Patriots Prospect Preview: Four College Players To Watch In Week 0

Welcome to the Patriots Prospect Preview, the only place to find college football prospects worth keeping your Patriots-happy eye on throughout the season. Let’s get started with Week 0.

There’s an obvious reason why the New England Patriots capture the attention of all football lovers in the region.

The college programs aren’t very good.

We say that halfheartedly joking, as the real reason more likely has to do with the fact that the Patriots dominated the NFL landscape for more than two decades. The fact remains, however, that college football in New England is wholly uninspiring. That likely has a great deal to do with the fact that the sport as a whole isn’t very popular around these parts. (If we’re being honest, it makes a lot more sense for a UMass or Boston College alum to go apple picking on their Saturday afternoon than sit down and watch their alma mater lose by 40 points.)

Those same folks are missing out on a great product, though, and we believe there’s a way for them to get in on the action. That’s why we’ll be putting out a list of college football prospects every week that could catch the Patriots’ collective eye during NFL draft season.

Rylie Mills (#99), DL, Notre Dame
Week 0: vs. Navy at Aviva Stadium in Dublin (Saturday, 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC)

It’s never a bad thing when we get to talk about a member of The Athletic writer Bruce Feldman’s “Freaks List.” The No. 10 entry, though, that’s special.

Mills is an athletic marvel at 6-foot-5 and 306 pounds. The senior defensive tackle bench presses 450 pounds (30 reps of 225), squats 635, has a vertical jump of almost 33 inches and hits 20.64 mph on the GPS. He’ll have his hands full on the defensive line against Navy’s triple-option offense, and you know Bill Belichick will be watching.

Joe Alt (#76), OT, Notre Dame
Week 0: vs. Navy at Aviva Stadium in Dublin (Saturday, 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC)

We’ve got a small slate this week, so I figured I’d double up on Notre Dame linemen as they get set to face Navy.

Alt is projected to be one of the first tackles taken off the board in the 2024 NFL Draft, which could be exactly what New England is looking for. The Patriots’ offensive line has looked suspect throughout the preseason, with a lack of tackle depth really showing through. Alt is a monstrous 6-foot-8 but only weighs in at 315 pounds. He’s a former tight end, so he’s got the flexibility and quickness, and a good season could put him in consideration of being a top-10 selection.

Will Sheppard (#14), WR, Vanderbilt
Week 0: vs. Hawaii (Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network)

Okay, enough with the big boys.

We know it hasn’t spelled good things when a wide receiver gets drafted by the Patriots, but if they aren’t giving up we won’t either. Sheppard is a particularly interesting prospect entering this draft, exploding onto the scene with 60 catches for 776 yards and nine touchdowns last season. He’s got a 6-foot-3 frame with plenty of room to go grow, and could slip in the draft should Vanderbilt continue to stink it up in 2023.

Eric Gentry (#18), LB, USC
Week 0: vs. San Jose State (Saturday, 8:00 p.m. ET on Pac-12 Network)

The Patriots made a surprising pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, selecting linebacker/safety hybrid Marte Mapu in the third round. Though he is certainly undersized by typical NFL standards, there have been nothing but positive reports to come out of his first training camp.

If all goes well, could New England make a similar choice in 2024?

Gentry starts in the middle of the USC defense, standing at a whopping 6-foot-6 but weighing in at only 215 pounds. He looks like a wide receiver now, but there never seems to be an issue of prospects putting on weight when they need to. He’s more of a moldable piece of clay than anything at this point, but one that provides an intriguing upside.