30 college football players who could go from unknown to first-round pick in 2024

Every year, multiple players find themselves outside the NFL Draft conversation, but there's a reason they call 2025 mock drafts "way too early." There are dozens of players hoping to immensely raise their draft stock.

Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl - Ole Miss v Penn State / Todd Kirkland/GettyImages

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8. Johnny Walker Jr., EDGE, Missouri Tigers

Coaches love clutch players. This isn’t revealing anything, but it’s hard to really tell someone what the “clutch gene” looks like. It’s not something that’s exactly tangible, but it’s just something that becomes clear when the time is right. When the team needs a play, they know what player is going to step up. Johnny Walker Jr. has been stepping up for Missouri for years.

Missouri is expected to be even better this season, and they have an outside shot to make the College Football Playoff. The Tigers became part of the lexicon after a big win in the Cotton Bowl. In that game, Walker was named Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic Defensive MVP. In that game, he had a sack and 1.5 tackles for loss against Ohio State.

This season, Missouri is hoping that a bunch of returning starters lead to one of the best seasons in university history. That offense is going to bring about eyes of both fans and scouts, and that will bring more attention to Walker on the defensive side.

It’s surprising to learn about Walker’s journey. He wasn’t this five-star product despite his current size (6’3, 255 lbs.). Some thought he might be slightly small coming out of Tampa. He just worked and worked until he was one of the best at his position, and now scouts will see exactly how impressive he is off the edge.

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