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 three (and four) I saw one game involving Sun Belt teams and a few others with FCS prospects.
SUN BELT SATURDAY
MARSHALL THUNDERING HERD
Marshall stunned the college football world a few weeks ago when they knocked off Notre Dame. Unfortunately, they haven’t been able to seize that momentum in Sun Belt play.
My favorite prospect from the Herd is CB Steven Gilmore. He is the younger brother of Stephon Gilmore. The younger Gilmore has good length. He possesses solid ball skills but gets in trouble trying to cheat routes. Gilmore has been good this season after struggling a bit in 2021. Against Troy, Gilmore wasn’t challenged often and finished with three tackles.
LB Abraham Beauplan fills the gaps well and finishes ball carriers. Beauplan made nine tackles against Troy.
RB Rasheen Ali stepped away from the team for personal reasons before the season and he has not returned to this point.
TROY TROJANS
LB Carlton Martial has a chance to finish his career as the FBS career tackles leader. After a 17-tackle performance in the Sun Belt conference game against Marshall, Martial now sits at 476 career tackles. He will not be drafted high in April because of his diminutive size. However, I would be shocked if he isn’t drafted with the thought of being a special teams dynamo.
Their other linebacker prospect, Richard Jibunor, did not play.
SMALL SCHOOL SATURDAY NOTES
While watching Chattanooga against Illinois, two of their prospects stood out. The first is DL Devonnsha Maxwell. The 6th-year defender is 6’2” and 300-pounds. Maxwell has some nice pass rush moves on the interior. His first sack (of two) came on a sweet spin move. The game didn’t seem too big for him and I would expect him to get a nice, cushy all-star game invite.
Guard McClendon Curtis has a good anchor and keeps a nice base. He creates holes in the run game. Curtis plays right guard for the Mocs.
I will be back with more Sun Belt Saturday next week.