The NFL Draft is an exciting time for all football fans. Every year, teams look to fill holes in their roster and add big names to brighten the future for their franchise. The NFL Draft takes place in April and happens when the rest of the sports world is pretty slowed down. Because of this, the NFL Draft has around six million viewers every year. 

This year, the NFL Draft will have three former Scouts available for selection. The last time a Scout was in the NFL Draft was Tommy Rees in 2014, where he went undrafted. Rees was a quarterback for Notre Dame and went undrafted to the Washington Redskins. Now he is an offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns. 

Two of the Scouts in the NFL Draft this year graduated in the Class of 2020, with one of them graduating in the Class of 2021. 

To begin, Rylie Mills is a defensive tackle from Notre Dame. He was a captain this season and a vital player for the Irish. Unfortunately, in the Irish’s playoff game vs Indiana, he suffered a knee injury which sidelined him for the rest of the season.

In his fifth season, he had 37 tackles, 19 solo tackles, and 7.5 sacks. Some of his 2024 awards include ESPN Second Team All-American, Sporting News Second Team All-American, and the Lombardi Watch List. 

Unfortunately, Mills’ injury could have an impact on his draft stock. But his accolades and performance show he is a great player and deserves to be drafted. 

Bleacher Report currently predicts Mills to be drafted in the fourth round, and is ranked as the tenth defensive lineman in the draft. His strengths include his size and skill, with the  weaknesses of lack of athleticism and his struggle with double teams. 

The other former Scout in the Draft is Kai Kroeger, a punter who played at South Carolina. 

Kroeger has been the starting punter for the Gamecocks since his freshman season in 2020. He made the All-Freshman team in 2020 and has earned numerous honors in his time at South Carolina. Some of these honors include All-America and All-SEC Honors in 2022 and 2024, and was SEC Special Teams Player of the Week six times in his time with the Gamecocks. 

Kroeger was one of the best punters in college football this season and has been a popular name ever since his time at LFHS. Coming out of high school he was the 2nd ranked punter in the nation by 247 sports in 2020. 

In the 2024 season, Kroeger averaged 47.8 yards per punt, tying for fifth in the nation across all NCAA punters. His longest punt was 75 yards, tying for seventh in the nation. In the SEC, he had the second highest yards per punt, just .02 yards behind Jesse Mirco of Vanderbilt. 

Kroeger is able to throw the ball pretty well too. He has seven completions on ten attempts for 205 yards and three touchdowns.

Kroeger is an exceptional punter and a great talent for the NFL. However, similar to quarterbacks, punters only take up one spot on the field. It is unlikely for teams to need to draft a punter just because punters don’t often get injured and they can play for a long time.

Kroeger should definitely have a role in the NFL, but it could very well be possible he isn’t selected within the seven rounds of the NFL draft. 

However, Kroeger has been invited to the 2025 NFL Combine, an opportunity to show his talents in front of all 32 NFL franchises and create himself an opportunity to be drafted. 

In addition to Mills and Kroeger, LFHS alumni Shelby Pruett declared for the 2025 NFL Draft. Pruett was a punter at Colgate and also earned high honors. These include the 2023-2024 All-Patriot League First Team, and he earned Patriot League Special Teams Player of the Week in October 2024. He averaged 42.8 yards per punt last season and has been Colgate’s starting punter for four seasons. Similar to Kroeger, as a punter he might struggle to get drafted but he certainly will be able to compete to be on an NFL roster.

This is a very special and unique thing to happen for LFHS Athletics and the football program. This will inspire future Scout athletes to compete beyond high school and maybe even go to a professional level. 

The LFHS community will wait excitedly to watch these three in the NFL this upcoming fall.