LSU OT Will Campbell slides backwards in ESPN's NFL Mock Draft
LSU junior starting left tackle Will Campbell has long been considered one of the top underclassmen ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft.
While Campbell has yet to declare whether he will return to LSU for his senior season or depart for the NFL Draft, most analysts presume the talented Louisiana native and three-year starter for the Tigers will enter his name into the draft pool in January.
If so, where will Campbell land as a consensus first-round pick in the minds of most draft analysts?
In October, Campbell was the projected No. 1 pick on Yahoo!’s Mock Draft from Nate Tice.
“Campbell is a technician on the left side who constantly stays balanced and in a winning position,” Tice said. “His upright stance looks funky, but he’s a good athlete with light feet who can move in space and has the core strength to bring pop in the run game.
“Campbell is a consistent and smart player for a franchise desperately needing some of that.”
As the month of November winds down, and with just two weeks left in college football’s regular season, ESPN NFL Draft analyst Matt Miller unveiled a new projection for how he thinks the first-round to shake out.
While the biggest surprise was seeing Miller project Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders and two-way star Travis Hunter Jr. to be selected with the No. 1 and No. 2 picks, another head-turning projection was where he slotted LSU’s starting left tackle.
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Campbell, who has battled Texas star Kelvin Banks as the top offensive tackle prospect in the potential draft class, was not behind just Banks, but was projected by Miller to be the third offensive tackle selected after being slotted behind the other starting tackle in Austin.
Miller’s NFL Mock Draft has Banks going No. 3 overall, then the San Francisco 49ers selecting Texas offensive tackle Cameron Williams at No. 16 overall before the Seattle Seahawks grab Campbell with the No. 17 pick in the first round.
Campbell was also listed by Miller as a guard/tackle combo player, with the move from college tackle to NFL guard being a talking point among draft analysts in recent months given Campbell’s length relative to the average for NFL starting offensive tackles. Miller had Campbell listed as the top guard prospect in the first round.
The other offensive tackles projected to land in the first round of Miller’s Mock Draft were Minnesota’s Aireontae Ersery (No. 19 pick) and Ohio State’s Josh Simmons (No. 32 pick).
Campbell was the lone LSU player to appear on Miller’s Mock Draft for Round 1. LSU right tackle Emery Jones and linebacker Harold Perkins, who suffered a season-ending injury, have both appeared in other mock drafts in recent months.
