While current Cal Poly football players adjust to a new coaching staff, just-graduated receiver Ramses Barden seems on the verge of becoming the most well known Cal Poly product in recent history.
At Monday’s Senior Bowl weigh-in in Mobile, Ala., he measured in at 6-foot-6, 227 pounds, and had the largest hands and longest wingspan (33-3/4) of any receiver there. Scott Wright of NFL Draft Countdown noted he “really carried it well.”
According to Sports Jabber, Barden notably beat Oregon State cornerback Keenan Lewis and also had a “good catch in traffic on a ball thrown by (Rhett) Bomar that came out at the 3/4 level.”
DraftDaddy.com agreed that he “caught the ball well and looked very athletic.”
As one of just five Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) products at the Senior Bowl, Barden, according to KING5 (of Seattle) TV’s Shawn Zobel, “does the small things well” and “could see his stock rise as we get closer to the draft.”
Barden prepared for this week by returning to Elite Athletics in Westlake Village, which he wrote about for NFL Draft Bible.
He’s currently ranked by AllFootball24/7’s Joe Herne as the third-best receiver prospect (even ahead of Missouri’s Jeremy Maclin) and rated as a third-rounder by the National Football Post (which named him as one of the two most impressive-looking athletes in Mobile) and Third String Safety.
He was called a “super sleeper” by the Orange and Brown Report and has drawn comparisons to Brandon Marshall.
Fans and beat writers whose interest he’s attracted in recent weeks include those from the 49ers, Lions, Bengals, Seahawks, Raiders, Dolphins, Giants, Texans, Rams, Vikings and Patriots.