The NFL Draft is always a crapshoot, but that is especially true when it comes to plucking players from small schools. It is always a risk to draft a small-school player — essentially, you are picking a guy to play chess because he is really good at checkers — but with the right player the payoff can be huge.

Plus, let’s be honest, guys from small schools are easy to get behind. America loves an underdog; plus, draftniks love a “diamond in the rough.” Small-school prospects fit both qualifiers and are therefore some of the most popular guys on draft day.

It used to be that teams would only risk late-round picks on small-school players, but that’s no longer the case. In last year’s draft, Buffalo’s Khalil Mack was a top-five pick. Jimmie Ward (Northern Illinois) also snuck into the first round. Also inside the top-70 we saw players selected from Eastern Illinois (Jimmy Garoppolo) and North Dakota State (Billy Turner).

At this week’s NFL Combine, Chargers GM Tom Telesco was asked about the challenges of scouting players who come from lower levels of competition.

“It may take you a little more time,” he said. “You’re looking for traits and physical abilities. A lot of that is just scouting. … That’s what our scouts get paid for.”

Telesco is not just blowing smoke, either. His first two drafts as San Diego’s general manager netted players from Arkansas State (Ryan Carrethers), Florida International (Tourek Williams) and Southern Utah (Brad Sorensen).

So, who are this year’s small-school standouts?

Northern Iowa RB David Johnson is currently projected as a middle-round pick. He rushed for over 1,500 yards last season and picked up almost another 1,000 yards in all-purpose yardage. He was impressive at the Senior Bowl, particularly as a receiver out of the backfield, and has the size (6-foot-1, 215 pounds) and power to continue his productivity in the NFL.

It also helps that running back is one of the easiest positions for young players to master.

“The running back position is a lot of instincts,” Telesco said. “You either have it or you don’t.”

Another intriguing offensive prospect is Central Arkansas WR Dezmin Lewis. Like Johnson, Lewis helped himself immensely with a strong performance at the Senior Bowl. He also has two important attributes than cannot be coached: size (6-foot-4, 215 pounds) and speed.

NFL teams are more willing to gamble on small-school receivers when they have such outstanding measurables. That is what got Vincent Jackson (Northern Colorado) and Marques Colston (Hofstra) their shots in the league and they’ve certainly made the most of their opportunities.

“It may be the advent of the receiver position that we see so many [college] teams run spread offenses and throw the ball so much that we’re seeing more receivers at this level much more polished,” Telesco said. “Most of these kids through high school, their seven-on-seven camps in the summertime, colleges — these receivers have been running a lot of routes for a long time. This is a repetition game, so maybe we are starting to see some of that at this level.”

On defense, no small-school prospect is more intriguing than Lynden Trail (Norfolk State). An outstanding athlete with strength and length (6’6, 262 lbs.), he could be a 4-3 defensive end or a 3-4 outside linebacker. Some teams even believe he could play tight end in the NFL. Like Johnson and Lewis, Trail used last month’s Senior Bowl to remove any doubt that he can hang with players from major programs.

“It was awesome,” Trail said of the Senior Bowl experience. “My biggest ordeal going down there was to show people that there is no such thing as a small-school guy. I’m a firm believer in everybody is equal.”

This is not to imply that there is not some serious risk involved in drafting players from smaller schools. In last year’s draft, Dolphins GM Dennis Hickey got a case of small-school fever and selected players from Liberty, North Dakota State, Montana, Coastal Carolina and Marist College. Those five players combined to contribute zero starts and less than 200 total snaps.

So while small-school players should not comprise the majority of any team’s draft, the right prospect can prove to be a steal if the fit and the value are on-point.

At the NFL Combine, guys like OG Ali Marpet (Hobart), TE MyCole Pruitt (Southern Illinois) and DT Christian Covington (Rice) will do their best to maximize their value. As far as the fit, that will be determined in approximately 70 days. Only then can the true diamonds begin to separate themselves from the rough.