2024 NFL Draft: Arizona football players that have declared following the Alamo Bowl
By Mason Duhon
Declared for 2024 NFL Draft
Draft locks
Jordan Morgan was the best player on this Arizona squad in the 2023 season, and it didn't become fully apparent until quarterback Noah Fifita was running for his life against Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl. After missing the back end of 2022 with a season-ending knee injury, the Wildcats were lucky to get him back in the building for one more year of stock building. He spent the 2023 season blossoming into one of the top tackles in the draft.
Plenty of mock drafts and scouting reports have Morgan going as early as the mid- to late-first round and falling down as far as the middle of the second round. He won't be the first tackle taken, given that Notre Dame's Joe Alt and Penn State's Olumuyiwa Fashanu are locked in as top-15 talent in the class. As a left tackle headed to a league that puts more and more emphasis on athletic players along the line to add new wrinkles to the running game, Morgan has the potential to see a fair amount of playing time straight from the jump.
Despite his 2023 yardage total being a far cry from his back-to-back 1,000-plus-yard seasons in 2021 with UTEP and 2022 with Arizona, Cowing was on the verge of having to pay rent to the end zone. His 13 receiving touchdowns trails only the 14 hauled in by Oregon's Troy Franklin, but Franklin had the advantage of an extra game in the form of the Pac-12 championship.
Despite a standout resume, Cowing likely won't go until the fourth round at best, and will likely have to wait until the sixth round to hear his name called. He'll get pushed down the board as a member of the same class as Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Jr., LSU's Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr., Florida State's Keion Coleman, and fellow Pac-12 studs in Rome Odunze, Jalen McMillan, and Troy Franklin.
Wiley spent five seasons with Arizona and was one of the longest-tenured players on the Wildcats alongside Morgan. Despite seeing decreased playing time due to an ankle injury suffered around midseason, he flashed moments of brilliance throughout the season (like scoring three touchdowns against ASU for the second consecutive year) and had a stellar 1,000-plus all-purpose yardage season in 2022.
He will likely have to wait until Day 3 to hear his name called due to diminished positional value and limited playing time this year, but he is pro-caliber talent. His versatility as a one-cut-and-go runner that has exceptional receiving ability out of the backfield will land him a spot on a practice squad roster at the bare minimum. Occasional playing time on Sundays is a very reasonable expectation though, à la Gary Brightwell.