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Michigan State lost the war to Alabama in the College Football Playoff Semifinal on New Year's Eve, but Malik McDowell won many of his one-on-one battles on the interior line.

(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

EAST LANSING -- Michigan State's football players will need razor sharp focus to contend for another Big Ten title in 2016, the nucleus of the program's golden run having moved on.

But the past few days, with the NFL draft ongoing, some Spartans likely allowed themselves to look forward to next year's draft and wonder where their value might land.

Junior Malik McDowell, a defensive lineman, figures to have the highest draft stock on the team and quite possibly in the Big Ten. The Southfield High School product is a good bet to extend the Spartans' string of years with a first-round NFL draft pick to four.

The 6-foot-6, 280-pound McDowell has a similar package of size, quickness, athleticism and power that made Spartans' legend Bubba Smith a No. 1 draft pick in the 1967 NFL draft en route to a hall of fame career.

Sporting News has McDowell just outside of its projected 2017 NFL draft top five.

The early 2017 NFL mock drafts, including the Bleacher Report and WalterFootball.com, have McDowell as a first-round pick at defensive tackle. But he'll play some defensive end this season for MSU as well.

MSU juniors Montae Nicholson and Demetrius Cooper are potential NFL prospects for the 2017 draft, too.

CBSsports.com rated rising seniors at their positions. Here are the Spartans who ranked in the top 25 at their respective positions,:

* QB Tyler O'Connor, No. 11

* TE Josiah Price, No. 8

* OT Kodi Kieler, No. 25

* ILB Riley Bullough No. 7

* CB Demetrious Cox, No. 6

* K Michael Geiger, No. 13