Auburn Tigers Invited to 2016 NFL Combine

In the doldrums of the off-season, we look for anything football related to talk about. That's especially true when Basketball is struggling. Spring practice is just under a month away, which is nice. One thing we definitely like to talk about this time of year is the NFL Combine.

The full Combine invite list was announced today, and eight former Tigers made the cut. It's pretty much everyone you would suspect. Those Tigers are

1) Peyton Barber, RB
2) Shon Coleman, OT
3) Kris Frost, OLB
4) Jonathan Jones, CB
5) Ricardo Louis, WR
6) Cassanova McKinzy, ILB
7) D'haquille Williams, WR
8) Avery Young, OT

It's nice to see the three players who left early received an invite. Barber's inclusion is a strong indication that he made the right choice. There are a plethora of backs who will be coming out next season, including players like Nick Chubb, Leonard Fournette, and Christian McCaffrey. Jovon Robinson will be eligible from Auburn next year, too. This doesn't guarantee Barber will be drafted, but it will give him a great chance to showcase his skills in front of the whole League.

Shon Coleman is getting 2nd round projections. I'm not sure about Avery Young, but I don't see him going undrafted. It looks like all of Auburn's early departures made good decisions.

I'm glad to see Duke Williams on here, too. Duke's time at Auburn was fill of unfulfilled promise and expectations and ended with an abrupt, disappointing, but not altogether unexpected early departure. However, he still has amazing talent. This will give him a great chance to get back on the radar of NFL executives. I hope he's worked out whatever issues he's had and is able to have a great NFL career.

You can see the full list of participants here.