With the college football seasons beginning in just a few weeks, it’s time to get focused on prospects to watch for the 2012 season.
I’ll talk about some sleeper quarterbacks that should get more attention, one of my favorite small school prospects, and how the returning stat leaders from a year ago would fair on draft day. Also, a quick look at the Supplemental Draft.
2012 NFL Draft Quarterbacks Not Getting Enough Love
This year is being viewed as one of the best quarterback draft classes in quite a few years. To a point, that is about accurate, as there is the potential of three quarterbacks being Top 5 or 6 picks, and four or five more that could first or second rounders. However, saying it’s the “best” quarterback class is a little nieve since a.) It’s still the pre-season, b.) the three top prospects aren’t seniors, and c.) some quarterback classes that are viewed as bad actually turn out pretty good down the road.
The real indication of a good quarterback class in my opinion aren’t the first round locks at quarterback, it’s the mid round guys that have a chance to have a more than serviceable back-up type career. Here are four that could get to that level.
Dominique Davis of East Carolina and BJ Coleman of UT-Chattanooga both have the size and NFL arm to be a mid round pick now, but both have the chance to be a 2nd round pick. Davis has been impressive with his feet and keeping the play alive, while Coleman has the prototypical size and arm strength to win over GMs, especially in workouts.
GJ Kinne of Tulsa has been very productive over his career at Tulsa since transferring from Texas, and has a chance to lead his team to the national spotlight. He has good down the field accuracy and is a good athlete at quarterback. Aaron Corp of Richmond is another big time transfer (from USC), but has been limited by an injury last year that cut his season short. In the time played, he was quite impressive especially with his touch on the outside and down the field, and has a good enough NFL arm to last in the NFL.
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Supplemental Draft Prospects
As of now, there are five players eligible for the 2011 NFL Supplemental Draft on Wednesday, three of which have a reasonable chance at getting drafted, two more can a shot after the draft, and a potential sixth player is hoping to be added to the pool as well.
Michael McAdoo, formerly of North Carolina, was the most recent player to be ruled eligible for the Supplemental Draft. The defensive end was an impressive rotation pass rusher as a sophomore, and at 6’6 and 270, he of course was compared to Julius Peppers. But after being ruled permanently ineligible from North Carolina for academic misconduct, his college career was cut short. Despite not being a full-time, full-season starter, NFL teams should still look to take a shot on him in 4th round.
Caleb King, running back from Georgia, and Tracy Wilson, safety from Northern Illinois both have an outside chance of getting a 6th or 7th round pick. King was a former high school standout who was riddled by injuries and lackluster play over his career thanks to average foot speed and lack of versatility. Wilson was injured much of last year, but showed aggressiveness when attacking the ball at the line, and has the hips to go sideline to sideline and up/down the field.
Two small school players, Torez Jones, CB from Western Carolina and Keenan Mace, DE from Lindenwood also declared for the Supplemental Draft. Jones is a playmaker in the secondary, quick, solid hands, but must be more physical. Mace was with the Allen Wranglers of the IFL before asked for his release to enter this draft.
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Norman White Scouting Report
Finding a well-built NFL outside receiver with a firm basketball background and the development in his catching ability is a rare feat, but Norman White has that mixture of talent at receiver. White has a strong core and upper body, strong hands, great body control and confidence in his athletic ability.
White isn’t overly explosive off the snap nor sudden in his moves down the field, but he’s been very productive in his short, quick outside routes and his down the field and corner routes, something that has been and will continue to be tough for cornerbacks to defend. White has developed his ability to find holes in the defense and tracking the ball as it’s in the air without losing sight of defenders and the sidelines.
While he lacks the quickness to make multiple defenders miss for the most part, he can flip and run quickly with the ball, has some shake with the ball in his hands, and has the deep speed to make defenses pay with some room to run. As a blocker, White has the length and size to engulf cornerbacks at the NFL level now, and though he hasn’t proven to be a dominant downfield blocker and lacks the drive needed to be great in that area, he has the body type to do so.
The former basketball standout in high school has some lingering concerns about how much he loves the game of football, which is a legitimate concern, but the fact that he improved quickly over his career shows his willingness to adapt and improve his football game.
White has the raw tools to be an NFL starter down the road, but based on last year he’s still far away before his junior year production leads to NFL success. White should have another big season, this time as the feature offensive player for the Wildcats in 2011, and if he can seize that opportunity and build on his 886 yards, he should be able to rise up draft boards substantially and show teams that he’s worth the short term development.
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NCAA Returning Stat Leaders’ NFL Chances
I’m not a big stat guys when it comes to evaluating prospects at all, but I think it’s at least entertaining to see how these stat leaders might transition to the NFL game once they get there.
The returning passing yards leader is Bryant Moniz of Hawaii, who like most Hawaii quarterbacks, doesn’t have much of a shot sticking in the NFL. The top rushing and receiving leaders, however, both have NFL futures ahead of them. LaMichael James will only be a junior next year, but the returning rushing leader from Oregon has the speed and elusiveness in the open field to at worse be a Reggie Bush type player in the NFL. Justin Blackmon of Oklahoma State could be a top 10 pick in the 2012 NFL draft, and should be one of the top receiving leaders next year as well.
On defense, Luke Kuechly of Boston College (the returning tackling leader) and Bruce Irvin of West Virginia (the returning sack leader), but are viewed as potential first round picks if they can replicate their seasons. Jayron Hosley of Virginia Tech had 9 interceptions at cornerback last year, and now as a junior, has a chance to be one of the feature underclassmen defensive backs in the upcoming 2012 NFL Draft.
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