Nebraska edge Ochaun Mathis reveals current leanings between staying vs. NFL Draft

Nebraska edge Ochaun Mathis took to Twitter on Tuesday to give Cornhusker nation an idea about where he’s currently leaning between staying another season or entering the NFL Draft.

The team’s second-leading sack creator says he is likely to declare for the draft, but he will talk to former interim head coach Mickey Joseph first.

“I’ll soon be speaking with Mickey to see what the future holds,” Mathis tweeted. “But right now I’m leaning toward the Draft.”

I’ll soon be speaking with Mickey to see what the future holds. But right now I’m leaning toward the Draft.

— Ochaun Mathis (@OchaunDevon) November 29, 2022

This season, Mathis’s first with Nebraska and fifth overall after transferring from TCU, he racked up 48 tackles with 3.5 sacks. Two years ago with the Horned Frogs, he had 9 sacks, which was tied for fifth in the nation in 2020.

Mathis isn’t the only one who plans to talk to Joseph in the coming days. One of the first orders of business for new Nebraska coach Matt Rhule is to meet with Joseph.

Joseph steadied the Nebraska program after taking over just three games into the season following Scott Frost’s firing in mid-September. Nebraska won two of its first three games under Joseph’s direction, and players seemed to gravitate toward him.

“I reached out to Mickey right when I got the job,” Rhule said in his introductory press conference. “Looking forward to talking to him at some point here and talking to the rest of the staff. I’ve been on both sides of it. I’ve been an assistant coach on a staff that’s been let go and I’ve always appreciated the coach coming in and talking to me, so I’ll try to be thorough with that process over the next couple of days.”

More on the 2023 NFL Draft

The 2023 NFL Draft is set to take place from Thursday, April 27 through Saturday, April 29 in Kansas City, Missouri. The event will be held at the plaza just outside of Union Station.

Round 1 of the NFL Draft is set to begin at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, Apr. 27. Rounds 2-3 will begin at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, Apr. 28, and Rounds 4-7 will begin at 12 p.m. ET on Saturday, Apr. 29. The draft will be broadcasted throughout the weekend on both ESPN and NFL Network.

To be eligible for the NFL Draft, players must be at least three years removed from their final year of high school while having used up their collegiate eligibility. Underclassmen are able to request league approval to become eligible for the draft, as are players who have graduated prior to using up all of their collegiate eligibility. One hundred underclassmen gained approval for last year’s draft. Seventy-three of those 100 underclassmen received special eligibility while 27 of them were underclassmen who had completed their college degrees.

The 2023 NFL scouting combine will take place from Feb. 28 through March 6 in Indianapolis.