The NFL Draft kicks off with its opening spherical on Thursday in Kansas Metropolis, so Rivals is having a look again at its projected first-round picks after they had been highschool prospects. We transfer on to our projected No. 23 – USC receiver Jordan Addison, who was a three-star prospect within the 2020 class.
The place they had been ranked: The Frederick (Md.) Tuscarora standout was a excessive three-star extensive receiver who was No. 86 within the place rankings and No. 21 within the Maryland state rankings for the 2020 class.
Recruitment: Maryland, Notre Dame and Virginia Tech had been the opposite packages primarily recruiting Addison however he dedicated to Pitt in the summertime earlier than his senior season primarily as a result of the Panthers confirmed him a lot curiosity and place coach Chris Beatty was a detailed connection.
Beatty moved on to the Los Angeles Chargers and Addison performed two seasons at Pitt together with one wherein he had 100 catches for 1,593 yards and 17 touchdowns earlier than transferring for one season at USC.
Largest query: At solely 5-foot-11 and 173 kilos, will NFL cornerbacks be capable to bodily dominate him on the line of scrimmage and reroute him?
Reminiscences: Addison didn’t play with elite quarterbacks in highschool so that might have slowed his nationwide repute a bit of since he was so gifted even at the highschool stage.
He was a particular groups star as a result of he was sooner and had higher imaginative and prescient than anyone else after which at receiver he might line up exterior and go over defensive backs or he could possibly be within the slot, catch a brief move after which make one thing massive out of it.
However Addison by no means attended camps or did a lot 7-on-7 so he simply wasn’t a identified commodity. Addison clearly had the expertise and a few would possibly argue much more expertise than the receivers on the high of the 2020 place rankings however he simply didn’t present as much as many occasions.
Addison’s remaining yr at Pitt, a tremendous season, was additionally helped by Kenny Pickett being the quarterback. That’s not to remove something from Addison, who was calm down the stretch for USC final season and opted out of the Cotton Bowl sport in opposition to Tulane.
Nonetheless, Addison has the particular instruments to be thought of among the many high receivers on this class. An argument could possibly be made that he’s the very best of the group since Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Quentin Johnston and Zay Flowers all have flaws and query marks as effectively.