Texas vs. California; Holiday Bowl NFL Draft watch notes

Every year since 2005 Texas and California have each had at least three players drafted and it shouldn't be any different in the 2012 NFL Draft. The Longhorns aren't sending a Brian Orakpo or Earl Thomas to the NFL and the Golden Bears don't have an Aaron Rodgers or DeSean Jackson. That's part of the reason both enter the Holiday Bowl with a 7-5 record. The game starts at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Arguably the best players in tonight's game is Texas junior defensive end Alex Okafor. He has one of the better first steps you'll see and projects to be someone who could shift over to linebacker in a 3-4. Coming into tonight's game, Okafor has 14 tackles for loss and 7 sacks, which is decent. It's his 17 quarterback hurries that tell the story, if you go by stats.

Junior safety Kenny Vaccaro has a nice size and athleticism combination, which could help him get picked in the first 100 selections when he enters the draft. In regard to pass coverage, he's ready for the NFL right now. But Vaccaro may be better served by returning for his senior season to get better at reading his keys and playing the run.

Texas defensive tackle Kheeston Randall has had a resoundingly disappointing senior season. If one player needs a good bowl game, and offseason, it's Randall. Linebacker Keenan Robinson has had a solid year, as expected. Robinson is an athletic linebacker who may need to be placed in the right system to succeed. The same can be said of linebacker Emmanuel Acho, who projects to the weakside in the NFL.

With the advent of more 3-4 teams in the NFL, the draft stock of Cal defensive end Trevor Guyton is probably going to be higher than it should be. He's a solid player with nice size at 6-foot-3 and 280 pounds, but this isn't the second coming of Tyson Alualu. Guyton profiles as a solid rotational player who won't be a detriment to a line rotation.

Golden Bears middle linebacker Mychal Kendricks may not be the tallest at 5-foot-11, but his instincts are solid and he can hit hard. Kendricks will fight an uphill battle because some will be concerned about his size, but he's been productive. Conversely, safety Sean Cattouse will get a look at least for his size. Cattouse is best when he can roam in pass coverage and make a play on the pass.

Cal wide receiver Marvin Jones has some fans among draftniks, but he doesn't stand out in area to earn more than a late-round grade.

3k has put out another edition of the downloadable bowl watch list, which you can (and should) download here.

In this game last year: The Holiday Bowl is generally known as a high-scoring game, but it wasn't last year. Jake Locker and Washington got revenge on Nebaska, winning 19-7.

2013 NFL Draft watch: At this time next year, we could be talking about Texas true sophomore cornerback Carrington Byndom as someone who will be drafted in the first two days.