Kirk Herbstreit Names Biggest Sleeper Ahead of 2025 NFL Draft

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Jaron Spor | Last updated Apr 18, 2025 1:00 PM ET

The 2025 NFL Draft is just under a week away. Soon, hundreds of the top college prospects in the country will hear their names called and find out where they will continue their careers.

Every year, there are players who unexpectedly rise up the draft boards, and this year is likely to feature one or two surprises as well. ESPN "College GameDay" analyst Kirk Herbstreit recently appeared on "The Pat McAfee Show," where he was asked to identify potential prospects who could make an unexpected jump this season.

Herbstreit suggested that it might be a wide receiver who had an impressive college career but was often overlooked on his team due to the presence of other standout players at his position.

"The guy that I'm really excited about is Emeka Egbuka at Ohio State," Herbstreit said. "I think he's a Terry McLaurin type of guy. I wouldn't be surprised to see him potentially go up. He's a guy who not only has the physical attributes. Kind of was on the back burner the last couple of years with all of the big names in that wide receiver room."

Egbuka had an impressive career at Ohio State, finishing with 2,868 yards, 24 touchdowns, and 205 receptions. Despite competing with a long list of star receivers, including Marvin Harrison Jr., Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cris Carter, Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson, Egbuka concluded his career ranked first in both yards and receptions, and seventh in receiving touchdowns. Remarkably, he achieved these stats without ever leading the team in receiving yards, and the most recent season was the only one in which he led the team in receptions.

ESPN ranks Egbuka as the No. 4 receiver in the 2025 NFL Draft and is also listed as the No. 34 overall prospect. This ranking suggests he could be selected in the late first or early second round of the draft. He will learn which team he will join when the draft begins on Thursday and concludes on Saturday, April 26, airing on ESPN and NFL Network.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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