Greetings 49er Faithful! We are back with our breakdown of college football's Week 1 action - keeping our sights set on the 2018 NFL Draft.
Each week throughout the college season we will break down a few college football games providing highlights and profiles of a few notable draft-eligible prospects you should pay attention to. This will help people build a list of names to know when we get into the offseason.
The first full weekend of college football wraps up with two notable games. UCLA hosts Texas A&M, with quarterback Josh Rosen making his 2017 debut. However, the bigger game is between two top 25 ranked team, with No. 21 Virginia Tech taking on No. 22 West Virginia at FedEx Field. So, sit back, put your scouting hat on, and let's get things started with Week 1.
* = indicates junior status
No. 8 West Virginia at No. 21 Virginia Tech
Time: 4:30 PM PST
Channel: ABC
Live Stream: Watch ESPN
RB Justin Crawford, No. 25, 6'0" - 202 lbs., 4.53 40 - (5th)
FB Ellijah Wellman, No. 28, 6'1" - 241 lbs., 4.87 40'- (UDFA)
WR Ka'Raun White, No. 2, 6'1" - 197 lbs., 4.51 40 - (6th-7th)
OG Kyle Bosch, No. 62, 6'5" - 310 lbs., 5.32 40 - (6th-7th)
OG Grant Lingafelter, No. 56, 6'6" - 306 lbs., 5.25 40 - (UDFA)
DE Jon Lewis, No. 92, 6'3" - 275 lbs., - (UDFA)
DE Xavier Pegues, No. 6'2" - 289 lbs., 4.98 40 - (UDFA)
DT D.J. Carozza, No. 70, 5'10" - 304 lbs.,
OLB Xavier Preston, No. 5, 6'2" - 238 lbs., - (UDFA)
ILB Al-Rasheed Benton, No. 3, 6'0" - 237 lbs., 4.83 40 - (UDFA)
ILB Hodari Christian II, No. 44, 6'0" - 225 lbs., - (UDFA)
CB Mike Daniels, No. 40, 5'11" - 204 lbs., - (UDFA)
CB Elijah Battle, No. 19, 5'11" - 189 lbs., - (UDFA)
FS Dravon Askew-Henry, No. 6, 6'0" - 195 lbs., 4.53 40 - (5th)
FS Shane Commodore, No. 38, 6'0" - 212 lbs., - (UDFA)
SS Kyzir White, No. 8, 6'3" - 218 lbs., 4.56 40 - (2nd-3rd)
SS Marvin Gross, No. 18, 6'2" - 195 lbs., 4.78 40 - (UDFA)
SS Kyzir White, No. 8, is the younger brother of Chicago Bears' wide receiver Kevin White (Kyzir's other older brother, Ka'Raun White, plays receiver at Virginia Tech). The youngest brother is a large imposing physical defender with an excellent combination of size, strength, and athleticism. The community college transfer from Lackawanna boasts tremendous length (very long limbs) for the position, light feet, good agility, nice balance and change of direction skills, and sound awareness. An aggressive defender, Kyzir is a force inside the box (needs work in coverage) and off the edge (plays the hybrid safety role), and takes full advantage of his size and physicality hitting with explosion as a devastating hard-hitting defender.
West Virginia's potential draft-eligible prospects to keep an eye on:
RB Justin Crawford, No. 25
WR Ka'Raun White, No. 2
OG Kyle Bosch, No. 62
FS Dravon Askew-Henry, No. 6
WR Cam Phillips, No. 5, 6'0" - 202 lbs., 4.54 40 - (UDFA)
OG Wyatt Teller, No. 57, 6'5" - 315 lbs., 5.12 40 - (UDFA)
C Eric Gallo, No. 64, 6'2" - 300 lbs., - (UDFA)
*OLB Tremaine Edwards, No. 49, 6'5" - 250 lbs., 4.82 40 - (2nd)
OLB Anthony Shegog, No. 24, 6'2" - 230 lbs., 4.64 40 - (UDFA)
ILB Andrew Motuapuaka, No. 54, 6'0" - 236 lbs., 4.79 40 - (UDFA)
ILB Sean Huelskamp, No. 56, 6'1" - 225 lbs., - (UDFA)
CB Greg Stroman, No. 3, 6'0" - 181 lbs., 4.50 40 - (UDFA)
CB Brandon Facyson, No. 31, 6'2" -197 lbs., 4.52 40 - (2nd-3rd)
K Joey Slye, No. 46, 5'11" - 213 lbs., - (UDFA)
CB Brandon Facyson, No. 31, is a long lean tapered framed physical corner with an excellent combination of size, length, strength, speed, physicality, and athleticism to fit well in a man-press scheme. He shows good hand usage and physicalness in press with nice fluid hips, quick feet, and has the speed to stay on the hip pocket when trailing. Boasts a high football IQ with sound awareness and instincts, and when he is out-positioned, Facyson takes advantage of his length (long arms) and burst to recover to be disruptive.
Facyson is technically sound as a cover corner and solid in run support and is an eager tackler, although will need to improve his tackling and be more consistent all around. His size and fluidity makes him a great match-up in coverage, where he can utilize his length and aggressiveness in press, and solid instincts and awareness with a great burst in zone, and flashes elite ball skills. Has durability concerns with a knee injury in 2014 and recovering from offseason wrist surgery. Highly intelligent prospect with aspirations to become a Cardiologist when football is over.
Virginia Tech's potential draft-eligible prospects to keep an eye on:
*OLB Tremaine Edwards, No. 49
Player measurables courtesy of team pages. 40 times projected.