INDIANAPOLIS — Mississippi defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche, once considered the top prep player in the nation, will be one of the key figures at the NFL scouting combine.
Nkemdiche, who starred at Grayson High before playing at Mississippi, has to explain a December arrest for drug possession after he fell from a Buckhead hotel. Also, his play in college was considered inconsistent.
“That’s one interesting guy right there,” NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock said. “If you look at Robert Nkemdiche in a vacuum, just watch his Alabama tape. Against the best team in college football, he was dominant. Off that one tape, if he didn’t have any off-the-field issues and if he played that hard every week, we’d be talking about as the first pick in this draft. That’s how talented that he is. That’s how much upside that he has.”
But the analysis will be much more probing by the NFL teams who’ll interview Nkemdiche. The Falcons, who hold the the 17th pick in the draft, are scheduled to interivew him.
“However, once you factor in the inconsistencies from snap-to-snap, game-to-game and the off-the-field situations, then you get into how do you measure this kid,” Mayock said. “At what point does the risk justify the reward? I don’t know where it’s going to end up.”
Nkemdiche will have to be convincing and not come off as a slacker in his interviews.
“This is a huge week for him,” Mayock said. “He needs to come in and be in the best shape of his life and show people how serious he is about the process. He’s going to have to deal with every team in the league asking him about all the off-the-field stuff and the on-the-field inconsistencies.”
Nkemdiche is scheduled to workout with the rest of the defensive tackles on Sunday.
