Cedric Thornton Scouting Report

Cedric Thornton has not garnered too much national attention after spending some time at Division II Southern Arkansas. Not surprisingly the 6-3, 309 defensive tackle dominated at that level. In 2009 Thornton had a great year, tallying 80 tackles. That is a lot of tackles for any player, but even more impressive for a defensive tackle. An amazing 23 of those tackles came for a loss and Thornton added 8.5 sacks for good measure. He even forced two fumbles and blocked a couple of kicks.

By 2010 everybody at the Division II level knew that they had to stop Thornton. They usually could not stop him, but he did miss a couple games and constant double teams decreased his overall numbers. He still totaled 52 tackles, 13.0 tackles-for-loss and forced yet another fumble.

The big question heading into the pre-draft workouts was whether or not Thornton could compete with the best the FBS had to offer. During the Senior Bowl he had his chance and did quite well. Even when he was beat, which happened a fair amount of times, Thornton got up and prepared to go at it again. His hustle has endured him to some scouts and after beefing up for the NFL combine, Thornton could sneak into the third or fourth round.