Justin Malone was ready. Having appeared in all 12 games during 2012, his redshirt freshman season with Mississippi State, including four starts at left guard, Malone was ready to take things to the next level, to build on the structure he'd created that first year, to hone in on the fundamentals, the finer aspects of the position, and start turning his natural physical gifts into a consistently productive commodity for the on-the-rise Bulldogs.

But three quarters into his sophomore campaign, Malone's season was over. Without warning it was back to the drawing board, back to the beginning.

"At first I was kind of depressed," Malone told Headlines and Global News recently. "I was coming into my own. We were ready to build on that. Then just, my season ended in three quarters."

But Malone shook off the setback - a Lisfranc injury - and got to work on his rehab. Now, several years removed from that lost season, Malone is ready again, but this time, the goal isn't just to take another step in his personal development.

It's to prove to the NFL and, if by some stroke of luck, the Oakland Raiders, that he's worth a selection in the 2016 NFL Draft.

***

At 6-foot-6, 330-pounds, Malone knows he has the size. And Malone knows the NFL's talent evaluators know that, see it every time they put on his tape or the tape of his college teammate, Dak Prescott.

But what they may not know and what Malone thinks gives him a chance to not just survive, but thrive in the NFL, is the quick-twitch capability of the computer that powers that immense machine - his brain.

"I don't take long to learn," Malone said. "I learn things, if you tell me once, maybe twice, I'll get it. I'll go out there and do it, and I learn everything quickly. If you need me to learn something new for the next game, I got it."

Malone, a fifth-year senior for the Mississippi State Bulldogs, enters the 2016 NFL Draft process coming off a season in which he started all 13 games as well as the Belk Bowl, playing guard, tackle and even a little bit of center. It's that versatility, that ability to process and retain information quickly that Malone believes will have some lucky NFL coaching staff sending flowers to their scouts post-draft.

"I've done it before," Malone said, his voice confident. "I'll do it again. I'll play them all well."

In fact, though he'd practiced snapping all year, the single game that Malone started at center in 2015 marked the first time he'd ever played the position during his collegiate career. Bulldogs coaches came to him at the beginning of the week, told him that starter Jamaal Clayborn was injured, and that, as a result, he'd be starting at center in place of Clayborn.

And that was that.

"Started working on it that week. Get to the game - everything went without a hitch," Malone said matter-of-factly, as if starting the Belk Bowl against NC State at a position he'd never before played in the final game of his collegiate career was the most natural thing in the world.

But that's just who Malone is - ask and ye shall receive.

***

At this point, talk of Malone's stock has been hovering around the sixth-round to priority undrafted free agent. But to him, that's just talk - talk not worth listening to. The longtime Raiders fan wouldn't mind landing with Oakland, the team he grew up rooting for, though he's just ready to get after it for whatever team is willing to expend a pick on him.

Because Malone's also a realist. And he knows he can't spend time hoping he'll land somewhere in particular, be chosen in one round or another.

But Malone wouldn't just relish the chance to play for the Raiders because of long-standing allegiances - "My whole family - parents, brothers, grandparents, aunt, uncles. Everybody is Raiders fans," Malone said - it's also because he can see what the Raiders are building.

If you'd asked him two or three years ago where he'd like to kick off his NFL career, Malone may well have said anywhere but Oakland. But with the work that Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie and head coach Jack Del Rio have done in just one season together, well, Malone sure wouldn't mind donning the silver and the black and working to protect Derek Carr and open holes for Latavius Murray.

"Going through high school and college when my parents were asking me, 'If you could play football, would you like to play for the Raiders?' And I was always like, 'Well, I'm not going to say no, but...," Malone said, letting the thought linger.

"I'm an athlete," Malone continued. "I love to win. It's in me to win. I can't just take my lumps and lose all the time. So, now that they're winning, they're on the right track, that would be very fortunate to go play there. One, it's my parents favorite team. Two, it's a team that's on the rise and they're still building something."

Malone hasn't heard from McKenzie and Co. recently, though he said the Raiders did reach out "early in the process." But with the big bucks shelled out to Kelechi Osemele and Donald Penn this offseason, following the addition of Rodney Hudson last year, it's clear Oakland wants to keep building through their two lines. And what better way to keep that position stocked with talent than to nab a big, scheme-diverse player like Malone with one of those late-round picks?

At the very least, Malone would have the loudest cheering section of any Raiders player at home games, wherever those home games wind up being played.

***

While most NFL pundits consider guard to be Malone's future NFL home, with NFL Draft Scout slotting him as the 46th-best at the position out of 220 candidates, the long-levered Malone actually thinks he's a natural tackle.

But again - it's not his concern. Just like he can't predict where he'll land in the draft, Malone can't say for certain how the team that does pick him up will utilize him.

He loves run blocking, but thinks his greatest strength is pass blocking. He wants to "move people," but is just as willing to set and protect.

Malone wasn't invited to the combine and there are only limited reports of his pro day numbers - 5.48 40-yard dash, 24.5-inch vertical jump and a 97-inch broad jump - but either way, he believes the same mental and physical tools that allowed him to excel in the SEC against guys like former Alabama tackle Jesse Williams, will allow him to excel as an NFLer.

Really, when you spend your collegiate career blocking guys like Chris Jones - another top-rated Bulldogs prospect expected to go high in the 2016 NFL Draft despite the almost absurd abundance of talented defensive lineman available - Denico Autry, Josh Boyd and soon-to-be highly-paid Philadelphia Eagles star Fletcher Cox in practice, and keeping a possible future starting NFL signal-caller in Prescott clean during those knock down, drag em' out SEC games, you've got plenty of reason to believe you're a future NFL player.

"I have great experience against that caliber of player and I expect I can be that caliber of player," Malone said. "I'm going to keep working and they helped me get to where I am now, getting better, and all that stuff, so I know I'm ready to do it and that I can do it."

But the proof, as they say, is in the pudding. And like a gambler with nothing to lose, all Malone is asking for is a chip and a chair. Again, whether that chip, that draft selection, that training camp spot, comes from the Raiders or another team isn't his concern.

All Malone cares about is an opportunity to put on his pads and his cleats and show the NFL what he's made of.

The rest, he believes, will take care of itself.

"I want to win the game. I want to win the play. I want to win the battle between me and that guy in front of me," Malone said. "I'll do whatever it takes for me to win."