Every year in the days and weeks leading up to the NFL Draft, there's always prospects that make meteoric rises on the draft boards of scouts, analysts, and executives. This year, it's Texas A&M quarterback Ryan Tannehill.

Dozens of people have weighed in on Tannehill's draft stock, merits as an NFL quarterback, and where he should be taken in this week's NFL Draft. One of the most recent to do so was none other than former Longhorns safety Blake Gideon, who started 52 straight games in four seasons at Texas. Gideon has extensive experience playing against Tannehill in a secondary that saw him twice as a receiver and twice as a quarterback.

"I think he has all the ability to do whatever he wants on a football field," Gideon said. "We'll see how that translates in the NFL. For the most part, he deserves all the hype he's getting. We'll see. From what I've heard about him, I've heard he's a great guy and I wish him all the best."

In four games against the Longhorns, Tannehill completed 34 of 79 passes (43 percent) for 352 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions while catching seven passes for 85 yards and rushing 14 times for 12 yards. In the most recent meeting between Tannehill's and Gideon's squads, Tannehill went 20-for-49 with 224 yards and two touchdowns, including a 16-yarder to Jeff Fuller that gave the Aggies a 25-24 lead with less than two minutes to play. But Tannehill was also picked off three times -- by Quandre Diggs, Kenny Vaccaro, and Carrington Byndom, who took his interception 58 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter.

While Gideon believes Tannehill belongs in the first round of this year's NFL Draft, he said he wouldn't use a top-five pick on the 6-foot-4, 222-pounder.

"I don't know if I'd put him up there in the top five but I think he belongs somewhere in the first 32," said Gideon.

Tannehill, of course, was one of many Big 12 quarterbacks to turn in impressive seasons. The conference boasted half of the eight quarterbacks that threw for at least 4,000 yards last season in Texas Tech's Seth Doege (4,004 yards), Baylor's Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III (4,293), Oklahoma's Landry Jones (4,463), and Oklahoma State's Brandon Weeden (4,727). Meanwhile, Kansas State's Collin Klein set a conference record with 27 rushing touchdowns while throwing for another 13. Another signal-caller in that 4,000-yard group, West Virginia's Geno Smith (4,385 yards), will be playing in the Big 12 next year.

Griffin is expected to be taken by the Washington Redskins with the No. 2 overall pick Thursday but Weeden, who led Oklahoma State to a 12-1 record and capped off last season with a Fiesta Bowl victory over Stanford and Andrew Luck, who is expected to be selected by the Indianapolis Colts with the first pick of the draft tomorrow. In two games against the Griffin-led Bears and Luck-led Cardinal, Weeden completed 68 percent of his passes and threw six touchdown passes against just one interception. Nonetheless, the 28-year-old Weeden, who was the New York Yankees' first pick in the 2002 MLB Draft, has slipped down draft because of his age that makes him older than established NFL quarterbacks like Alex Smith, Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, and Aaron Rodgers.

"He's one of the best quarterbacks I faced in four years with how he diagnoses the game and how fast he makes his reads," Gideon said. "It's unfortunate that he's fallen into the situtation he has. His draft stock's gonna fall just because he's an older guy and because he went and played baseball for a few years."