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A pair of Utah linebackers are headed to the NFL mix in Indianapolis with a possibility to reinforce their inventory heading into the 2022 NFL draft.
Devin Lloyd and Nephi Sewell, who helped lead the Utes to a Pac-12 championship and look within the Rose Bowl, will probably be among the many 324 high faculty prospects on the mix March 1-7 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Few know the linebacker place higher than coach Kyle Whittingham, who was a standout linebacker at BYU.
Lloyd has been projected as a first-round choose when the draft is held April 28-30 in Las Vegas.
“I see precisely what the NFL seems to be for in linebackers,” Whittingham mentioned final fall. “He’s acquired the dimensions, the pace, the explosion, the athleticism, the intelligence — every thing you see in these elite linebackers within the NFL, Devin possesses them.”
Added Whittingham: “Devin is a particular soccer participant. He’s the perfect defender that’s ever come by means of the College of Utah, a minimum of within the fashionable period. He’s going to be, almost certainly, the very best drafted defensive participant that we’ve had.”
Just a few weeks in the past, ESPN NFL draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. launched a 2022 mock draft with Lloyd being chosen No. 15 total by the Philadelphia Eagles.
“All this child does is make performs in each means on protection. He’s intercepting passes, he’s batting down passes, he’s breaking apart passes, he’s getting after the quarterback and getting sacks,” Kiper mentioned throughout a latest podcast. “He’s intercepting passes and returning them for touchdowns. He’s all over the place.”
In his mock draft, NFL media analyst Daniel Jeremiah projected Lloyd because the No. 7 total choose of the New York Giants.
“Lloyd is a enjoyable participant to check. He flies across the area and makes a bunch of performs on the ball,” Jeremiah wrote. “His intangibles are off the charts. I may see the 2021 Pac-12 Pat Tillman Defensive Participant of the Yr emerge as a key chief for the Giants’ protection.”
In program historical past, Utah has had 13 linebackers taken within the draft. The Utes’ highest defensive choose was Star Lotulelei, who was taken No. 14 total by the Carolina Panthers in 2013.
Lloyd recorded 43 profession tackles for loss at Utah, rating fourth in program historical past, and he had 10 profession All-America honors. He was a three-time All-Pac-12 choice and a two-time Butkus Award finalist.
“He performs inside the construction and framework of the protection. However we make the most of him in plenty of alternative ways. You noticed us convey him off the sting fairly a bit to this point this season,” Whittingham mentioned. “He’s acquired nice measurement. He runs like a deer. He’s instinctive, he’s acquired an extended wingspan and also you see him tip balls very often, significantly in go rush.
“He’s a playmaker. He’s a man that when there’s a play to be made, he nearly at all times makes it. He’s an absolute soccer junkie and pupil of the sport. He watches as a lot movie through the course of per week as anyone we’ve ever had right here.”
Sewell, a transformed security, was a two-time All-Pac-12 choice and had 5 profession double-digit sort out video games for the Utes. Final season, he ranked second on Utah’s protection with 89 tackles, together with 7.5 tackles-for-loss.
“He’s an absolute baller. He’s beginning to get extra consideration as he deserves,” Lloyd mentioned of Sewell. “However he’s so instinctual and so sensible. He’s only a flat-out baller. He deserves all of the credit score on the earth for the performs that he makes.”
“Nephi has distinctive quickness. That’s actually the energy of his sport — his quickness and his lateral motion,” Whittingham mentioned. “He’s additionally a bodily participant that may hit you and ship a blow.”
A few months in the past, former Oregon coach Mario Cristobal had excessive reward for each Sewell and Lloyd.
“They’re very instinctive gamers they usually get downhill in a rush. They diagnose rapidly. You possibly can inform that they spend tons of time within the movie room. It doesn’t take them lengthy to determine what an offense is doing,” he mentioned. “They get it and after they get there, they get there with the precise sort of disposition.
“They’re knock-back tacklers. Clearly, we’re very aware of the Sewell household. Devin Lloyd is a man that together with his size and his vary, once more, simply a wonderful soccer participant in addition to Nephi Sewell. Each these guys, they simply achieve this a lot for them not solely as linebackers but in addition within the blitz sport and likewise simply as go rushers with the way in which that they use Lloyd. He’s only a actually, actually good soccer participant.”
The NFL mix will probably be televised on NFL Community.