WATCH: Mississippi State offensive tackle Charles Cross runs blazing 40 time at NFL Scouting Combine
The NFL Scouting Combine is underway this weekend in Indianapolis, Indiana and players from across the country have been putting on a show. One of them is former Mississippi State offensive tackle, Charles Cross, the No. 2 ranked tackle prospect on NFL Network’s Bucky Brooks’ Big Board.
He showed a big reason why on Friday night, as he blazed his way to a 4.93 unofficial time in the 40-yard dash.
Later in the evening, the NFL released the official 40-times for the offensive linemen and Cross’ official time was actually 4.95, which is just a touch slower. Regardless, his performance was impressive.
Cross has a legitimate chance to be the top tackle selected in the 2022 NFL Draft. The Laurel, Mississippi native is widely projected to be a top 10 overall selection in this year’s draft. He’s expected to be a full participant in all the combine drills this weekend, minus the bench press. Cross ran a 5.00 unofficial time for his second 40-yard dash on Friday night.
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In the 2021-2022 season, per PFF, Charles Cross allowed a grand total of zero sacks and just five quarterback pressures over 553 pass-blocking snaps. His film speaks for itself, and he has firmly established himself as one of the elite offensive lineman prospects in the 2022 class. As a freshman, he was tabbed as a freshman All-SEC selection by the league’s coaches. He was the team’s top-graded offensive linemen for five games (Arkansas, Texas A&M, Alabama, Auburn, and Tulsa).
One thing that NFL Network’s Charles Davis noted on the broadcast was that Cross will have to work on is his run blocking. Coming from Mike Leach’s famed Air-Raid attack offense with the Mississippi State Bulldogs, adjusting to run blocking will be one of his biggest adjustments at the next level.
According to the On3 Consensus Rankings, Cross was rated as a five-star prospect in the 2019 recruiting class, and he’s done nothing but prove talent evaluators right throughout his career. He was a standout performer at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl as well.