Throughout the season, each Saturday, I will look at the best prospects from the FCS (or lower level) prospects I watched the weekend before. Or, I will look at the 2023 NFL Draft prospects from the Sun Belt schools I watched the prior weekend. During week one I saw one game involving Sun Belt teams and a few others with FCS prospects.
SUN BELT SATURDAY
OLD DOMINION MONARCHS
The main prospect I was looking to see during the Old Dominion-Virginia tech matchup was Monarchs’ TE Zack Kuntz. Unfortunately, as I mentioned on Tuesday, Kuntz was blanketed for most of the game by Chamarri Conner. It was quite obvious that the Hokies’ game plan was to not let the 6’7” 245-pound tight end beat them. They held Kuntz to only 12 yards on two receptions. Unfortunately for them, they let others get in their way.
ODU corner Tobias Harris looked impressive as well. Harris transferred up after spending four seasons at Division II West Texas A&M. He had an interception in the second quarter where he beat the receiver inside.
Monarchs’ offensive tackle prospect Nick Saldiveri needs to do a better job of anchoring as the team’s right tackle.
SMALL SCHOOL SATURDAY NOTES
One of the best prospects for the South Dakota State team is their 4th-year TE Tucker Kraft. During the 7-3 loss to Iowa, Kraft left the game after his first offensive touch, a seven-yard reception. Fortunately, it appears the injury is not season-ending.
Source: Officially a right ankle injury for #SouthDakotaState TE Tucker Kraft. He’s in a boot and rehabbing, but it is considered a short-term injury and shouldn’t miss more than a few games.
One of the top TE prospects in CFB, Kraft was injured early vs. Iowa on Saturday.
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) September 5, 2022
Shane P Hallam has spoken glowingly about 3rd-year RB Isaiah Davis from South Dakota State. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see much of that promise on Saturday. Davis had 23 touches for 77 yards. He does do a good job as a route runner out of the backfield. Which is always good to see.
The good news is FCS All-American candidate, LB Isaiah land of Florida A&M was declared eligible to play in the game against Jackson State. He was academically ineligible a week against North Carolina. It may be rust but I didn’t see much of an impact. 2nd-year JSU QB Shedeur Sanders smoked the rest of the Florida A&M defense. The son of NFL legend and current Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders threw for 323 yards and five TDs in the huge 59-3 win.
Check out my other content HERE, including my other notes from Week One.