Cincinnati CB Ahmad Gardner To Enter Draft

One of the top draft-eligible cornerbacks will indeed make himself available for teams in April. Cincinnati’s Ahmad Gardner intends to forgo his senior season and enter the draft (Instagram link).

Essential to the Bearcats’ trailblazing a Group of Five path into the College Football Playoff, Gardner sits as a top-15 draft prospect in the view of ESPN.com’s Todd McShay. The 6-foot-2 cover man exited his junior season as this draft’s No. 2 corner prospect, behind only LSU’s Derek Stingley Jr.

Gardner claimed the American Athletic Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year award, en route to All-American acclaim. He recorded three interceptions and three sacks in his third season with the Bearcats. Gardner, who intercepted three passes in both his freshman and sophomore seasons, did not allow more than 60 receiving yards in while in coverage in any game during his final two Cincy slates. He did not allow a touchdown as a junior.

Although Cincinnati could not keep pace with Alabama in the CFP semifinals, the program became the first Group of Five team to advance to college football’s final four. Bearcats quarterback Desmond Ridder could join Gardner in the first round. McShay has Ridder going in the top 20 in his initial 2022 mock draft. Either player landing in Round 1 would be significant for Cincinnati. While the school has sent the likes of Travis Kelce, Jason Kelce and Derek Wolfe to the pros, it has not seen one of its cogs chosen in the first round since defensive lineman Bob Bell in 1971.