Florida CB Teez Tabor spent two years playing in the shadow of former Gators star Vernon Hargreaves. Hargreaves is now in the NFL, but the two are still being compared, and one evaluator sees Tabor as the superior player in a couple categories.
"He's a better athlete than Hargreaves," an AFC personnel executive told MMQB. "More competitive, too."
Competitiveness was one of Hargreaves' strong suits at Florida, so the suggestion that Tabor is even more so isn't to be taken lightly. But it's the notion that he's also a better athlete than the No. 11 overall pick of the 2016 draft that is more striking. Hargreaves has started every game of his rookie season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and has broken up three passes over his last two games.
"I think (Tabor will) run faster than Hargreaves, but I don't know if he's a better athlete. From an athletic standpoint, and what's needed at the position, I think they're fairly similar," said NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein. "Tabor's a little longer, but I don't see a huge difference."
Tabor, a junior, will decide after the season whether to apply for early eligibility in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Zierlein ranked Tabor as the No. 8 player in college football at the midseason point, and Tabor's production on the field has backed that up. Despite being suspended for UF's season-opening win over UMass, Tabor leads the team in interceptions with four.
Even with Hargreaves gone, however, there are questions about whether Tabor is even the top cornerback prospect on his own roster. An NFL executive told NFL.com's Daniel Jeremiah last month that UF's Quincy Wilson is the better player, and an AFC college scouting director suggested the same possibility to MMQB.
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