If any Big Ten player can crack the top ten in next April’s NFL Draft, it’s Desmond King. The Iowa Hawkeyes cornerback and winner of the 2015 Jim Thorpe award as the nation’s best defensive back could have easily gone pro last year if he wanted. Now that he has come back to Iowa City for 2016, he’ll likely further augment his game and drive up the price of his NFL Draft stock.
Especially when you consider the positions the NFL places so much value on these days.
Passers, edge pass rushers, blind side pass protectors and pass defenders are always the top four positions in demand by a NFL teams each and every draft these days.
With that in mind, King is likely the league’s top NFL talent, but you can also make a strong case for:
Michigan’s Jabrill Peppers (which we profiled here), Ohio State’s Raekwon McMillan (who we profiled at this link) and Michigan State’s Malik McDowell (who we’ll profile tomorrow)
King’s leadership is felt all throughout campus. Last winter, Iowa point guard Anthony Clemmons explained some of the 2015 football team’s similarities to the ’15-’16 basketball team and he brought Desmond up in the process.
“I remember talking to Desmond King about all his individual success,” said Clemmons.
“And his first words to me were it’s not about me it’s about our team, and to hear that from him, one of the star players, I really took that into consideration into what makes teams great, when everyone is combined as one.”
Below we have audio from Desmond King at B1G Media Day during the breakout sessions. Have a listen in the Sound Cloud file below
https://soundcloud.com/p-m-banks/iowa-hawkeyes-desmond-king
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.