A year ago, we started the NFL Draft cycle seeing three clear first round picks in the form of Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, and Trey Lance. Throughout the season we saw Zach Wilson climb the boards with BYU, and Mac Jones enter his name into the conversation as well. This 2022 NFL Draft class will need to hope for that as well.
While names like Oklahoma’s Spencer Rattler are seen at the top of the list with North Carolina’s Sam Howell and USC’s Kedon Slovis, there is a dark horse to monitor as well. After a dazzling redshirt sophomore season with the Nevada Wolfpack, Carson Strong now looks poised to take another leap as well.
Looking at the box score of the 2022 NFL Draft dark horse
Carson Strong saw his first action as the starting quarterback at Nevada in 2019 as a redshirt freshman. In that season he finished with 2,335 yards passing and 11 touchdowns in ten games. Strong also threw seven interceptions and completed 63 percent of his passes for the Wolfpack offense. We saw an improved Strong, and a big leap, in the 2020 season.
In nine games in the shortened season this past fall, Strong saw his completion percentage rise to 70 percent, and his interceptions drop to just four. Additionally, Strong threw for 2,858 yards and 27 touchdowns. If Strong takes yet another leap, we could be talking about a big-time talent coming out of the Mountain West yet again as Strong could follow in the steps of Josh Allen and Jordan Love as first round picks.