2011 NFL Draft: Illini Martez Wilson #1 MLB according to Kiper

According to tan interview on SportsCenter earlier this week, draft guru Mel Kiper has ranked Martez Wilson as his number one rated Inside linebacker for the 2011 NFL draft.  Needless this to say, this is quite the endorsement as Kiper is to the NFL draft as Lunardi is to bracketology.  This personally comes as a surprise to me, who was expecting Wilson to be just a "pretty good" prospect, who would see his stock explode after the NFL combine.

My reasoning?  Tez had a great season last year but he's we all know he's still got a lot to learn.  But one area where he's light years ahead of his competition, is in his athleticism.  And let's face it - GM's go nuts over combine results.  With Tez's athleticism, any doubts about his playing ability could be (and will be) erased by his inevitable strong combine showing.  But with the combine still a week away, Tez has already climbed to the top of Kiper's Big Board (for MLB)'s.  Combine this with a very strong combine showing and the future looks bright for one of our biggest gets of the 2007 recruiting class.  Hopefully this will project to a first round draft pick and two potential Illini's drafted in the first round (with Corey Liuget).  The more Illini in the League, the more Zook has to pitch.  And let's face it, give Zook a pitch, and he's a dangerous recruiter.