Ravens Draft Tracker: Mychal Kendricks

Mychal Kendricks #3 Ilb, California. 5'11" 240 lbs.

Kendricks is the shortest linebacker in the draft but he doesn't play like it. The Pac-12 Defensive Player Of The Year explodes on every play and is rarely blocked from the ball carrier. Over the past three years he has made 245 tackles 14 sacks 4 interceptions and has been a team leader on defense.

Predicted to drop to the third round or later, Kendricks has "Ozzie Newsome draft steal" written all over him. He is the type of high effort, high motor player that John Harbaugh could surely get the best out of as well. even if the Ravens go linebacker earlier in the draft he could be a very solid depth pick. after spending his rookie season on special teams I think he could eventually challenge for a starting position.

Even if the Ravens decide to draft linebacker Dont'a Hightower in the first round, Kendricks would still be a great depth pick for the team. Hightower could potentially start at outside linebacker, giving Kendricks time to develop on special teams.

Here are Kendricks career accolades from calbears.com.

Played in all 51 games possible during his four campaigns at Cal from 2008-11 with 29 starts, with all of the starts coming in his final three seasons (2009-11) ... earned several All-American honors as a senior, including second-team selections by Phil Steele and College Sports Madness ... also a third-team All-American selection of Yahoo! Sports and an honorable mention pick of SI.com ... named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and a first-team all-conference selection as a senior, after earning second-team all-league honors during his junior campaign ... finished his career with 258 tackles to rank tied for ninth all-time at Cal, while adding 36.5 tackles for loss (-144 yards) to miss finishing among the school's all-time leaders by one-half of a tackle for loss ... added 13.5 sacks (-98 yards), seven fumble recoveries, four interceptions that he returned for 130 yards and a touchdown, five pass breakups and a forced fumble ... also had a punt return in which he was credited with 26 punt returns yards after he blocked a punt before teammate Bryant Nnabuife picked the ball up and ran 30 yards for a score vs. Colorado State in 2008, five pass breakups and a forced fumble ... recorded at least 0.5 tackles for loss 24 times in his career, including in 19 of his final 25 games ... played inside linebacker as a 2011 senior after spending most of his collegiate career as an outside linebacker.