SAN FRANCISCO – Amid the chaos that is Super Bowl Radio Row, three Arizona State draft prospects were generating plenty of air time.
Although the week leading up to the game primarily focused on the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, chatter also surrounded the college stars who could soon be playing on football’s biggest stage. The Sun Devils’ Jordyn Tyson, Keith Abney and Max Iheanachor were three of those names on the lips of NFL draft experts and players.
It will come as no surprise to ASU fans that Tyson led the charge. The back-to-back first-team All-Big 12 Conference wide receiver just finished a stellar career in Tempe, and is now poised to be among the earliest players selected in the NFL Draft in April. Tyson’s play even drew the attention of Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, a player Tyson is compared to often.
“I definitely was able to watch him play, he’s explosive,” Smith-Njigba said during Super Bowl Opening Night. “He definitely can make plays all around the field, and you can line him up everywhere. He’s definitely going to be a guy I continue to watch.”
That’s a ringing endorsement considering the Seattle pass catcher just took home the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year award. Tyson’s biggest advocates, however, might lie in the collection of draft pundits who were in full force on Radio Row. James Fragoza, an NFL draft and college football analyst at Pro Football and Sports Network, believes Tyson stands out as the one receiver this year who can immediately take over a wide receiver room on an NFL team.
“Those insane ball skills, body movement and body control in the air is just something you can’t teach, you can’t coach it,” Fragoza said.“He really is that X receiver, and there’s not many of those in most draft classes, especially this one.”
Abney and Iheanachor might not receive the fanfare and top-10 buzz that Tyson has produced, but their names were consistently mentioned alongside their teammate when Arizona State’s draft prospects became the topic of discussion.
Ian Cummings, the head of Pro Football and Sports Network’s scouting department, is particularly bullish on Abney.
“He’s a first-round grade on my board so I’m a big fan of what he has to offer. He’s sticky, man,” Cummings said of the ASU cornerback who could give last season’s Sun Devils team a chance at multiple selections on Day One of the draft. “I think Keith Abney has that really really diverse coverage skill set.”
Fragoza is impressed with Abney’s ability to make up for his lack of size relative to others at the position and believes “secondary is actually one of the stronger positions in this draft … and he should be the second corner off the board in my opinion.”
Not lacking anything in the size department is Iheanachor, and although teams in the NFL won’t draft you based on a feel-good story, the Sun Devils offensive lineman has one of the best in the country.
Iheanachor grew up playing the other kind of football in Nigeria, immigrated to Los Angeles as a teenager and proceeded to choose basketball as his sport in high school. The 6-foot-6, 330-pounder didn’t even play American football until junior college, shortly after his AAU coach suggested that he give it a try.
Fast forward half a decade and Iheanachor has become one of the fastest rising professional prospects in the draft. Due to the bevy of injuries that hit ASU’s offensive line during the 2023 season, Iheanachor was thrust into a starting role early in his Sun Devils career, and only got better from there.
“He caught my eyes in the David Bailey game where he was really handling David Bailey, a top-10 talent in this class, and he’s matching him stride for stride,” Cummings said of Iheanachor’s performance in Arizona State’s upset win over Texas Tech.
Iheanachor’s effort in the Senior Bowl, an annual postseason event for collegiate players to showcase their talents to pro scouts, boosted his draft stock even further. Video clips of Iheanachor participating in pass protection drills spread across social media, and his name has since rocketed up draft boards across the industry.
“I would argue that he was the best offensive tackle in the game all week,” said Todd McShay, NFL draft analyst for The Ringer. “I’m not saying he’s a first-rounder, but there’s no chance he gets out of the top 50 picks. Bank that right now.”
Much like his fellow draft experts, McShay is very high on the trio of prospects coming out of Kenny Dillingham’s program, projecting Jordyn Tyson as a bona fide first-round pick who can play “all three wide receiver spots” in his most recent predictions.
If the amount of name drops that Tyson, Abney and Iheanachor racked up at Super Bowl Radio Row was any indication of their standing as NFL prospects, ASU football fans will have plenty to look forward to at the draft.
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