Texas football has 11 players invited to NFL Draft scouting combine
Eleven Texas football products were among the 321 prospects invited Tuesday to the annual NFL scouting combine, which starts in late February in Indianapolis.
The group: running backs Jonathon Brooks and Keilan Robinson; receivers Adonai Mitchell, Xavier Worthy and Jordan Whittington; tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders; offensive lineman Christian Jones; defensive linemen Byron Murphy II and T’Vondre Sweat; linebacker Jaylan Ford and defensive back Ryan Watts.
More: We're in a new recruiting era, and Steve Sarkisian has Texas thriving in it | Golden
A special NFL committee decides who gets the opportunity to come to the combine, with all 32 teams providing input on draft-eligible players. That information is then used by the NFL’s player selection committee to pick the combine participants.
All eligible players are reviewed and voted on by the committee members, with invitation extended to the athletes receiving the necessary number of votes. According to a statement by the NFL on its website, “the goal of the committee is to invite every player that will be drafted in the ensuing NFL Draft."
More: Kansas City Chiefs' Charles Omenihu the 28th Longhorn to win a Super Bowl ring
More: Texas football may be on the verge of becoming the newest NFL assembly line | Bohls
Texas has several players predicted to go early in the draft, based on various mock drafts. In the latest mock from NFL.com’s Chad Reuter, Murphy went 15th overall to Indianapolis, Sanders went 21st to Miami, Brooks went 39th to the New York Giants, Mitchell went 40th to Washington, Sweat went 44th to Las Vegas and Worthy went 60th to Buffalo.
Jones drew praise from various scouts at the Senior Bowl earlier this month and may have worked his way into the middle rounds of the draft, and Watts impressed at the recent Shrine Bowl and is now expected to get drafted after previous projections listed him as an undrafted free agent.
Ford projects as a mid- to late-round pick while Whittington and Robinson are expected to go in the later rounds.
The combine, which runs from Feb. 26 to March 4, will be aired on the NFL Network.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas football has 11 players invited to NFL Draft Combine
