Kiper's Climber | Purdue OT Matt Light

At the top of the draft board at the OT spot are the major headliners such as Florida's Kenyatta Walker, Texas' Leonard Davis, Michigan's Jeff Backus and Maurice Williams.

The next grouping includes Penn State's Kareem McKenzie, LSU's Brandon Winey, South Florida's Kenyatta Jones, Miami of Ohio's Alex Sulfsted and the Illini's Marques Sullivan.

Over the last month or so, however, Purdue's Matt Light has been enjoying a steady rise up the draft board to the point where he could figure slightly ahead of McKenzie, Winey, Sullivan and company.

At 6-foot-4½ and 310 pounds, Light has the frame you look for and also possesses the necessary upper-body strength. At the combine, he did 26 bench-press reps at 225 pounds. So while he operated in Joe Tiller's pass-oriented offense, Light developed into a more effective run-blocker during the latter stages of his career.

Currently, though, his major forte is operating in pass protection. Light came to the Boilermakers as a TE, actually starting one game at that spot during his first season in the Big Ten. Moved from TE to OT for the '98 season, Light became a fixture at LT where he was a key to the success of Purdue's blue-chip signal-caller, Drew Brees.

Light also used his time at West Lafayette to steadily increase his weight. He moved from 255 to 277, then to 285, and as a senior tackle last season, checked in at close to 300 pounds. At the combine, he was tipping the scales at 311 pounds. In the NFL, Light's pro-style pass-blocking experience will be a key, possibly allowing him to be a factor right away as a rookie. You also have to like the track record of success that former TEs who switched to OT have enjoyed in the NFL.