2022 NFL Draft Profile: Is Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral poised for high draft pick?

Matt Corral has already had a rollercoaster journey to get to where he is, and tonight, he’s going to see his lifelong dream come to reality. The haters, of which there are many, are furious.

Corral’s time in Oxford may not have gone exactly how he had planned. In his redshirt freshman year, he was named QB1. Ole Miss struggled throughout the early half of 2019, but after sustaining an injury against Cal in week four, Corral lost the starting job. This was obviously a tough pill for Corral to swallow, and yet he maintained his support for his team.

After Lane Kiffin and the new coaching staff arrived, Corral worked extremely hard to become a better player on and off the field. The difficult times in his redshirt freshman season made him the record-breaking, lights out, dominant player that he is today.

The first season of the Corral/Kiffin combo was special. In only 10 games, Corral threw for 3,337 yards with a 70 percent completion rate. He broke records and absolutely rocked the college football world. With Kiffin’s offense in place, Corral led the country in total offense and finished as the only player in the FBS with more than 500 rushing yards and 3,300 passing yards in 2020. He then turned around and beat those numbers in 2021.

Corral sustained a very minor injury at the bowl game in January of 2022 which hurt his draft stock a little, but he is still the best quarterback option in the draft. And it isn’t even close.

Because of his success on the field, Corral earned an invite to the NFL Combine, but chose not to compete in the on-field workouts. During Pro Day at the Ole Miss campus, he also decided not to compete in a few events. Corral lit up the Pro Day and proved that his health and injury would be a nonissue.

The bottom line is Matt Corral is ridiculously good. His arm strength and poise under center is something that many teams in the NFL are currently lacking. The chances of him becoming a starter in week one is unlikely, but if I’m an NFL general manager in need of a future franchise quarterback, my eyes are locked in on grabbing Corral early.