Trey Lance to declare for 2021 NFL Draft

Yahoo sports' Pete Thamal breaks down why North Dakota State's Trey Lance will be a top 3 quarterback in the 2021 NFL draft.

Video Transcript

PETE THAMAL: This is Pete Thamal, national college football writer for Yahoo! Sports, with some breaking news. North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance told Yahoo! that he would be declaring for the 2021 NFL Draft. And this immediately means the upcoming draft has its most intriguing prospect. After all, Lance will be certainly one of the first, if not the first quarterback prospects to never have lost a college game. He was 17-0 in a national champion at North Dakota State. He's just a redshirt sophomore. He's certainly the only prospect in draft history to have a one-game season, where he went 1-0. North Dakota State played Central Arkansas on Saturday. Scored 21 points in the fourth to win. Lance actually threw his first career interception in that game. He'll leave Fargo with 30 touchdown passes and one pick. The small school level, the small sample size, all add up to Lance just being a fascinating QB prospect. He'll be judged against some pretty stiff competition. He's considered one of the three best quarterback prospects in this upcoming draft. Scouts have told Yahoo! In the past couple of weeks that they consider Lance in the grouping with Clemson's Trevor Lawrence, who is certainly number one with a bullet. And then Ohio State's Justin Fields, who also really has only had one full season under his belt. Now Fields and Lawrence will get a full college season coming up. Lawrence is amid it and Fields starts in a few weeks. Lance just has this small one-game sample size. So expect the debates to begin. And expect the debates to be vigorous. Trey Lance is headed to the NFL Draft.