HEADLINES

Trey Lance

Trey Lance Declares For 2021 Draft

October 6th, 2020 at 4:40pm CST by Sam Robinson

Trey Lance will join Trevor Lawrence as part of the 2021 draft pool. A North Dakota State quarterback prospect who has been consistently mocked as a first-round pick, Lance will opt to leave the Division I-FCS school early to prepare for the draft, Pete Thamel of Yahoo.com reports.

Despite Lance having only played one season of college football, he is draft-eligible after redshirting in 2018. North Dakota State tabled its football season to 2021 but played a one-off game against Central Arkansas last weekend. That will double as the sophomore passer’s college finale.

In 16 games for the Bison last season, Lance dominated by throwing 28 touchdown passes (with no interceptions) and rushing for a Bison-best 1,100 yards. He has joined Lawrence and Ohio State’s Justin Fields, who has yet to declare, as top quarterback prospects for 2021. Lawrence is playing as a junior but announced he will leave Clemson after this season.

The 6-foot-4 Lance led North Dakota State, an FCS-level dynasty, to a 16-0 season and a national championship. The Bison have seen two recent passers go on to the NFL, with Carson Wentz‘s stock rising swiftly in 2016 en route to being the No. 2 overall pick. Lance’s predecessor, Easton Stick, is currently backing up Justin Herbert with the Chargers.

Still, it represents a major development that a non-Division I-FBS player is declaring after one season of action. The Division I-FCS championship game is scheduled for May 15, which would be a non-tenable setup for Lance since it falls after the draft. While Lawrence profiles as the player who will be connected to the team with 2020’s worst record, Fields and Lance figure to be in the mix soon after.

College Football Notes: Winter Season, Slater, Lance

August 21st, 2020 at 1:11pm CST by Rory Parks

Just like everything else in the world, college football has been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. And the NFL, whose talent comes almost exclusively from the collegiate ranks, is willing to do whatever it can to make sure college football is played before the 2021 NFL draft.

As Albert Breer of SI.com writes, college coaches have discussed starting their season not in the spring, but on January 1, which would allow them to play out an eight-game season and even a postseason by mid-March. The NFL is willing to assist with that endeavor, whether that means offering its stadiums — like the Lions’ Ford Field — or pushing back its combine and draft.

Of course, the Big Ten and Pac-12 have already announced plans to postpone their fall schedules to the spring, but a winter season may make it more likely that top college prospects choose to play rather than declare for the draft. Either way, it seems inevitable that the NFL will need to make some serious adjustments to its 2021 offseason schedule, but the league seems prepared to do so.

Now for more collegiate notes that could have a major impact on the professional game:

  • Northwestern OT Rashawn Slater is opting out of the 2020 season, per Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). Slater is viewed as one of the best O-line prospects in the country — he was one of the few players to limit Ohio State star Chase Young last year — and Thamel believes Slater will not fall out of the first round.
  • Slater’s Big Ten colleague, Michigan CB Ambry Thomas, has also declared for the 2021 draft, a decision that Thomas himself announced via Twitter. Thomas just became a full-time contributor on defense in 2019, and he was excellent in press coverage. A likely Day 2 selection, he also has appeal as a kick returner.
  • One of the country’s premier FCS programs, North Dakota State, will not be playing football in 2020, as Andrew Groover of the NFL Network tweets. NDSU quarterback Trey Lance, whom NFL.com analyst Daniel Jeremiah has compared favorably to former Colts QB Andrew Luck, is a candidate to opt out of the program’s spring season and declare for the draft.
  • Per Thamel, the NCAA Division I Council has decided that fall sport student-athletes can participate in any number of competitions this year without it counting towards their eligibility (Twitter link). So if, say, a senior in the SEC has a down season in 2020, he can return next year to try and rebuild his stock.