The NFL Draft kicks off with its opening round on Thursday in Kansas City, so Rivals is taking a look back at its projected first-round picks when they were high school prospects. We move on to our projected No. 23 – USC receiver Jordan Addison, who was a three-star prospect in the 2020 class.
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No. 23: WR Jordan Addison, USC
Where they were ranked: The Frederick (Md.) Tuscarora standout was a high three-star wide receiver who was No. 86 in the position rankings and No. 21 in the Maryland state rankings for the 2020 class.
Recruitment: Maryland, Notre Dame and Virginia Tech were the other programs mainly recruiting Addison but he committed to Pitt in the summer before his senior season mainly because the Panthers showed him so much interest and position coach Chris Beatty was a close connection.
Beatty moved on to the Los Angeles Chargers and Addison played two seasons at Pitt including one in which he had 100 catches for 1,593 yards and 17 touchdowns before transferring for one season at USC.
Biggest question: At only 5-foot-11 and 173 pounds, will NFL cornerbacks be able to physically dominate him at the line of scrimmage and reroute him?
Memories: Addison did not play with elite quarterbacks in high school so that could have slowed his national reputation a little since he was so talented even at the high school level.
He was a special teams star because he was faster and had better vision than anybody else and then at receiver he could line up outside and go over defensive backs or he could be in the slot, catch a short pass and then make something big out of it.
But Addison never attended camps or did much 7-on-7 so he just wasn’t a known commodity. Addison clearly had the talent and some might argue even more talent than the receivers at the top of the 2020 position rankings but he just didn’t show up to many events.
Addison’s final year at Pitt, an amazing season, was also helped by Kenny Pickett being the quarterback. That’s not to take away anything from Addison, who was quiet down the stretch for USC last season and opted out of the Cotton Bowl game against Tulane.
Still, Addison has the special tools to be considered among the top receivers in this class. An argument could be made that he’s the best of the group since Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Quentin Johnston and Zay Flowers all have flaws and question marks as well.
