Two of the best NFL prospects on the field in Monday night's College Football Playoff national championship game (8 p.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN app) aren't actually eligible for this year's draft.
The Alabama and Clemson quarterbacks -- sophomore Tua Tagovailoa and true freshman Trevor Lawrence -- are getting buzz as the next wave of No. 1 overall picks. And both are studs. There's a reason why scouts have already taken note of their games.
Here's what I see on tape that makes them legit contenders to be the top picks in 2020 (Tagovailoa) and 2021 (Lawrence) -- even with only a season's worth of starts:
Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama
Class: True sophomore | Ht/Wt: 6-1, 218 | Full stats
What stands out: Field vision and ability to process. I started with all of Tagovailoa's plus-15-yard throws, third downs and red zone snaps this season. His ability to quickly scan the field jumped out immediately. That puts the lefty in a position to identify coverage rotations and attack open windows with both timing and ball placement.
An example? Check out the seam throw to wide receiver Jerry Jeudy versus Ole Miss in the video below. With the defense showing a single-high safety alignment, the Rebels rolled to a two-deep coverage after the snap. Tagovailoa read the coverage, found the positive matchup inside on the seam and then dropped a dime to split the top of the secondary. And Bama put up 62 points on Ole Miss.