Noah Sewell soars up 2023 NFL mock draft board

We are getting on track for the 2022 college football season to start at long last, with teams ramping up for training camp in the coming weeks. With that on the calendar, it will give us a chance to look at the class of players who will be trying hard to increase their NFL draft stock in what is likely their final year of college ball.

In the Pac-12, there are a handful of those plays, many of whom are predicted to go within the first two rounds of the draft next April.

We’ve covered mock drafts a lot this offseason, but the latest two-round projection caught our eye. Not only did Oregon’s linebacker Noah Sewell skyrocket up the first round — he was projected to be a late first-round pick initially — but there is also a surprise Pac-12 quarterback who is projected to go in the top-10.

Here are all of the Pac-12 players mocked to go in the first two rounds:

No. 6 — Cameron Ward (Detroit Lions)

(Marvin Pfeiffer/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)

Surprise! A player who has yet to take a snap of FCS football in the Pac-12 is being projected to not only be a first-round pick but be taken in the top-10 of the draft. If this were to be the case, Cameron Ward would be the third QB off the board, with Ohio State’s CJ Stroud going 1st, and Alabama’s Bryce Young going third.

Here’s what Draft Wire had to say about Ward:

The Lions punted on the 2022 quarterback class, likely hoping to land a better prospect at the top of next year’s draft. Ward looked like he was playing NCAA Football 14 on rookie mode at Incarnate Word, and if he can do anything similar in the Pac-12, he could easily end up warranting a top-10 pick.

No. 13 — Noah Sewell (New England Patriots)

(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

There’s just something that seems right about Noah Sewell playing in a Bill Belichick defense, isn’t there? As one of the top linebackers in all of college football entering the 2022…