NFLDraftScout.com ranks Prince Amukamara the highest draft prospect

Nexus · June 11, 2010

Former Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh might have received the royal treatment while in Lincoln, but it took a Prince for one of head coach Bo Pelini's Cornhuskers to earn the top grade by NFL scouts.

NFLDraftScout.com has learned that Nebraska cornerback Prince Amukamara, not heralded Washington quarterback Jake Locker, was given the highest grade by league scouts during the National Football Scouting meetings held in May.

Amukamara barely beat out Iowa defensive end Adrian Clayborn and Boston College outside linebacker Mark Herzlich for the top spot.

National Football Scouting is one of two organizations NFL teams use to whittle down the thousands of senior collegiate football players into a relatively manageable list. National, along with BLESTO, is comprised of scouts from teams throughout the league. To be a member of either National or BLESTO, teams pay an annual fee and are required to provide at least one scout to the organization. In exchange, members receive comprehensive reports on the top players.

Roughly half of the teams in the league, including the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints, are members of National. The remaining teams are split between BLESTO and operating on their own.

Amukamara's high grade is not a surprise considering his rapid ascension as one of the country's best pass defenders last year. In his first full season as a starter, Amukamara earned nearly consensus first-team All-Big 12 accolades while registering 64 tackles, 11 pass breakups, five interceptions and two sacks. Of course, at least some of Amukamara's success in 2010 came as a result of Suh's ability to collapse the pocket and pressure quarterbacks into poor throws. To justify his lofty preseason grade, Amukamara will have to be even better as a senior.

Officially listed at 6-feet-1 and 205 pounds, Amukamara possesses rare size for the position and scouts love his athleticism. The former prep running back has good straight-line speed, fluid hips for coverage and showed uncommon physicality and ball skills for a player with his limited experience at the position.

Though he received plenty of media acclaim for his play, Amukamara did not strongly consider leaving school early for the 2010 draft and elected not to even petition the NFL Advisory Committee for his grade.

Clayborn did petition the league for his grade following a spectacular junior campaign in which he posted 70 tackles, 20 tackles for loss, 11½ sacks, four forced fumbles and he blocked kick against Penn State that he returned for a touchdown.

The 6-4, 285-pound Clayborn lacks elite burst off the snap, but has explosive upper-body strength to shed blocks and locates the football quickly.

Herzlich's grade is a carryover from the 2010 preseason rankings. The 2009 ACC Defensive Player of the Year earned the top grade last summer, but missed the entire 2010 season following the discovery that he suffered from Ewing's Sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. Medically cleared after surgery and extensive rehabilitation (including multiple chemotherapy sessions), Herzlich is practicing with the team and hopes to reclaim his status as one of college football's best players this season.

Locker, considered the early favorite to be the No. 1 overall pick in 2011, earned a late-first to early-second round grade. I'm told his grade is similar to the ones earned last summer by Texas' Colt McCoy and Florida's Tim Tebow -- the two highest-rated senior quarterbacks entering the 2010 season.

While Locker has undeniable talent, if he is to ascend to the top of the class by April he will need to make similar gains in his senior season as he showed as a junior -- his first under former Southern California offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Steve Sarkisian.

While Amukamara's rating is an excellent jumpstart toward the pros, history shows he still has a lot of work to do to ultimately land a top draft spot. A high grade entering one's senior season does not guarantee a first-round selection. In fact, just the opposite has been the case in recent years.

Last year's top-rated prospect (other than Herzlich) was Mississippi defensive end Greg Hardy. Durability questions pushed Hardy into the sixth round in April, where the Carolina Panthers made him the 175th overall selection.

Two years ago, it was another talented pass rusher who earned the preseason top grade. Former Georgia Tech star Michael Johnson enjoyed a strong senior campaign, but he also slipped on draft day due to questions about his ability to make an impact as an every-down player. The Cincinnati Bengals ultimately selected him in the third round with the 70th pick overall.

Johnson flashed at times last year with the Bengals and finished with three sacks. Hardy? If he can stay healthy the Panthers hope he can figure into the pass-rushing rotation to help fill the void left by Julius Peppers signing with the Bears this offseason.

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