The Focus on Professional Football has its Top 300 Big Board of NFL candidates and five former South Carolina football players are on the list. Gamecocks don’t have to pass the 200 mark, as all five players would fit in the 225-option NFL Draft this year.
The main attraction of the list of the main Gamecocks, of course, is the defense back Jaycee Horn. The Alpharetta, Georgia native is ranked as the No. 24 prospect from a talent standpoint in a ranking that is not considered a simulated sketch.
Horn, however, has several projections of the first round entering the NFL assessment and the season of combinations. Here’s what PFF analyst Mike Renner wrote about Horn:
Horn has the athleticism and mentality of an NFL-level corner man – he will not give up on anyone. He only allowed eight receptions from 24 targets for 116 yards in seven games this year.
Although Horn has emerged as South Carolina’s most prominent former player this draft season, Gamecocks have four other players among the top 200 contenders.
No. 24 DB Jaycee Horn
No. 157 DB Israel Mukuamu
No. 166 WR Shi Smith
No. 180 OL Sadarius Hutcherson
No. 195 LB Ernest Jones
As a point of reference, overall choice 157 is the 25th selection of the fifth round, while choice 195 would be the first choice in the seventh and final round of the NFL Draft.
Smith, a 5-10 and 190-pound senior from Union, SC, managed 57 passes for 633 yards in nine games. He qualified in the SEC’s top ten in game receipts and game receipts. He ended his career with 174 receptions, fourth on the school’s all-time list and 2,204 receiving yards, eighth in school history.
Hutcherson, a 6-4, 320-pound senior from Huntingdon, Tennessee, was the team’s best offensive striker. He started all 10 games and made 39 career starts, most of them in the squad, including 36 consecutive starts. He was recognized as the SEC’s offensive striker of the week for his efforts in winning over Vanderbilt.
Jones, a 6-2 and 90kg junior from Waycross, Georgia, led the team with 86 tackles in nine games. He broke his personal record with an effort of 19 LSU tackles, the highest number of tackles for a Gamecock since the 1987 season, and almost matched that with an 18 tackle performance on Ole Miss.