The return of the NFL also means the return of college football a weekend earlier. Some of us are bigger college football fans than others, but for each Saturday, I'll make sure and get an open thread posted for discussion of the day-long action. This will be the Week 1 open thread. I'll bump it to the top of the page at different points today so people can enjoy the discussion.
As part of this thread, I've got a fun feature thanks to the always helpful Chris Steuber. Over at his website, he will be providing a brief rundown of where NFL scouts are watching games each weekend. This is not necessarily a complete list, but rather a list of those in attendance that he could actually confirm. He lists the games, NFL teams attending, and then his thoughts on some of the prospects to watch. You can't ask for much more. He's got all sorts of stuff he'll be posting over the course of the year, so make sure and bookmark his official website.
After the jump, I've posted the rundown of where the 49ers reportedly have scouts this weekend. This is not really going to tip us off to anything at this point because the team is looking to amass as much information as they can before narrowing down their big board. Nonetheless, it's interesting to follow and we'll keep track of where the 49ers have scouts visiting each week.
Towson at Kent State
NFL teams attending: New Orleans Saints and San Francisco 49ers.
Prospects to watch: Kent State: OLB *Roosevelt Nix, OT Brian Winters, SS *Luke Wollet; Towson: QB Grant Enders, CB *Jordan Love.
Buffalo at Georgia
NFL teams attending: Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills, Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs, New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Prospects to watch: Georgia: OG *Chris Burnette, CB Sanders Commings, OT *Kenarious Gates, DT *Kwame Geathers, DT John Jenkins, DT Abry Jones, DE/OLB *Jarvis Jones, WR Tavarres King, TE *Arthur Lynch, QB *Aaron Murray, LB *Alec Ogletree, FS Baccari Rambo, FB Richard Samuel, DE Cornelius Washington, SS Shawn Williams; Buffalo: CB *Najja Johnson, OLB *Khalil Mack, DE Steven Means, WR *Alex Neutz, RB Branden Oliver.
Appalachian State at East Carolina
NFL teams attending: Jacksonville Jaguars and San Francisco 49ers.
Prospects to watch: East Carolina: WR Dayon Arrington, DT Michael Brooks, OT *Grant Harner, LB *Ty Holmes, TE *Justin Jones, FS *Damon Magazu, DE *Matt Milner, CB Leonard Paulk, OG *Will Simmons;Appalachian State: LB Jeremy Kimbrough, CB Demetrius McCray.
Elon at North Carolina
NFL teams attending: Baltimore Ravens, New England Patriots, New York Giants, New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers.
Prospects to watch: North Carolina: OG Travis Bond, S *Tre Boston, OG Jonathan Cooper, WR Erik Highsmith, OT *James Hurst, DE *Tim Jackson, DE *Kareem Martin, LB Kevin Reddick, QB *Bryn Renner, OT Brennan Williams, DT Sylvester Williams; Elon: WR Aaron Mellette.
Eastern Kentucky at Purdue
NFL teams attending: Baltimore Ravens, Indianapolis Colts, San Francisco 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Prospects to watch: Purdue: CB *Ricardo Allen, LB Dwayne Beckford, RB Ralph Bolden, OG Peters Drey, WR Antavian Edison, DT *Bruce Gaston, CB Josh Johnson, QB Robert Marve, C Rick Schmeig, DT Kawann Short, QB Caleb TerBush; Eastern Kentucky: RB Matt Denham, OT Patrick Ford, WR Tyrone Goard, QB T.J. Pryor.
Colorado State at Colorado
NFL teams attending: Baltimore Ravens, Denver Broncos, New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers.
Prospects to watch: Colorado: OT *David Bakhtiari, FS *Jered Bell, OT Ryan Dannewitz, OLB Jon Major, DE Will Pericak, FS Ray Polk, DT Eric Richter, LB Doug Rippy, DE *Chidera Uzo-Diribe; Colorado State: LB *Shaquil Barrett, TE *Crockett Gilmore, OG *Jordan Gragert, RB *Chris Nwoke, C *Weston Richburg.
Kentucky at Louisville
NFL teams attending: Baltimore Ravens, Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, St. Louis Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans.
Prospects to watch: Louisville: C Mario Benavides, RB *Dominique Brown, LB *Preston Brown, CB Adrian Bushell, DE *B.J. Butler, OG Alex Kupper, DT *Roy Philon, SS *Hakeem Smith, DE *Marcus Smith, RB *Jeremy Wright; Kentucky: WR La'Rod King, CB Martavius Neloms, QB Morgan Newton, RB *Raymond Sanders III, C Matt Smith, DE Collins Ukwu, OG Larry Warford, LB *Avery Williamson, DE Taylor Wyndham.
Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech
NFL teams attending: Carolina Panthers, Detroit Lions, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants, New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, St. Louis Rams, Washington Redskins.
Prospects to watch: Virginia Tech: OT Nick Becton, WR D.J. Coles, DE *J.R. Collins, WR Marcus Davis, LB *Tariq Edwards, CB *Antone Exum, CB *Kyle Fuller, DE *James Gayle, DT Antoine Hopkins, DT *Derrick Hopkins, C Andrew Miller, OT Vinston Painter, WR Dyrell Roberts, LB Bruce Taylor, QB *Logan Thomas, LB Jeron Gouveia-Winslow; Georgia Tech: LB *Jeremiah Attaochu, DT T.J. Barnes, DE Izaan Cross, OG *Will Jackson, SS *Isaiah Johnson, LB **Quayshawn Nealy, RB *David Sims, RB Orwin Smith, CB Rod Sweeting, QB Tevin Washington, OG Omoregie Uzzi, CB *Louis Young.
Boise State at Michigan State
NFL teams attending: Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys, Detroit Lions, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, New Orleans Saints, Oakland Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Prospects to watch: Michigan State: CB Johnny Adams, OLB *Denicos Allen, RB *Le'Veon Bell, LB *Max Bullough, RB Larry Caper, CB *Darqueze Dennard, OT Fou Fonoti, DE *William Gholston, DT Tyler Hoover, FS *Isaiah Lewis, OG Chris McDonald, OLB Chris Norman, DE *Marcus Rush, TE *Dion Sims, DT Anthony Rashad White, CB Mitchell White; Boise State: WR *Geraldo Boldewijn, WR Mitch Burroughs, CB Jerrell Gavins, RB D.J. Harper, OG Joe Kellogg, OG *Charles Leno, Jr., TE *Gabe Linehan, OLB J.C. Perry, QB *Joe Southwick, CB Jamar Taylor, DT *Ricky Tjong-A-Tjoe.