AGGIE OWNS FIRST-ROUND SKILLS
Madubuike’s strength, quickness to QB keeps D-lineman on track for early pick
COLLEGE STATION — The nation might find out Thursday night what Justin Madubuike’s mother has known all along: The Texas A&M defensive tackle owns a megawatt smile that can light up a football field.
“My mom says I have a great one,” a grinning Madubuike said before revising his sentiment.
“Everyone says I have a great one,” he added, “so I’ll just keep smiling.”
A projected first-round selection in the NFL draft, Madubuike figures to be smiling wide by late Thursday. He bypassed his senior season to enter the draft and also chose not to play in the Texas Bowl, a 24-21 A&M victory over Oklahoma State.
An NFL.com draft profile described Madubuike (6-3, 293) as undersized but consistently making the most of his “leverage, strength and quickness.”
“Madubuike played in front of blockers in college, but is more likely to be schemed as a moving target whose quickness and athletic ability can benefit (a team),” the profile read.
Madubuike, who grew up in McKinney, is angling to become the Aggies’ first first-round selection since the Cleveland Browns chose defensive end Myles Garrett No. 1 overall in 2017. A&M has since had two second-rounders in receiver Christian Kirk (2018) and center Erik McCoy (2019).
“Pass rush is essential to playing on the interior defensive line,” Madubuike said of his 11 sacks from the interior over his final two seasons at A&M. “You (have to) create pressure on the quarterback to get him uncomfortable, and I take great pride in getting the quarterback down or outside the pocket.”
Madubuike turned heads at the NFL combine by sprinting the 40yard dash in 4.83 seconds while also bench pressing 225 pounds 31 times. A&M’s scheduled pro day in late March was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, but Madubuike’s impressive showing at the combine perhaps thrust him into the late firstround mix.
“I know I still have a lot of work to do,” he said. “But I’m going to put my head down, my left foot forward and keep on working.” Madubuike, who was A&M’s defensive MVP last season, is one of 58 NFL prospects invited by the league to participate in the draft virtually. The draft won’t be held in Las Vegas as planned because of the pandemic. Instead, draftees will be welcomed to their new teams and interviewed remotely via ESPN and the NFL Network.
In addition to Madubuike, A&M receivers Quartney Davis and Kendrick Rogers Jr. also skipped their senior seasons and declared for the draft, as did defensive back Debione Renfro. A&M players who were seniors in 2019 and hope to hear their names called this weekend — the virtual draft runs Thursday through Saturday — are punter Braden Mann and defensive back Charles Oliver.
Mann is the most intriguing of the bunch, considering he set the NCAA record for a season by averaging 51 yards per punt in 2018, when he won the Ray Guy Award as the nation’s top punter. Mann, who’s from Cy-Fair High, might go no later than the fifth round based on his ability to flip the field.
Davis, sidelined for a season by a torn ACL four years ago, was the Aggies’ second-leading receiver in 2019 with 54 catches for 616 yards. The former Langham Creek High standout projects as a late-round selection, which Rogers also hopes to be if an NFL
team is willing to take a chance on a tall target with a checkered pass-catching history at A&M.
Rogers (6-4, 208) offered flashes of greatness in the past two seasons at A&M — especially against Clemson in 2018 and 2019 and LSU in 2018 — but was too inconsistent to consistently see the field. He started a little more than half of the Aggies’ games last season (seven of 13), but at the least should sign as a free agent once the draft wraps up, based on what he can be.
Renfro’s decision to bypass his senior year — when he might have upped his draft stock — was even more of a head scratcher, but third-year A&M coach Jimbo Fisher has heavily recruited defensive backs the past two years, so perhaps Renfro believed he would not see the field as much in 2020.
Oliver, who easily led the Aggies with 15 pass breakups last season, also projects as either a lateround selection or a free agent.