The FCS may only have 15 to 20 players drafted by the NFL in any given year, but generally about 50+ end up making NFL rosters as rookies, whether it's on the active 53-man roster or the practice squad. Add to that the creation of the new XFL, and there are obviously opportunities out there. In fact, last May, more than 200 FCS products got at least a tryout shot with NFL teams, and even some of those "last chance" tryouts led to 90-man roster spots, meaning the player at least got a shot at spending the summer with the team to try to prove himself and make the final roster.
Today, we feature our series of conference-by-conference looks at every prospect — not just the top ones projected to be drafted. Which of these young men will be among this year's crop of 200 or so FCS prospects to get that shot? We consult DraftScout for our data below, as they grade every single prospect coming out — more than 3,500 total in their database that we subscribe to, hundreds of which are FCS products.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
[divider]
FCS Feature Stories:
[divider]
COMING SOON: Here are the links to the FCS Combine performance charts, position by position (how the NFL Combine breaks it down):
S | CB | DT
OLB/DE | ILB | OL
RB | QB | WR
TE | ST | ALL Positions[divider]
TOP MVFC PROSPECTS
(according to DraftScout)
ABBREVIATIONS: GR- Grade given by DraftScout in their weekly data packet, HPFA- High priority free agent, PFA- Priority free agent, FA- Free agent, Tryout- No less than a shot at May tryouts to make preseason 90-man rosters)
PROJ RD. | GR | FCS PLAYER | POS | FCS SCHOOL |
2nd-3rd rd | B | Jeremy Chinn | SS | Southern Illinois |
6th rd | B | James Robinson | RB | Illinois State |
6th rd | B | Derrek Tuszka | DE | North Dakota State |
7th-HPFA | C | James Hendricks | FS | North Dakota State |
7th-HPFA | C | Luther Kirk | SS | Illinois State |
HPFA | C | Jonas Griffith | ILB | Indiana State |
HPFA | C | Zack Johnson | OG | North Dakota State |
HPFA | C | Christian Rozeboom | ILB | South Dakota State |
HPFA | C | Malik Richmond | DE | Youngstown State |
PFA | C | Chandler Collins | LS | Missouri State |
PFA | C | Ben Ellefson | TE | North Dakota State |
FA | C | Jaylin James | WR | Northern Iowa |
FA | C | Nigel Kilby | TE | Southern Illinois |
FA | C | Madre Harper | CB | Southern Illinois |
FA | C | LaCale London | DT | Western Illinois |
Tryout | C | Austin Simmons | QB | South Dakota |
Tryout | C | Chase Vinatieri | K | South Dakota State |
NEXT: Top Pro Prospects From The FCS[divider]
MVFC – KEEP AN EYE ON
NOTE: These conference prospects received D ratings from DraftScout, which generally means they're viewed as low priority Free Agent pickups or Tryout candidates — but they are on the radar of pro teams, and don't forget that the XFL is keeping an eye on all of this too.
Adam Solomon | OT | Illinois State |
Tuvone Clark | DE | Illinois State |
Ty DeForest | ILB | Illinois State |
Kevin Kcehowski | OT | Indiana State |
Wyatt Wozniak | C | Indiana State |
Dominique Dafney | FB | Indiana State |
Denzel Bonner | SS | Indiana State |
Clayton Glasco | ILB | Indiana State |
Jerry Nunez | K | Indiana State |
Matt McClellan | OLB | Missouri State |
Tyler Currie | WR | Missouri State |
Peyton Huslig | QB | Missouri State |
Angelo Garbutt | ILB | Missouri State |
Brendan Withrow | P | Missouri State |
McNeece Egbim | ILB | Missouri State |
Mason Bennett | DE | North Dakota |
Cole Karcz | DE | North Dakota State |
Marquise Bridges | CB | North Dakota State |
Ty Brooks | RB | North Dakota State |
Jackson Scott-Brown | OG | Northern Iowa |
Christian Jegen | SS | Northern Iowa |
Roosevelt Lawrence | CB | Northern Iowa |
Trevor Allen | RB | Northern Iowa |
Kameron Cline | DE | South Dakota |
Darin Greenfield | DE | South Dakota |
Dakarai Allen | WR | South Dakota |
Evan Greeneway | OT | South Dakota State |
Kallan Hart | TE | South Dakota State |
Ryan Earith | DE | South Dakota State |
Matt Clark | OG | South Dakota State |
Luke Sellers | FB | South Dakota State |
Adam Anderson | WR | South Dakota State |
Mikey Daniel | FB | South Dakota State |
Ernest Dye Jr. | OG | Southern Illinois |
Tre Strong | CB | Southern Illinois |
Malik Haynes | DT | Southern Illinois |
Cody Crider | ILB | Southern Illinois |
J. Davis | RB | Southern Illinois |
Zach Glisan | ILB | Western Illinois |
George Wahee | WR | Western Illinois |
Shereif Bynum | DE | Youngstown State |
Matt Jones | C | Youngstown State |
Nathan Mays | QB | Youngstown State |
Jermiah Braswell | WR | Youngstown State |
Kyle Hegedus | SS | Youngstown State |
[divider]Listen to the latest episodes of B-Mac and Herd's FCS Podcast, which is also available on Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Spotify, iHeart, Stitcher and Spreaker.
SUBSCRIBE: B-Mac and Herd's FCS Podcast