 WR), Princeton’s Henry Byrd (No. 23 offensive guard), NDSU’s Nash Jensen (No. 25 offensive guard), Harvard’s Truman Jones (No. 41 edge rusher), Wagner’s Titus Leo (No. 42 edge rusher), NDSU’s Spencer Waege (No. 47 edge rusher), Chattanooga’s Devonnsha Maxwell (No. 27 defensive tackle), Montana State’s Ty Okada (No. 26 safety), Jackson State’s Isaiah Bolden (No. 33 safety), Elon’s Skyler Davis (No. 14 kicker), Sac State’s Kyle Sentkowski (No. 17 kicker), Youngstown State’s Paddy Lynch (No. 13 punter), Southern Utah Jake Gerardi (No. 14 punter), VMI’s Robert Soderholm (No. 2 long snapper), and South Dakota’s Dalton Godfrey (No. 4 long snapper).
