Deebo Samuel catching attention of NFL draft experts

Deebo Samuel’s Day 1 on Monday at the practices before the Senior Bowl was pretty impressive.

Days 2 and 3 were more of the same.

The South Carolina football alum was picked as an early standout in practice by NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah and Chase Goodbread.

“He’s stacked two really good days together,” Jeremiah wrote. “He probably had the catch of the day on Wednesday on a double move — it was a back-shoulder throw and he adjusted for it to make a really athletic catch.”

Samuel came through a lot in his Gamecocks career, capping it with a 62-catch, 882-yard, 11-touchdown, All-SEC season as a senior.

He finished his career with 148 catches, 2,076 yards and 23 offensive touchdowns. He also returned four kicks for touchdowns and added another score chasing down a fumbled punt.

As a prospect, he’s a strong player with the ball in his hands, a pass catcher who plays bigger than his size and a dynamic returner to boot. He missed more than a few games early in his career with nagging hamstring issues, then a broken leg and foot problem cost him most of his redshirt junior season, derailing a dominant start and potential trip to the draft a year earlier.

Samuel also skipped USC’s bowl for draft preparation. He is projected as the No. 52 player in the draft by CBS.

Jeremiah took a shot at where he might be taken and threw out a name to compare him to.

“He reminds me a lot of the Panthers’ D.J. Moore, who was selected 24th overall last year,” Jeremiah wrote. “Samuel might not go in the first round like Moore did, but I think he’s a second-round pick who’ll be a really good asset with his ability to run routes, catch the ball and also run the ball.”

The praise continued Thursday:

▪ ”Deebo Samuel has been unreal in Mobile. Definitely moving up for me,” The Draft Network’s Jon Ledyard said via Twitter.

▪ “Deebo Samuel might be the best receiver at the Senior Bowl. He’s unguardable during 7-on-7 redzone drills,” tweeted The Charlotte Observer’s Marcel Louis-Jacques.

Reese’s Senior Bowl

What: The Senior Bowl is considered the premier scouting event for college seniors and top NFL prospects

Where: Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Ala.

When 2:30 p.m. Saturday

Watch: NFL Network

SC connections: South Carolina WR Deebo Samuel (1) and OL Dennis Daley (78) along with Clemson WR Hunter Renfrow (18) are in the game and all on the South team.

This story was originally published January 24, 2019 at 8:55 AM.