Offensive guard Ali Marpet visited with the Dolphins on a pre-draft visit

The Miami Dolphins visited with Hobart offensive guard Ali Marpet as part of their pre-draft process. During his time at Hobart, Marpet was an AFCA All-American, Division 3 First team All-American and Associated Press Little All-American Second team. The news of his visit comes courtesy of the Sun-Sentinel. 

According to Jeff Hyde (Twitter: @Jeff__Hyde), an analyst for the PhinManiacs Draft Guide, the only knock on Marpet is that he hasn't faced quality football talent throughout his football life. Growing up in New York State, Marpet was always the biggest player on the field and seemed to tower over his competition.  At Division III Hobart College, things didn’t change much.  Hyde views Marpet as a top five guard in this draft class because his combination of technical blocking in both the running and passing games is second to none in this class.  He is a guy who is going to give 100% on every snap.  

The ideal draft round for Marpet, according to Hyde, is the third round although some are projecting that he is taken in the late part of the second. 

While Marpet may be from a small school, that didn't stop the team from drafting offensive guard Billy Turner from North Dakota State. They also took Terrence Fede from Marist, which is a school that had never had a player drafted into the NFL. The offensive guard position is certainly a need for the team so I would be surprised if this was any kind of smokescreen. The interest is real enough for the Dolphins to use one of their 30 visits on Marpet.

This story was written by Matthew Cannata. Follow him on Twitter: @PhinManiacs

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