Cooper Rush is underrated and overlooked by Mel Kiper

Mel Kiper recently came out with his entirely-too-early everything for the 2017 NFL Draft, and unless you're an ESPN Insider, the only rankings you can access are the quarterback standings.

As expected, Deshawn Watson tops the underclassmen and the overall draft class at the QB position.

The true center of interest lies in the senior quarterback list.

It's blind resume time. Here are three of the five quarterbacks on the senior list and their career numbers.

QB A: 2809 yards, 17 touchdowns, 8 interceptions

QB B: 2701 yards, 14 touchdowns, 11 interceptions

QB C: 3848 yards, 25 touchdowns, 11 interceptions

Did you choose QB C? Congrats, you chose Cooper Rush! QB A is Minnesota's Mitch Leidner, while QB B is CJ Beathard of Iowa.

Another blind resume:

QB A: 4,100 yards, 31 touchdowns, 13 interceptions

QB B: 9,354 yards, 67 touchdowns, 39 interceptions

QB C: 5,557 yards, 46 touchdowns, 22 interceptions

Choose QB B? You got Rush again! QB A is Chad Kelly, ranked 4th, while QB C is Davis Webb, a recent transfer to Cal after losing his job to Pat Mahones III at Texas Tech.

Kelly has only one year of starting experience after sitting behind Bo Wallace most of his career. CJ Beathard had to fight Jake Rudock just to get playing time at QB in Iowa, while Mitch Leidner has struggled with consistency at Minnesota.

If you clicked the above link, you'll notice that Cooper Rush was ranked fifth in that list, behind Beathard, Leidner, , Chad Kelly and Davis Webb.

Notice a commonality? The other four quarterbacks are all starters (or potential starters, in Webb's case,) at Power Five schools, whereas Rush is a starter at Central Michigan, a Group of Five school.

Rush has been a three-year starter at CMU, and has led CMU to winning records in all three seasons. Granted two of those seasons were with all-time NCAA reciever Titus Davis and one with now-NFL starter Thomas Rawls.

However, it should be noted that Rush actually achieved better numbers in 2015, with 691 more passing yards, two less interceptions, a 66.3% completion percentage and a 69.4 adjusted QBR rating, 9.4 points better than the previous season. That was without Davis or Rawls, splitting the ball to seven receivers averaging over 500 yards.

Rush has been the reliant arm of the offense, as CMU's rushing game was been one of the worst in the country in 2015. This means the defense knew what was coming and Rush still put up those decent numbers.

If such numbers were posted in the Big Ten or the ACC, Rush would be getting serious consideration as a top two senior QB, but because he is in the MAC, his accomplishments are lessened.

He'd certainly be higher ranked than many on the list as it currently stands.

Rush also shows good potential, with an NFL frame and another season to better the numbers that he currently possesses.

I realize that a lot of this will sound like even more "underdog" complaining, sticking up for the little man. But believe me, you're going to want to watch the development of Rush over the next season, especially with Coach Bonamego and his sixteen years of NFL experience behind him in support.