College Football: Top 50 players for 2017

As an offensive tackle, there’s not much higher praise than being called “a young Joe Thomas“. That’s what one scout told Bleacher Report’s Matt Miler about Texas’ junior tackle Connor Williams. The Longhorns have had a rough stretch when it comes to the NFL Draft. Over the past two seasons they have had just two players selected, D’Onta Foreman (Third Round, 2017) and Hassan Ridgeway (Fourth Round, 2016.)

Williams has the potential to become the first Longhorn drafted in the first round since Malcolm Brown (2015) and possible the first top ten overall selection since Michael Huff who was taken by the Oakland Raiders in 2006. With new head coach Tom Herman at the controls, a top round NFL selection could go a long way to earning the Horns some recruiting momentum in Texas.

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A huge talent in more ways than one, Williams checks in at 6-foot-6 and 288 pounds. He wasn’t considered a slam dunk prospect out of high school, but he won the starting left tackle job as freshman in 2015 and never looked back.

In 2016 he was named a consensus first-team All-American, becoming the fourth sophomore in Texas’ history to achieve such a distinction. The most recent to do so? Earl Thomas in 2009. That’s some good company to keep. Williams won’t be seen on Sports Center top 10 clips in the fall, offensive lineman seldom earn that right. But that doesn’t mean you won’t hear his name early once draft conversations start to pick up in the spring.