I'd Be Remiss Not To Give My Alma Mater Northwestern University Some Pre-Draft Love On Barstool Sports

So my esteemed alma mater, Northwestern University, had their pro day today. I was somewhat eager to see how it went as they have two players projected to go in the first round - OT Rashawn Slater and CB Greg Newsome. Now, most mocks have Slater comfortably in the top 10, even as high as number 5 to Cinci, including Barstool's very own draft expert Steven Chea. Newsome is a tweener first rounder, but he did NOTHING but help himself today. I'll get to Newsome later, right now we're going to talk about Slater.

Simply put, the dude's a freak. You know how NU is always that pesky team that has shitty recruiting rankings but is seemingly always a complete bitch to play against? That's Slater to a T. NU unearthed a GEM from Texas with him. Notice anything about his star ranking here?

Pretty whatever by B1G standards, but he was also upgraded from a lowly 2 star recruit after his commitment to NU. There weren't any blue bloods whatsoever in on him. Mostly schools like Wyoming, Rice, Kansas and other lower end D1 schools. But he walked in and started at NU from Day 1, which was a shock to everyone who followed his recruitment like I did. Just two years later though, the kid turned into a freak. 

Here he is dominating Chase Young of OSU, #1 pick and one of the best pass rushers on the planet as we speak:

It was like that the whole game. Young didn't do SHIT against him…. and neither did anyone else:

Pretty nuts is correct. Whoever drafts him is getting a dude who can play anywhere on the OL (versatility!!!) with these measurables:

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this strength: 

and these brains:

Barring injury, he'll protect someone's blindside for a LONG time. Dude's a stud and if it weren't for fucking Coronavirus the Cats would have had that much better a shot at winning the B1G with him this year. 

Then we get to CB Greg Newsome. I mentioned he was a Tweener 1st rounder to start the blog, but that might change today. Most mocks have him as a top 5 DB and going anywhere from the low 20s in the 1st to the early 2nd round right now. I thought that was CRAZY because he was as good a collegiate DB I've ever seen. He shut down every opponent's best WR like it was a breeze the last 3 years. Here's Purdue's stud WR David Bell talking about how Newsome dominated him last year:

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Fast forward to 1:36

I read that a lot of scouts weren't sure how well he's test prior to the draft and that maybe he was so well coached at NU that he looked better on the field than his athleticism should have allowed… well today he curbed all of those fears with a 4.38 official 40:

And a 40 inch vertical to boot. Sub 4.4 speed will play in ANY defensive backfield, especially when one can innately lock down WRs like Newsome did: 

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Playing DB in the NFL might be the hardest position in all of sports to play at an even average level. You're on an island defending guys running 100MPH while running routes that are usually predetermined. An NFL DB has to be INCREDIBLY instinctive to excel, and that's exactly what Newsome is. I told Chief last year that I'd take Greg Newsome in the Bears defensive backfield RIGHT NOW and that wasn't an embellishment. He's that good. 

Matt Bowen is as respected a film breaker downer as there is in the business, and for him to call Newsome a "technician" is about as good a compliment a DB with sub 4.4 speed and the physicality that Newsome does can get. Whoever drafts him is drafting a fucking baller and should he stay healthy, will be a player that a team can trust to shut down another team's WR1 any given Sunday. I truly believe that. 

And that was talking Northwestern draft prospects. Pretty pumped for the Cats on draft day - they have another 5-6 players that could hear their names called that day as well, notably LBs Blake Gallagher and Paddy Fisher. It's an awesome time to be a Cats fan and I promise to shove them down your throats every fall moving forward. Thank Christ I'm not a fan of that joke of a shithole school down in Champaign. Rooting for their football team must be hell on earth