Stanford TE Austin Hooper to enter the NFL Draft

Junior tight end Austin Hooper announced on Monday that he will enter the NFL Draft.

Hooper is one of the best tight end prospects in the nation, and although there were some initial reports that Hooper was considering staying for a 4th year on the Farm, he elected to make the leap to the NFL instead.

After much discussion with my family and Coach Shaw, I have decided to enter the 2016 NFL draft.

— Austin M Hooper (@AustinHooper18) January 4, 2016

Hooper will likely be considered as one of the top two or three tight end prospects in this draft class after compiling a season where he was a Mackey Award finalist and an All-Pac-12 first team player. Hooper had only 34 catches for 438 yards this season, but he scored 6 touchdowns and was a rock-solid run blocker for Christian McCaffrey's record-breaking season.