Alabama football sees 6 players taken in latest mock draft

A lot of people out there believe it’s never too early for an NFL mock draft. Others would argue the opposite. Personally, I’m somewhere in between, but I do find it fascinating to periodically check in and see where certain Alabama players are being mocked this early in the draft process.

One of the latest mock drafts for 2023 comes from Mark Schofield with USA TODAY’s Touchdown Wire. On Friday morning, Schofield released his “way too early” projections for all 32 first-round picks. Surprisingly enough, there were six Crimson Tide standouts who were included in those projections.

That includes two of the first three picks, too.

Alabama saw six players taken within the first two days of this year’s draft, but only two of them went on Day 1. If the Crimson Tide were somehow able to land six first-round picks next April, that number would tie the school’s record set in 2021. The program’s second-most sits at four, which has happened multiple times throughout the Nick Saban era.

Here are those six Alabama players who were mocked in Round 1.

• EDGE Will Anderson Jr. (No. 2) — Atlanta Falcons
• QB Bryce Young (No. 3) — Detroit Lions
• CB Eli Ricks (No. 17) — Arizona Cardinals
• DB Malachi Moore (No. 27) — Miami Dolphins
• DL Byron Young (No. 29) — Kansas City Chiefs
• LB Henry To’oTo’o (No. 31) — Tampa Bay Buccaneers

This is a strange collection of first-round picks.

First off, the range for Anderson and Young makes a lot of sense. Barring injury, both should be in that conversation for a top-3 selection. Ricks, while not officially a starter yet, also makes sense. The LSU transfer is easily one of the most gifted cornerbacks in college football, and he plays a premium position on defense.

Those last three guys though? Well, there’s a lot of projecting. Don’t get me wrong, all of them are capable of hearing their name called on a Thursday night in late April of 2023. My comments so far weren’t meant to be a knock on any of them.

As a freshman in 2020, Moore looked like a sure-fire, future Day 1 selection. In 12 games, the former Hewitt-Trussville standout produced 44 tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss, 3 interceptions and a forced fumble. Playing Alabama’s Star position, he proved that he can be effective against the run and the pass.

Things looked different in 2021 though. In fact, we’re not even sure if he’ll consistently run with the first-team defense.

From what we saw this spring, fellow junior Brian Branch has taken ahold of the starting job. In most other circumstances, we’d say Moore could slide to safety, but Alabama also returns Jordan Battle and DeMarcco Hellams. Manning the Money spot is his next best option, but that will limit the possible snaps.

A lot would need to happen for Moore to re-emerge as a first-round pick, but with his talent, I wouldn’t rule it out.

As for the other two, playing time shouldn’t be a concern. To’oTo’o is set to start at inside linebacker for the second straight season after leading Alabama with 112 tackles. Meanwhile, Young is an emerging defensive lineman who has played a lot of football since arriving in Tuscaloosa prior to the 2019 season.

For anyone who regularly listens to The Bama On3 Show, you know I’m a big fan of Young. Despite missing this spring due to an injury, I believe the Alabama senior has a good chance at a breakout season. But I’m not sure I see a future first-round draft pick, which I’ll explain further below.

Here’s every Alabama defensive lineman drafted since the 2016 season.

• 2022: Phidarian Mathis (No. 47 overall)
• 2021: Christian Barmore (No. 38)
• 2020: Raekwon Davis (No. 56)
• 2019: Quinnen Williams (No. 3)
• 2019: Isaiah Buggs (No. 192)
• 2018: Daron Payne (No. 13)
• 2018: Da’Shawn Hand (No. 114)
• 2018: Joshua Frazier (No. 246)
• 2017: Jonathan Allen (No. 17)
• 2017: Dalvin Tomlinson (No. 55)
• 2016: A’Shawn Robinson (No. 46)
• 2016: Jarran Reed (No. 49)

Are we ready to put Young into that tier with Williams, Payne and Allen? More realistically, I see a potential Day 2 pick, which would fall in line with former Alabama talents such as Mathis, Barmore, Tomlinson, Robinson and Reed. That’s still fantastic company for Young to be in, by the way.

Hopefully, all six players work their way into being first-round selections. It wouldn’t be the first time I was proven wrong.

Oh, and one final note from that list: five of the six Alabama guys play defense. Imagine another defense with five Day 1 talents in a single draft class. That won’t include underclassmen such as Dallas Turner, Kool-Aid McKinstry and several others. That defense should wreck offensive gameplans.