The NFL draft begins tonight with the first round starting at 1am Irish time on Sky Sports. Yesterday we did a crash course to the 2013 Draft and today we look at three of the more interesting 2013 NFL Draft prospects.
1. Menelik Watson
Watson's rise from a tough Manchester estate to being a possible first round NFL draft pick is one of the stories of the draft. Watson comes from the Anson estate in Lonsight, an area notorious for gun crime and gang activity. Two of his brothers have done jail time and one of them is still in prison. In an interview with The Guardian, Watson's describes how growing up,he once got so hungry that he ate packets of ketchup and butter that he found in a canteen.
As if the deck wasn't already stacked against him, when he was 12, Watson suffered a freak ankle injury during a lunchtime football game which ended his dreams of playing for Manchester City. The injury was so serious that doctors considered amputating the entire lower part of his leg.
Watson was still able to play basketball and excelled enough to get a scholarship at Marist College in New York. However he struggled in his two years there and on the advice of his former coach and mentor, Rob Orellana, went to a tryout for American football at Saddleback community college in California. Watson impressed the coaches with his 6ft 6in size and great speed and he was offered a place on the team.
Despite not knowing any of the rules his new sport, Watson learnt quickly and thrived, playing on the offensive line. At the end of the season Watson was offered a scholarship at college football powerhouse, the Florida State Seminoles. Watson had a dominant season for the Seminoles playing at right offensive tackle in 2012 and now despite his inexperience, could be drafted in the first round tonight.
2. Tyrann Mathieu
Tyrann Mathieu was one of the stars of the 2011 college football season with an incredible knack for producing big plays both on defense and as a kick returner. He was the outstanding player for the Louisiana State University Tigers as they reached the 2011 national championship game.
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During that season, Mathieu was suspended by LSU for one game for violating their drug policy and before the start of the 2012 season he was sensationally kicked off the LSU team for a violation of team rules. Reports at the time suggested the violation was more failed drug tests.
Mathieu entered a rehab facility in Houston after being dismissed from the team with a possibility of rejoining the LSU team in 2013. Soon after leaving rehab, Mathieu and three former teammates were arrested on possession charges after police searched his apartment, with Mathieu’s permission no less, and found “10 bags of high-grade marijuana”.
Mathieu has apparently cleaned up his life since then and has been mentored by former LSU teammate and Arizona Cardinals star Patrick Peterson. Despite not playing last year and his heavy baggage, Mathieu is still expected to be drafted in the late second or third round.
3. Lawrence Okoye
21 year old Lawrence Okoye is tipped to be drafted in the later rounds in this year's Draft despite incredibly, having never played a snap of competitive American football in his life. Okoye, who was born in Croydon in South London to Nigerian parents and gave up a his rugby career in 2010 to concentrate fully on being a discus thrower.
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He finished 12th in the discus event at the London Olympics but was still considered to have a big future in the sport. Germany's Robert Harting, who won the discus gold medal, predicted Okoye would dominate the sport in the coming years. After the Olympics, Okoye considered taking his place that he had deferred at Oxford, to study law.
He decided instead to follow in the footsteps of his father who played American football in college at Nebraska University. Okoye wowed NFL scouts by running a 40-yard dash in 4.78 seconds, broad-jumpeing nearly 101/2 feet and bench-pressing 225 pounds 30 times and a workout in Dallas this month. He is expected to play as a defensive lineman in the NFL and has been tipped as a possible late round selection for the 49ers.
