Ole Miss' Matt Corral Falls Out of First Round of NFL Draft

The Rebel quarterback was not taken in the first 32 picks of the 2022 draft on Thursday night.

John Macon Gillespie | Apr 29, 2022

LAS VEGAS -- The first round dream for Matt Corral was not meant to be as the former Ole Miss quarterback was not selected on Thursday night's open of the NFL Draft.

Corral's draft stock fluctuated widely during the lead up to Thursday night with some mock drafts having him in the first round and others well into the second. It was the latter of these projections that proved to be most accurate, however, as Corral's name was not called with the first 32 picks of the draft.

Matt Corral 2 — Carleigh Holt-The Grove Report

Matt Corral 3 — Carleigh Holt-The Grove Report

Matt Corral — Carleigh Holt-The Grove Report

The quarterback spoke earlier in the week about conversations he had with former Ole Miss wide receiver A.J. Brown leading up to the draft. Brown himself was part of a draft day trade between the Tennessee Titans and Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday.

"He really just told me to be myself," Corral said. "That was the best advice that I got throughout this whole process. At the end of the day, you're going to end up where you're going to end up, and you might as well be yourself and have a team fall in love with who you really are."

Corral departs Ole Miss after leading the Rebels to a 10-win season in 2021 and a berth in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. The Rebel quarterback went down in the first half of the bowl game with an ankle injury and did not participate in drills at the NFL Combine as a result. He did, however, go through drills at the Ole Miss Pro Day in front of representatives from 31 of the NFL's 32 teams.