An NFL Scout Breaks Down Kentucky QB Will Levis
Plus more notes on Week 9 of the college football season, including prospects at Georgia and Ohio State.
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The last few years, my Six From Saturday notes have been included at the bottom of my MMQB column on Monday mornings. This year, they’ll be published as a separate post each week. Here are my thoughts on this weekend’s college action, geared mostly toward what should be of interest to NFL fans.
1) Kentucky QB Will Levis didn’t help himself, from an NFL standpoint, on Saturday night in a showcase game against Hendon Hooker and Tennessee. Yes, things got away from the Wildcats early, and the line’s been an issue all year. But it’s hard to say that he did much to elevate the guys around him, finishing 16-of-27 for 98 yards and three picks. That said, the NFL still thinks highly of a guy who’s in the mix with Alabama’s Bryce Young and Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud to be the first quarterback taken in April.
“He’s, really good,” said one NFC exec last week, before the game. “Big arm, big frame, can take hits, can make every throw. His accuracy can get inconsistent, because he takes a lot of chances downfield, throws a lot of deep overs. But he’s throwing a lot of pro concepts, they’re showcasing that, so you see all the throws we’d ask him to make, and he can make them all. He gets the easy ones, too, and he’s really decisive with the ball. He’s just a really, really good quarterback.”
And he’ll have another chance to show all that with the world watching in three weeks, when top-ranked Georgia comes to Lexington.
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2) We had Hooker as a likely Day 2 prospect a few weeks back, with Geno Smith and Case Keenum as comps, because of the way he plays and how the offense he’s running translates to the pros (think Art Briles’s Baylor offense). Could he be more than that? It’ll be interesting to see. He’ll turn 25 in January, so there’s an assumption that, at this point, what you see is what you’ll get (though it’s worth noting that Levis will be a 24-year-old rookie, so it’s not like he’s that different). And, again, there’s the question of the offense generating easy looks for him. But he keeps producing, and in the SEC, so he’s got my attention. And while we’re there, his top receiver, Jalin Hyatt (45 receptions, 907 yards, 14 TDs through eight games), does, too.
3) Texas A&M’s lost five straight. Jimbo Fisher’s buyout is $85 million. And the Aggies have a freshman class full of blue-chippers who came to College Station with the promise of riches, and have the transfer portal as an escape hatch. How the next few months play out down there, and what happens with those young players, could give everyone a nice window into where the long-term effects of name, image and likeness will be on the sport as a whole in the coming years.
4) Brock Bowers got a lot of attention for plucking the ball off a Florida defensive back Saturday and rolling for a 73-yard touchdown in Georgia’s convincing win. But there are a couple of facts here that really underscore the ability of the player, rather than the excitement of the play, here. One, it wasn’t his longest catch of the year—the 6'4", 230-pounder had a 78-yard touchdown against South Carolina a month ago. And two, the 78-yarder isn’t the longest of his two-year Bulldog career. He had a 98-yarder as a true freshman. Bowers will, indeed, be a fascinating prospect in 2024, a tweener H-back type with a unique athletic skill set.
5) It’s safe to say Ohio State edge rusher J.T. Tuimoloau is also shaping up as an interesting 2024 prospect, as well. I’ve never seen a defensive stat line or performance quite like the one he put together at Penn State on Saturday (six tackles, two sacks, three TFLs, two INTs, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, a pass breakup and a touchdown), and he’s got the athletic makeup to back it up, having been a top-five national recruit in the high school class of ’21. Which puts him in play to be the next in line of Larry Johnson–coached D-linemen (like Joey Bosa, Nick Bosa and Chase Young) to emerge as an elite NFL prospect.
6) I thought, a couple of years ago, it was ridiculous that Deion Sanders was positioning himself as a candidate for the job at Florida State, with no real coaching experience to speak of. Now? Now, I think he’s a very legitimate candidate to jump from Jackson State to a Power 5 program, and I think every school with an opening would be smart to consider him. Assuming he can bring the right staff with him, and knowing he’ll be able to recruit with anyone, he’d be a smart hire for an Auburn or a Georgia Tech.
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