This Mizzou linebacker could be one of first guys selected at his position in NFL Draft
Missouri linebacker Nick Bolton probably enters the 2021 NFL Draft without too many regrets.
He capped a 2020 campaign with a team-high 95 tackles and two sacks en route to first-team All-SEC and second-team All-America. He was one of 300-plus college players to receive an invitation to the annual NFL Scouting Combine, a televised event in which the top draft prospects showcase their talent in front of teams and national media in Indianapolis.
OK, maybe there is one regret for Bolton — the combine didn’t happen this year because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Instead, he performed Monday alongside such fellow Mizzou Tigers teammates as Larry Borom, Larry Rountree, Joshuah Bledsoe, Tyree Gillespie and Damon Hazelton as pro scouts and other representatives from NFL looked on during Missouri’s pro day in Columbia.
Of that group, Bolton was the lone player in his position group, which wouldn’t have been the case in Indianapolis.
“Being the only linebacker out there, you don’t know how you measure up until the day is over with,” Bolton said. “So just being out there with those guys, competing with those guys and everybody making each other better, it’s kind of one of the things I wish I would’ve had at the combine.”
The lack of the NFL’s premier draft showcase aside, Bolton doesn’t need to do much to prove to NFL teams that he belongs at the next level.
Having declared himself eligible for the draft following his junior season last fall, he’s already projected as an early-round pick. Some draft analysts believe he’ll be selected in either the first or second round.
The 6-foot, 232-pound Bolton’s production in the highly competitive SEC solidifies his lofty draft stock. Over the past three seasons as an interior linebacker in Missouri’s scheme, Bolton showcased himself as a high-energy tackling machine, with 220 tackles (139 solo) — including 17.5 for a loss — four sacks, two interceptions and 12 passes defensed.
“Early second,” Dane Brugler, a draft analyst with The Athletic, told The Star when asked where he projects Bolton will be picked during the April 29-May 1 process. “Outstanding run defender. Wish he were bigger, but he plays fast and physical.”
As far as Bolton is concerned, the round in which he’s drafted doesn’t matter.
“It would be a great experience to be a first-round pick,” he said. “But at the end of the day, once you go in and put the logo on your helmet, nobody really cares where you’re picked. It’s about production at that point.
“Being first round, being seventh round — doesn’t necessarily matter, in terms of being on the field and being effective. So, I’m just trying to get myself a chance to compete and play early.”
Bolton said he clocked a 4.6 time in the 40-yard dash during his pro day workout.
He also revealed Monday that he’s either talked to or had virtual Zoom meetings with about three-fourths of the teams in the league, including the Kansas City Chiefs, Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Bears. Bolton said he met with Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert and head coach Mike Tomlin for “30, 40 minutes” on a Zoom call the week before his pro day workout.
In addition to what Bolton has put on tape, the team that drafts him will be getting a young man with a solid football mindset.
“The best thing I love about football is the physicality aspect of it,” he said. “I like to hit, I like to run, I like to be physical, and so that’s kind of really where I found a love for the game of football.”
Missouri’s pro day workout was but one step in his pre-draft process. Bolton has a little more than a month to go, and he’ll be busy until then training and going through more interviews with NFL teams.
He admits he’s in for an emotional time if, and more likely when, he hears his name called out on television.
“It’s going to be lifetime experience,” he said. “There’s going to a lot of raw emotions, just because I never thought in a million years I could be in this position until, really, now.”
This story was originally published March 22, 2021 at 3:33 PM.
