NFL combine awaits likely No. 1 Garrett
SEC leads way with 66 invites, highlighted by 9 A&M players
COLLEGE STATION — Well-meaning people close to defensive end Myles Garrett — and some not so close — have tried pulling the Texas A&M star in different directions with handfuls of alleged obligations since he declared for the NFL draft in early January.
Garrett, who’s learning quickly on this front, finally let them know he was only headed in one direction this winter: Indianapolis, home of the NFL combine from Feb. 28 through March 6.
“It was, ‘I’d like you to do this and I’d like you to do that,’ ” Garrett said. “But I finally said I’ve got to train, and I’ve got to put on a real performance when I get to the combine.”
Entering the combine Garrett projects as the No. 1 overall selection, which would be a first for A&M since the NFL draft started in 1936.
“That’s what I’m most excited about, being the first Aggie to be the No. 1 pick,” said Garrett, whom the Cleveland Browns are expected to tab first. “I’m going to work hard to achieve that goal.”
Big 12 lags behind
Garrett isn’t the only former A&M player working hard on that front, as eight of his teammates from the 2016 squad also are invited to the combine. The nine A&M invites are nearly half of the 19 Big 12 invites, as the 10-team league is far behind the four other Power Five conferences.
The SEC, A&M’s home since 2012, leads the way with 66, and is followed by the ACC (60), Big Ten (51), Pac-12 (46) and the Big 12 with less than one-third of the SEC’s invites. The Big 12 has four less teams than the SEC, ACC and Big Ten (all with 14 members), but taking that into consideration the discrepancy is still palpable.
At 18, the AAC has nearly as many invites as the Big 12, and C-USA, MAC and Mountain West follow with 11 each.
Garrett easily is the Aggies’ most high-profile attendee, but safety Justin Evans also will try to work his way into the first round. Evans was NFL.com’s midseason national defensive player of the year before the 8-5 Aggies dropped off the Top 25 radar with a dreadful November.
The rest of the A&M contingent includes the Aggies’ starting offensive tackles, Avery Gennesy and Jermaine Eluemunor; three receivers in Josh Reynolds, Ricky Seals-Jones and Speedy Noil; quarterback Trevor Knight; and Garrett’s fellow starting defensive end, Daeshon Hall.
Contingent from state
Like Garrett, Seals-Jones and Noil bypassed their senior seasons to declare for the draft. It’s clearly an up year for A&M with perceived pro talent — last year the Aggies had six invited to the combine — and a down year for the Big 12, considering the league sent 34 to the combine a year ago.
What’s also clear is the SEC’s headway into Texas since A&M exited the Big 12 and entered the SEC five years ago. Ten Texans were on Alabama’s roster last season, and the Crimson Tide have made the four-team College Football Playoff in each of the new format’s first three seasons.
LSU is sending 10 players to the combine, and their highest draft selection might be safety Jamal Adams of Lewisville. Alabama also is sending 10 to Indianapolis, and the Tigers and Tide are followed by A&M (nine), Florida and Arkansas (eight each) and Tennessee (six), among the programs with at least six invites.
Showing his ‘real value’
Meanwhile, Garrett, an Arlington native and one of the nation’s top-rated recruits three years ago, said he’s nearly fully recovered from a high ankle sprain that hindered him much of last season, although he fought through the pain to play through the Aggies’ 33-28 loss to Kansas State in the Texas Bowl.
“It’s close to 100 percent,” Garrett said. “I took some time off to rest it, and then worked on my upper body and legs, things that didn’t require much pounding on my foot or ankle, and now it’s close to being healed.”
That approach, among plenty of other reasons, is why A&M coach Kevin Sumlin believes Garrett is a worthy player to become A&M’s first No. 1 overall selection. Running backs John Kimbrough (1941) and John David Crow (1958), linebackers Quentin Coryatt (1992) and Von Miller (2011) and offensive lineman Luke Joeckel (2013) all have been No. 2 selections from A&M.
“Unlike some guys, he played this year hurt,” Sumlin said of Garrett. “He played all the way through (the bowl). People see that. Not just his talent, but a guy who really likes to play the game. That’s shown a lot of people what his real value and worth can be.”