NFL Draft Watch: Duke Johnson climbs the RB ranks; Marcus Peters sees stock tumble
NFL Draft Watch is your weekly guide for college players worth keeping an eye on leading up to April's draft.
On the Rise
Duke Johnson, RB, Miami
He may have been on bye this week, but with all of the hype surrounding Miami's upcoming game against Florida State, many NFL scouts will want to see how the junior running back fares against the Seminoles in a matchup that many critics are predicting will result in an upset win for the Hurricanes.
This year's draft class is flush with talented running backs. Johnson is making a case to be selected ahead of household names like T.J. Yeldon, Mike Davis, Javorius Allen and Karlos Williams.
He is eighth in the league in rushing yards and has posted a ridiculous 1,213 rushing yards on the season to go along with nine touchdowns.
Marcus Mariota, QB, Oregon
One could argue that his stock could not be any higher - he is after all widely considered to be the unanimous No. 1 overall pick - but Saturday's four touchdown performance against Utah should have ended any doubt that the Hawaii native won't be the first pick in April's draft.
Oh yeah, he's also thrown for 2,780 yards, 29 touchdowns and two interceptions through 10 games this season.
On the Decline
Stefon Diggs, WR, Maryland
To say that Stefon Diggs' draft stock has been volatile this season would be putting it lightly. After catching 54 passes for 848 yards and six touchdowns as a freshman, the speedy wideout's sophomore campaign was hampered by injuries that limited him to seven games.
Expected to be healthy at the beginning of the season, many believed the junior wideout would build on his tremendous freshman year and establish himself as an early-round prospect. But a kidney injury he suffered against Penn State will reportedly sideline him for the remainder of the season.
In the nine games he's played this season, Diggs has surpassed the 55-yard plateau just three times and has failed to string together consecutive 100-yard games.
With that being said, the Maryland native has shown flashes of brilliance this season and leads the team in catches, yards and touchdowns, making him an interesting prospect but one that will likely be a mid-round selection.
Marcus Peters, DB, Washington
After solid games against Stanford's Ty Montgomery and Arizona State's Jaelen Strong, it looked like Huskies cornerback Marcus Peters was sure to be selected in the first round of April's draft.
But that all changed last week when Peters was kicked off the team after a number of run-ins with the coaching staff.
There's no doubting that Huskies cornerback Marcus Peters has the athletic ability to be a first-round pick, but his off-field issues and recent dismissal from Washington will likely see him drafted somewhere between the second and third round.
Consider him this year's Janoris Jenkins or Tyrann Mathieu.
T.J. Yeldon, RB, Alabama
For a guy who rushed for 2,343 yards and 26 touchdowns in his first two seasons, Yeldon's 2014 output has been less than stellar as the junior has only rushed for 686 yards and five touchdowns through nine games.
In a year stacked with talented running backs and a less-than-clutch fumble that almost lost Alabama the game against LSU, Yeldon is looking more and more like a mid- to late-round selection.