Martinas Rankin arrived at Mississippi State from junior college in 2015 amid much hype, though it took him a while to live up to that hype. Now he’s receiving some acclaim heading into the run-up to the 2018 NFL draft.
Rankin (6 feet 5, 305 pounds) was one of the top junior college prospects in the nation in the 2015 recruiting cycle, but he was nowhere near ready for the rigors of major college ball and redshirted that season. Then, he started slowly in 2016 and looked as if he would be a bust. But once that season hit its mid-point, Rankin righted himself and he was one of the best linemen in the SEC in 2017 as a left tackle; he was a first-team All-SEC selection despite missing three games with an ankle injury.