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Number of likely NFL Draft picks isn't most notable part of NC State class

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All four of NC State's starting defensive linemen — from left to right: Justin Jones, B.J. Hill, Bradley Chubb (seated) and Kentavius Street — are expected to be drafted.
All four of NC State's starting defensive linemen — from left to right: Justin Jones, B.J. Hill, Bradley Chubb (seated) and Kentavius Street — are expected to be drafted. (Ken Martin)
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In the land of countless NFL Draft experts and “experts,” Mike Mayock is the expert’s expert. His opinion is so highly thought of that some even claimed he was a candidate to run the Washington Redskins when they were looking for a general manager last offseason — and, really, they could’ve done worse.

Predictions for next year’s draft now start rolling out 364 days ahead of time (or even earlier), but he famously does just one mock draft. The NFL Network smartly turned the unveiling of it into a primetime television event last night.

On it, he predicted Bradley Chubb to go fourth overall to the Cleveland Browns, putting him opposite last year’s No. 1 overall pick, Myles Garrett, whose numbers coming out of Texas A&M were eerily similar to Chubb's.

Myles Garrett vs. Bradley Chubb
Garrett Category Chubb

6-4

Height

6-4

272

Weight

269

4.64

40-yd. dash

4.65

1.63

10-yd. split

1.62

33

Bench Press

24

41

Vertical Jump

36

128

Broad Jump

121

141

College tkls

198

47.0

College TFLs

54.5

31.0

College sacks

25.0

“You pair him with Myles Garrett and all of a sudden you’ve got the most dynamic edge rushing duo in all of football,” Mayock said. “I compare this young man to Joey Bosa, and I don’t do it lightly. He sets a physical edge in the run game, he’s got enough speed to win outside, he’s got heavy hands and a tremendous motor, so he’s going to impact the game all three downs.”

Invoking Bosa is high praise— the 2016 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and 2017 Pro Bowler set a league record for the most sacks in his first 20 professional games (19) with the Chargers.

Everybody knows Chubb is going early; he likely won’t get past the Colts at six, even if trades and a quarterback run happen early and push him down slightly. Regardless, whomever picks him gets probably the safest pick of the event. He played with a patch of Mario Williams on his No. 9 jersey in college and could outshine the pro career of that former No. 1 pick (97.5 sacks, 16 forced fumbles in 11 years) — and maybe last year’s too.

Chubb isn't the only Pack pro Mayock is high on. During the NFL Combine, he compared defensive tackle B.J. Hill to the Vikings' Linval Joseph, a Pro Bowler each of the last two years. Hill has only continued to move in the right direction; Mayock listed him at No. 55 in his latest top 100 (there are 64 picks in the first two rounds).

Hill's climb in the pre-draft process began when he stood out at the Senior Bowl. He was a revelation in Mobile for those that had not watched NC State closely, but when the official awards came out college teammate Justin Jones actually took home the D-line hardware for the week's practice standout. Jones' stock among the media is much more volatile — he's No. 157 on ZoneCoverage.com's consensus big board that averaged the rankings of 48 experts, yet not even listed on some seven-round mock drafts — but he’s going to hear his name called.

End Kentavius Street is another likely draftee, despite a torn ACL suffered during a workout for the Giants. He told me in February, after shining in his all-star game, the East-West Shrine Game, “Somebody has to follow" Chubb in the draft and all four linemen were competing hard to be that one.

There has been no lack of competition from Raleigh. In addition to the four linemen, there are versatile weapons Jaylen Samuels and Nyheim Hines on offense, both of who will probably both be NFL running backs but at least started their college careers at different positions. One has to imagine while Bill Belichick famously attended the Wolfpack’s Pro Day and stepped in to run the defensive line drills, he actually had a close eye on both Hines and Samuels. Pre-draft time is smokescreen season, so maybe Belichick was doing a look-over-here distraction that would make Penn & Teller proud when he took charge of the big uglies.

Nobody in the NFL would take better advantage of those unique mismatch nightmares than Belichick (as much as it hurts this Bills fan to admit). The best comparison for Samuels I’ve heard yet, which came straight from his position coach last summer, is Aaron Hernandez, who had nearly 2,000 receiving yards and scored 18 touchdowns in 38 games with the Pats.

"That's what he is," Eddie Faulker said. "I don't think anybody would question whether that guy [Hernandez] was a tight end or H-back coming out. It's probably because of [Samuels'] height … that's the only negative."

Especially important metrics for the New England offense, which relies on underneath and crossing routes, are the 20-yard short shuttle and 3-cone drills, and look how close those results are for the two (while also noting the wide gap in college production):

Aaron Hernandez vs. Jaylen Samuels
Hernandez (Pro Day) Category Samuels (Combine)

6-2.33

Height

5-11.5

245

Weight

225

4.64

40-yd. dash

4.54

1.65

10-yd. split

1.64

2.71

20-yd. split

2.68

4.18

20-yd. shuttle

4.28

6.83

3-cone

6.93

33

Vertical Jump

34.5

111

Broad Jump

121

30

Bench Press

18

12

College TDs

47

1,398

College YFS*

2,958

* — Yards from scrimmage

The Patriots might not even need outside receivers if they pair Samuels with perennial All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski. Tom Brady could probably play until he’s 50 with those two.

Along the offensive trenches, early entrant Will Richardson has off-field red flags but played so well as a redshirt junior that he’s a sure-fire draft pick. Pro Football Focus said he didn’t allow a sack and gave up just five pressures this past season.

Guard Tony Adams was a notorious NFL Combine snub, but shouldn't be left out of the main event. The ironman who set a school record for snaps played up front is still featured as high as a possible fourth- or fifth-round pick in the longer mock drafts.

Outside of Hines, the entire group shares one common trait. Each signed with NC State in the 2014 recruiting class, Dave Doeren’s first full cycle in Raleigh.

It wasn’t a highly rated group, Rivals.com ranked it 30th nationally. Only three prospects — Street, Jones and linebacker Germaine Pratt, a likely draftee next year if he has the type of season sources believe is ahead after being a rotational piece last fall — were rated four-star prospects (Hines was a top-100 recruit a year later).

The other five possible 2018 draftees from that class, per Rivals:

• Chubb was a run-of-the-mill three-star, unranked among 35 listed weakside defensive ends nationally and 75 Georgia prospects.

• Hill wasn’t ranked among 45 defensive tackle prospects, nor Adams among 30 guards. Neither was listed as one of the state's top 30 prospects either, while Richardson checked in as the No. 61 offensive tackle nationally and the No. 23 prospect in North Carolina.

• Samuels entered college as the No. 2 fullback in the country … but the No. 20 prospect from North Carolina. Recruiting services weren’t the only ones to miss on him (or the others) — he only had Power 5 offers from NC State and Wake Forest — and despite lacking a true position, a re-ranking based on college production would have him No. 1 in the state, even ahead of expected first-rounder Harold Landry, a defensive end out of Boston College.

"We felt like we were the best recruiting class to ever step through at NC State. … We are going to show the evidence that we were that talented [in the NFL Draft]."
— Kentavius Street

Whether it was NC State’s evaluation skills, developmental abilities or just blind luck — the latter seems improbable, that'd be like lightning striking one tree five times — the results show how impressive of a group it truly was.

In a time of ultimate uncertainty, one sure thing seems to be that NC State will break the record for draftees in a single year, which is currently six, set in 2006 and 2012.

The draft might be exhibit A for something that Street said he and his classmates were hoping to prove despite “a little bit of underachievement” during their four seasons — that they were the best group ever to arrive together in Raleigh. Despite Street's comment, it should also be noted the class went 31-21, which marked the school's most wins in a four-year period since 31 in 2001-05 and was not far behind the program record of 34.

“Coming in that freshman year, we felt like we were the best recruiting class to ever step through at NC State,” Street emphatically stated. “With the events that are about to take place this spring, we are going to show the evidence that we were that talented.”

With Pratt potentially leading the way for as many as five more draft possibilities from that 2014 class next year, that could cement the group's desired legacy. With the way things are looking just ahead of the draft's 8 p.m. start Thursday, combined with all future success being built off the foundation laid by that recruiting class, it's possible that exhibit B won't even be necessary for that claim.

No matter how little fanfare the 2014 class came into NC State with, the group won't experience the same lack of national buzz as they leave Raleigh to enter the NFL.

——

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