One Michigan Wolverines football player is beginning to surface above all the others in regards to early 2021 NFL mock draft projections — redshirt sophomore right tackle Jalen Mayfield.

Early forecasts have said he could be one of the top tackles taken next year if he chooses to come out, and ESPN's Mel Kiper added to that hype today when he placed the Grand Rapids, Mich., native as the No. 14 overall player on his big board for next year's draft.

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Kiper also tabbed Mayfield as the No. 3 potentially draftable offensive tackle for next spring, behind only Oregon's Penei Sewell and Texas' Samuel Cosmi.

"There is some projection here because Mayfield has started only 13 college games at right tackle," Kiper explained. "But I really liked what I saw from him in the biggest games, including when he was lined up against No. 2 overall pick Chase Young in the Wolverines' loss to Ohio State in the regular-season finale.

"Mayfield has some upside, and I'll be watching closely this season."

Despite racking up 16.5 sacks and 21 tackles for loss in 2019, Mayfield (along with left tackle Jon Runyan) held Young completely in check in the rivalry showdown in Ann Arbor, limiting him to zero tackles, no stops behind the line of scrimmage and no sacks.

The NFL draft analyst also had Mayfield pegged as the fifth best potentially draftable prospect from the entire Big Ten, behind only Ohio State junior quarterback Justin Fields (No. 3), Penn State junior linebacker Micah Parsons (No. 5), Ohio State redshirt junior cornerback Shaun Wade (No. 6) and Minnesota junior receiver Rashod Bateman (No. 8).

Mayfield wasn't the only Michigan player that appeared in Kiper's early 2021 draft projections, however, with senior fullback Ben Mason and senior defensive end Kwity Paye also making the cut.

Mason surfaced as the No. 1 fullback among the ESPN writer's position rankings, while Paye checked in as the fifth best defensive end after choosing to return to Ann Arbor following an outstanding junior season that saw him rack up 12.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks.

Three notable Wolverine omissions from Kiper's rankings were senior Nico Collins (not listed among his top six wideouts), redshirt sophomore linebacker Cam McGrone and junior defensive end Aidan Hutchinson.

Other NFL draft experts in the industry are equally high on Mayfield as Kiper is, with some actually placing the offensive tackle higher on their lists.

TheWolverine's Clayton Sayfie recently rounded up the 2021 mock drafts that have surfaced over the past week, and revealed that two outlets believe Mayfield is destined to come off the board in the first half of the 2021 NFL draft — WalterFootball.com (projected him No. 8 to the Cincinnati Bengals) and DraftSite.com (No. 13 to the Los Angeles Chargers).

Ryan Wilson of CBS Sports and Matt Miller of Bleacher Report didn't have him going far behind, meanwhile, pegging him to come off the board at No. 24 overall to the Philadelphia Eagles and No. 27 to the New England Patriots, respectively.

So what makes Mayfield such an intriguing prospect at such a young age?

Pro Football Focus (PFF) awarded him with an overall grade of 70.2 in 2019 (64 is considered average) and declared him a better lineman than fifth-year senior tackle Jon Runyan, who was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the sixth round of this year's NFL draft.

Mayfield's durability was also an asset for the Maize and Blue, playing at least 50 snaps in all 13 of Michigan's games and eclipsing the 80-snap plateau three times. At 319 pounds, the Grand Rapids, Mich., native was tied as U-M's eighth heaviest player in 2019, and committed just three penalties throughout the entire campaign.

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