D.J. Moore projected for second round — and other Vanderbilt news and notes

The months leading up to the NFL draft have been a period of leaps and drops for D.J. Moore. In January, right after he declared for the draft, D.J. appeared to be a sure-fire first rounder, maybe even a Top 10 or Top 15 pick.

But his 40 times at the combine and at Vandy's pro day didn't excite the scouts and his projected draft status dropped into the low second or high third round.

And now everybody's talking about how underrated he is and how he's going to be a steal for somebody.

ESPN's draft guru, Mel Kiper, now predicts D.J. will go in the low second round; his latest four-round projection has him going to the Titans as the 62nd player taken, behind five other cornerbacks and two other DBs: First-rounders Vontae Davis of Illinois and Malcolm Jenkins of Ohio State and second-rounders Darius Butler of UConn, Alphonso Smith of Wake Forest, Sean Smith of Utah, Sherrod Martin of Troy (listed as a DB) and Louis Delmas of Western Michigan (listed as a safety).

Scouts Inc. lists Moore as the 44th best player in the draft and the fifth best cornerback.

Here's the link to ESPN's draft page. You have to be an Insider subscriber to access the complete Kiper mock draft and the Scouts Inc. list.

RESHARD LANGFORD'S DRAFT STATUS

I've said all along that I think Reshard Langford can play linebacker in the NFL, and Langford tells the Tennessean's Jim Wyatt that some NFL teams have told him the same thing, but he thinks he can play safety in the big league. Wyatt writes that Langford scaled back on his weight-lifting at Vanderbilt so he wouldn't grow out of the safety position, where he started for four years. He's still listed as a safety on draft boards, where he's projected as a sixth or seventh pick at the earliest or a possible free agent.

WILLIAMS MOVING TO RIGHT TACKLE

Looks like Orlando Pace will be protecting Jay Cutler's blind side in the upcoming NFL season, and former Vandy first rounder Chris Williams will be moved to right tackle for the time being. He's still the left tackle of the future, but was eased into action last season.

BASEBALL COMMODORES BLAST NO. 1 RAZORBACKS

Vanderbilt stunned No. 1 Arkansas last night in Fayetteville, 9-0. That Mike Minor's a stud, and he got the win and tossed eight shutout innings.

LADY BOWLERS DONE

The Lady Commie Heavy Ballers, as we like to call them, won't be playing in the finals on ESPN today. They lost to Farleigh Dickinson yesterday, then beat Arkansas State, then were eliminated by Central Missouri. Dang.