GameAbove Sports Bowl: NFL Draft Prospects to Watch

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Bowl season really gets going in earnest once Christmas is over, and the December 26th slate of action begins with the GameAbove Sports Bowl, which features Northwestern against Central Michigan. If you don’t know what the GameAbove Sports Bowl is, you’re not alone. 

As big corporate money continues increasing its dominance over college football, we’re seeing more bowl games that once had a non-sponsored name morph into branded name only status. An example would be the Hall of Fame Bowl in Tampa. It became the Outback Bowl and now it’s the Reliaquest Bowl. 

For bowl games like this, every time they change their naming rights partner, their entire bowl game name changes as well, so fewer and fewer people remember what/where it is. So it is questionable just how effective bowl game naming rights might actually be when it comes to boosting brand awareness. 

This is the second year of the GameAbove Sports Bowl, which had been known as the Quick Lane Bowl for about a decade. Prior to that it was known as the Pizza Bowl, which is unintentionally hilarious because you obviously don’t serve pizza in a bowl. Before it was the Pizza Bowl, this game had its most well known name, and the one that most people call it these days- the Motor City Bowl.

Yes, the Northwestern Wildcats will be taking a very short flight over Lake Michigan to Detroit. As for the Central Michigan Chippewas, they will be playing at a location that’s just a two hour bus ride away. 

NU coach David Braun is fired up for this one. 

“In a landscape and a world where there’s teams opting out, there’s individuals opting out, we understand those things happen,” Braun said. “But here at Northwestern, this is an opportunity that we take really serious…Playing in a bowl game is a big deal.”

Northwestern NFL Draft Prospects 

OT Caleb Tiernan

The Cats top NFL Draft prospect is a Detroit Country Day School, alum who grew up supporting the Lions, so getting the chance to play at Ford Field obviously has him really fired up. 

He’s the top draft prospect in this game, and by a very wide margin too. The 6-7, 329 pound left tackle is a solid day two prospect, but his “homecoming” game could provide a great opportunity to solidify second round status. Tiernan is very solid in pass protection, and if he improves his run-blocking, he could become a Ronnie Stanley type of player. 

The 31-year-old Ravens LT has been the anchor to Baltimore’s offensive line, leading the way for a primarily ground-oriented attack. Tiernan has been the Wildcats linchpin this season, in a similar manner.  

Edge Anto Saka 

The preseason hype for Saka was huge, but he didn’t come close to living up to it. Saka can be very disruptive at times, and the talent is absolutely there. However, the reshirt junior is still not truly an every down player yet, and with that, he hasn’t really racked up any stats yet.

He does, however, have a penchant for making impacts that don’t show up in the box score. He often comes close to racking up sacks and TFLs, but doesn’t quite get there in time. As a day three prospect, he’s best served by returning to school and gaining more experence. 

The sky is the limit for Saka, who could start bolstering his draft stock for 2027 right here, in this game.  

No one else on Northwestern has any real draft stock right now, although wide receiver Griffin Wilde has potential to become a priority undrafted free agent.

Central Michigan NFL Draft Prospects

No Chippewas on the radar right now; at all. Should anybody on this team become a late bloomer in the draft process, then it’s likely to be either wide receiver Stephan Bracey Jr. or defensive lineman Keshawn Hayden. 

However, CMU has a special place in NFL Draft history, as they produced the only #1 overall pick to ever come out of the Mid-American Conference. Not every school has a #1 overall pick, and you can count on one hand the number of #1 overall picks that have emerged from group of five conferences.

In 2013 the Kansas City Chiefs selected Eric Fisher, OT, out of Central Michigan first overall. He went on to make two Pro Bowls and win a Super Bowl.

This article originally appeared on Draft Wire: Pro prospects on display when NU faces CMU at Ford Field in Detroit

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