Examining FOXSports.com's Top 200 college football players of 2005

(Continued -- if you're joining this in progress, I recommend that you start at the beginning so you have some sense of what this is all about.)

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11. QB Reggie McNeal, Sr., Texas A&M
McNeal is a good QB, but coming off a season where he threw only 14 TDs, you have to wonder just how excited NFL scouts are going to be about him. Granted, you have to work within your offense, and he did throw for 200 or more yards in 10 games, throwing only 4 INTs, and he does have good rushing ability. I see him being a day one pick, but probably more in the late second, early third round range. When you look at team needs and the level of competition that's out there, that's just the reality of the situation.

12. DT Jesse Mahelona, Sr., Tennessee
A transfer from the JUCO ranks, Mahelona stepped in right away and gave Tennessee some much-needed beef in the middle. Another season like 2004, and Mahelona could be a first round pick. DT is such a tough position to project that it could be any number of guys who battle their way into the first round. I want to see a little more from Mahelona before I project him in Round 1. Besides QB, DT is one of the biggest feast-or-famine spots in the first round of the draft, and thus that position gets the microscope treatment especially tough (sometimes to the point of over-analysis).

13. QB Brad Smith, Sr., Missouri
Playing as Brad Smith in NCAA Football 2006 is incredibly fun. I love it. But video games, college football, and the NFL Draft are all different things.

Smith had a setback last season, which in large part lead to him returning to Missouri for his senior year. Right now he's nowhere close to being a first round pick, though he is an amazing athlete. If he can put together a good season, then impress the right people in his workouts and at the combine, then who knows. But at this point he has some work ahead of him... which is too bad, because I'm pulling for him to do well.

14. LB Ahmad Brooks, Jr., Virginia
FOXSports.com called Brooks "a top 15 pick whenever he decides to come out", and I can't disagree with that. Right now Brooks is recovering from surgery he had in December on his right knee that corrected a degenerative condition he had, and he may very well miss Virginia's season opener as a result. Regardless, Brooks should still make a huge impact this season and be primed to be a high first round pick in 2006, though there is always the chance that he'll return to Virginia for yet another season (since he was three years removed from his high school graduation this spring, he could've gone into the draft then).

15. OT D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Sr., Virginia
How scary is this: Ferguson has bulked up this off-season and become even stronger. He's improved his run-blocking skills. Whichever team lands him in the draft has their left tackle position set for the next decade. He's the real deal, through and through. Ferguson has started 36 straight games for Virginia, one shy of the school record.

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