The top football prospects in the country await the biggest day of their lives, Draft Day. On Thursday, Apr. 29, these young men’s dreams will come to life or be crushed. Seven rounds, 255 picks: The NFL draft calls for some of the biggest cheers and heartbreak of any sporting event.

The first step on the journey to the draft is college football. Some players are amazing in college, but once they get to the NFL, they underperform. Others show signs of stardom in college and once they go to the NFL their full potential is unleashed. There are also those who are somewhere in the middle. “Tom Brady, one of if not the best football player ever, was picked in the sixth round,” senior Martin Rodriguez said.

To enter or declare for the draft, players need to have played at least three years in college. There are exceptions to this with something called “redshirt.” This is where a player takes a year off to not play, but they can practice and participate with the team. Once that year ends they go into their next year as a “redshirt freshman,” so they eventually can choose to stay five years instead of four and they would be referred to as a redshirt senior.

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Trey Lance is one of the top quarterback prospects in the draft and he redshirted his freshman year. Unlike staying until after his senior year, he chose to declare for the draft after his redshirt sophomore season. Even though he took a year off to redshirt he was still able to go to the NFL after what would have been his junior year. It paid off as he’s projected to go in the top 15 picks. “I think he’ll go to the Patriots. They will find a way to get Trey Lance,” sophomore Brooke Pitt said.

Every so often there is one player who stands above the rest. This year that player is Trevor Lawrence, a generational talent who is already getting the playbook from the Jaguars, who hold the first pick in the draft. When experts talk about the draft, they skip over his name because he’s locked in that number one overall pick. “He’s the greatest player since Andrew Luck and Peyton Manning,” NFL.com writer Chase Goodbread said.

Trades. They happen every year before the draft, after the draft, and even during the draft. Teams throw their future away to get one player and it could work out, but it might not. The 49ers traded up to the third overall pick in the upcoming draft with all implications being they are going to take a quarterback. They gave away two future first round picks, a third rounder, as well as the 12th overall pick to Miami for just one pick in return.

This trade broke the internet as people loved it for the 49ers, but others hated it for them and loved it for Miami. The 49ers were in the Superbowl just two years ago, and have the same core team as then. They had one thing missing, a quarterback, so is it going to be Justin Fields, Mac Jones or Trey Lance. The 49ers have scouted each one of these players carefully and have all the draft insiders scratching their heads over who they’re going to take.