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SALT LAKE CITY — In the latest 2017 NFL mock draft released by cbssports.com, current University of Utah standouts Marcus Williams and Lowell Lotulelei were projected as first-round draft picks. The Utes have never had two players chosen in the first round of any draft.
The website has Williams, a free safety, going to Washington with the 18th pick, while projecting Lotulelei going No. 21 to the Houston Texans. Currently both underclassmen, neither Williams nor Lotulelei are a guarantee to enter the draft, but the mere fact that they were included speaks to the talent level that each possess to be so highly thought of by both scouts and pundits.
Williams has 26 tackles on the season, a number that accounts for nearly 10 percent of his team’s total tackles. He’s added three interceptions and a forced fumble to that number. Excelling in coverage, Williams is the ideal NFL free safety, whose incredible athleticism rarely has to be on display because he’s so often in great position to make an easy play. But if and when duty has called, Williams is there to make a big play.
Williams would be the first true safety taken off the board if these projections hold out, and the third overall, behind Michigan's Jabrill Peppers and LSU's Jamal Adams.
Lotulelei, like his older brother Star, currently the starting nose tackle for the Carolina Panthers, isn’t much of a stat stuffer. Where Lotulelei makes his presence felt is in the things that don’t show up on a stat sheet. He eats up double teams, tosses opposing lineman around like rag dolls and shows excellent athleticism tackling in tight space.
Lotulelei, if taken with the 21st pick, would likely be the first or second defensive tackle off the board, depending on how defensive lineman Malik McDowell of Michigan State projects to play in the NFL.
Stephen Lindsey is a student at the University of Utah currently working as an intern with KSL.com in Salt Lake City. Contact him at th3sl3@gmail.com or interact via his twitter handle, @slthe3
