Mel Kiper drops 2021 NFL Draft rankings for Texas football players

Three players out of the Texas football program were mentioned among Mel Kiper Jr.’s initial big board and prospect rankings for the 2021 NFL Draft.

The first edition of an actual big board and set of prospect rankings for the 2021 NFL Draft dropped from ESPN’s draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. on May 5. And his initial set of positional (and top 25) rankings featured three players from the Texas football program. There was one Texas player present in the top 25 Big Board rankings for the 2021 NFL Draft, and the other two were present just in the positional rankings.

Those three players included from the Texas Longhorns football program in these 2021 NFL Draft rankings from Kiper Jr. were rising junior safety Caden Sterns, junior outside linebacker Joseph Ossai, and redshirt junior offensive tackle Sam Cosmi. Those three all would have to declare early for the 2021 NFL Draft, though. There weren’t any rising senior Longhorns in Kiper’s early draft rankings.

The 6-foot-7 and 310 pound towering tackle Cosmi was ranked 12th in the top 25 prospect rankings for the 2021 draft from Kiper. He was the lone player present in those top 25 prospect rankings. Here’s more on what Kiper had to say about the slotting of Cosmi in this piece.

"Cosmi, who started at right tackle as a redshirt freshman in 2018 then switched to left tackle last season, is a phenomenal athlete. Just watch this 12-yard touchdown receptionfrom 2019. He has great feet and can also bowl over edge defenders in the run game. If he puts all of his talent together, he could be a top-10 pick. The Big 12 is wide open in 2020, but the Longhorns have the league’s best offensive lineman and a really solid veteran quarterback in Sam Ehlinger."

Cosmi was also ranked as the second best offensive tackle in this potential draft class. He was only ranked behind the Oregon Ducks rising junior and possible top three pick Penei Sewell. Kiper had Sewell ranked as the second best prospect in this entire class.

Among the safeties in this class, Sterns ranked third at the position. He ranked behind Oregon’s Jevon Holland and Syracuse’s Andre Cisco at the safety position. There was one other Big 12 safety in the top five, TCU’s Trevon Moehrig (at No. 4).

And the last Longhorn in this set of rankings from Kiper was Ossai, at the outside linebacker position. Ossai ranked last out of five in terms of outside linebackers for the 2021 draft. The top four included Penn State’s Micah Parsons, Notre Dame’s Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Miami’s Quincy Roche, and Oregon State’s Hamilcar Rashed Jr.

At the very top of this draft big board, two of the superstar quarterbacks set to take center stage in the upcoming college football season highlighted the top three. Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence is the top ranked prospect (per Kiper), and Ohio State’s Justin Fields comes in third.

Other significant NFL Draft prospects out of the Big 12 mentioned in these rankings included Oklahoma State’s Chuba Hubbard (No. 2 RB), Oklahoma’s Creed Humphrey (No. 1 C), and Texas Tech’s Jack Anderson (No. 4 OG).