Southern Cal quarterback Matt Leinart attempts to become only the second player to win back-to-back Heisman Trophies this fall. So he's the player all of college football will be watching in 2005.

But the player the NFL has its eye on is Iowa linebacker Chad Greenway, who enters the college season as the top-rated propect for the 2006 draft. Auburn offensive tackle Marcus McNeill is also rated above Leinart by the slimmest of margins by the NFL Scouting combines.

Greenway became a starter in 2003 and finished second in the Big Ten in tackles with 132. He followed that up with 113 tackles in 2004 on way to All-Big Ten acclaim.

Playing alongside Greenway in Iowa is another All-Big ten lineback and top-15 draft prospect, linebacker Abdul Hodge. He finished first in the Big Ten in tackles in 2003 with 141 and led the team again in 2004 with 114.

But Greenway is bigger (6-2, 243) than Hodge (6-0, 231) and therefore viewed as the better prospect.

A preseason look at the top 15 players on the 2006 draft board:

1. Chad Greenway, OLB, Iowa
2. Marcus McNeill, OT, Auburn
3. Matt Leinart, QB, USC
4. Jimmy Williams, CB, Virginia Tech
5. Leon Washington, HB, Florida State
6. Eric Winston, OT, Miami (FL)
7. A.J. Hawk, OLB, Ohio State
8. Davin Joseph, G, Oklahoma
9. Mathias Kiwanuka, DE, Boston College
10. Jason Allen, FS, Tennessee
11. Abdul Hodge, MLB, Iowa
12. Johnathon Lewis, DT, Virginia Tech
13. Roger McIntosh, OLB, Miami (FL)
14. Max Jean-Gilles, G, Georgia
15. Roderick Wright, DT, Texas

Maybe I'm just a homer, but I would have thought that with 2 DT's in the top 15 that Gabe Watson of Michigan would have been up there.

I kinda expected D'Brickashaw Ferguson to be on the list?