Oregon Ducks star pass rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux will not be on the field when they face the Oklahoma Sooners in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 29.
In fact, Thibodeaux has officially played his final college football game.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the dominant edge rusher has declared for the 2022 NFL Draft and has decided to skip the post-season game. He joins former Ducks head coach Mario Cristobal, who left for the same role with the Miami Hurricanes, as big-name members of the program to exit the program in Eugene on Monday.
Related: Updated 2022 NFL mock draft
Kayvon Thibodeaux as a top NFL Draft prospect
Things have been pointing in this direction for some time now. A former five-star recruit out of Southern California back in 2019, Thibodeaux has displayed dominating traits during his college football career.
He stands at 6-foot-5 and weighs a robust 250 pounds. According to many scouts, there’s a belief that the Thousands Oaks native can play in both a 4-3 and 3-4 scheme. Sportsnaut currently has Thibodeaux going No. 2 overall to the Houston Texans in our most-recent NFL mock draft.
The 2022 NFL Draft promises to be extremely strong out on the edge. Heisman finalist Aidan Hutchinson of Michigan is considered the top player at that position, followed closely by Thibodeaux.
The likes of George Karlaftis (Purdue), David Ojabo (Michigan), Travon Walker (Georgia) and Myjai Sanders (Cincinnati) are also getting first-round play.
Kayvon Thibodeaux stats
- 2019: 35 tackles, 14 for loss, nine sacks and one forced fumble (13 games)
- 2020: 42 tackles, 9.5 for loss, 3.0 sacks (seven games)
- 2021: 49 tackles, 12 for loss, 7.0 sacks, two forced fumbles (10 games)
Given his strong overall performance in college and the need for edge pass rushers in today’s NFL, there’s no reason to believe Thibodeaux won’t go top five when all is said and done.