Sometimes you have to bet on yourself and take a risk. That’s exactly what former Florida offensive tackle D.J. Humphries did when he went against the NFL’s advice and decided to leave school and declare for the NFL Draft.
When the 6-foot-5, 307-pounder was considering leaving the University of Florida after three seasons, he did what nearly every other player does: petitioned the NFL for information regarding his potential draft position. When he got the results back in December, it wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
He was told to stay in school.
It’s a good thing Humphries didn’t listen because now he’s regarded as a first-round pick and his draft stock continues to rise. ESPN analysts Mel Kiper and Todd McShay have Humphries going 25th to the Carolina Panthers and 28th to the Denver Broncos, respectively, in their latest mock drafts.
“It’s been awesome,” said Humphries, who started 19 games for the Gators from 2012 to 2014. “It’s been an amazing experience, coming from being told I need to go back to school to being projected [in] the first round. That was my goal, to be honest. It was what I was trying to do so it’s amazing to set goals and accomplish them.”
One of the concerns about Humphries was his ability to put on and maintain weight. He was a five-start recruit when he arrived at UF in 2012, but he weighed only 250 pounds. Humphries would work in the offseason to get bigger, but he would gradually lose the weight during the season.
He said he has put on 22 pounds since the 2014 season ended and believes he’ll be able to remain more than 300 pounds because he has changed his eating habits.
Many underclassmen often make the decision to declare early for the draft and end up regretting the decision. Humphries is the exception to the rule, because despite the advice to stay he has worked himself into consideration to be a first round pick and has become a very popular topic among draft insiders.