Welcome to the third and final installment of this series. To recap this series, in part one we took a look at draft prospects David Mayo (Carolina) and Craig Mager (San Diego), and in part two we looked at undrafted Terrence Franks (St. Louis). Today we are taking a closer look at punter/kicker Will Johnson (Houston) and linebacker Mike Orakpo (Arizona).

Will Johnson played his high school football in Bryan, Texas, for Rudder High and earned all district honors as a kicker from 2008 to 2010. Johnson was a two sport star and was named newcomer of the year in 2008, was an all state selection and all district defensive player in 2010 in baseball. Along with his kicking and punting responsibilities, Johnson also played safety during his senior season of high school and recorded 42 tackles.

He arrived at Texas State in 2011 and set a school record for longest field goal with a 53 yard kick, only to break his own record a year later with a 54 yard kick. He also has a successful field goal kick from 52 yards, which means he also holds the record for second and third longest kicks in school history.

In 2014 he was ranked as the second best punter in the Sun Belt Conference and 21st nationally with punt average of 43.8 yards per punt. 21 of his 65 punts were placed inside the 20 yard line and had 16 punts over 50 yards, including a career best 70 yard punt against Illinois. After a solid senior season, he was named all Sun Belt Conference second team punter and was one of two Bobcats (the other was Craig Mager) invited to the NFL combine.

Mike Orakpo is the younger brother to current Washington Redskins linebacker Brian Orakpo. Originally from Houston, Texas, Mike came to Texas State after transferring from Colorado State in 2013.

Despite his senior season being cut short after two games due to an ACL/MCL injury, Orakpo still put up some solid numbers while with the Bobcats. His leadership skills were priceless for the team, which explains why his fellow teammates elected him as a team captain before even playing an official down for the Bobcats.

In 14 total games at Texas State, Orakpo totaled 76 tackles, 5.5 sacks, 11 of the tackles were for a loss and forced three fumbles.

His impact was felt immediately, in his first ever game with the Bobcats, he tallied five tackles, two forced fumbles and had a pass deflection. He has incredible power and athleticism and holds a school record in the incline bench after lifting 500 pounds. Orakpo received the “Supercat Award” during in spring workouts in 2013 and earned all-Sun Belt Conference second team honors that same year.

Given his troubled past and facing a terrible injury his senior season, it would have been easy for Orakpo to just give up and call it a career. But that’s not in his character and I think it is safe to say that no one is surprised that he came back and had a pretty stellar pro day. He posted numbers of a 4.6 second 40-yard dash, 34-inch vertical jump, 9-foot 10-inch broad jump and 29 reps on the weight bench. Oh and did I mention that was just six months after having surgery on his injured knee? Amazing!

I am glad that he is getting this chance to show what he can do at the next level and look forward to seeing him play. At the moment, the Arizona Cardinals have a pretty solid defense, so Orakpo comes into a great situation with plenty of opportunity to learn and improve each day. I wouldn’t be surprised if he made his way into the starting line up at some point and ended up being a major contributor to that team.

Sources used for this article: txstatebobcats.com and espn.com.