A busy time of year for scouts, for both NFL scouts and independents scouts like myself, because of the timing: Perfect time to come back from a non-scouting, relaxing coma and refresh on last year’s tape, get familiar with the whole new crop of players, and plan out guys you need to watch more, database players, and overall get “back in the swing of things”.
This week, I’ll go into some very good NFL prospects on some very poor college football teams that you should still watch, comparing Matt Barkley and Jimmy Clausen, the BEST FBS schools (academically that is), and a reason to pump the breaks on Andrew Luck.
Good Draft Prospects On Bad Teams
Watching great college football and scouting ends up being two very different things. Scouting an Alabama, LSU game isn’t too hard. Every player ends up an NFL draft prospect in those games eventually, so your job is to just find the special ones. However, scouting teams that are not so elite can be tedious and sometimes skipped over.
Well, here are a handful of guys on teams that likely won’t do well next year that you should still keep your scout’s eye on:
-Casey Hayward, CB, Virginia
The 5’11, 185 senior considered declaring a year ago, but made the wise move to return to school. Physical, gutsy cornerback, he has the fluid hips and the aggressiveness to take on the bigger sized receivers. Alshon Jeffery tore up Vandy last year, but AJ Green and Terrence Toliver both had 3 catches each against him. Look for improvement this year with more stability on the defense around him.
-Kelechi Osemele, OT, Iowa State
A 6’6, 354 pound monster at left tackle for the Cyclones this year, but his ideal NFL position may be at left guard. He was dominating as a sophomore, but was inconsistent all of last year. Now the leader and the team’s best offensive player this year, he’ll have a chance to put himself all the way into the first round discussion if he can use his length and size to his advantage and not be out-techniqued.
-Vinny Curry, DE, Marshall
One of the best players most have never heard of on the defensive line, Curry quietly almost declared a season ago after a dominating 12 sack season. Now without one of my favorite draft prospects from last year in Mario Harvey gone, Curry is the face of a defense that has 7 other returning starters. Another dominating season, and Curry could quietly sneak into the Top 40-50 on many boards. 
-Ladarius Green, TE, UL-Lafayette
Maybe already the top tight end in next year’s draft class, Green is the focal point on an offense that finished 92nd in scoring but 37th in passing offense. He is the team’s top returning target, which could mean even more than 44 catches and 79 yards a game (his 2010 averages). Moves very well, a good build for an NFL tight end, Green needs to showcase his complete skill set and somehow standout in the Sun Belt this year.
-Josh Violanti, C, Buffalo
The MAC conference is generally known for their quarterbacks and receivers, but this year, they have quite a few very impressive offensive linemen, especially at center. Violanti might be in the Top 10 in center prospects for next year, but he’s fighting for the Top 3 in the MAC with Scott Wedige (NIU) and Chris Anzevino (Kent State) also impressive center prospects. The Buffalo offensive has some talent at receiver, but a young and inexperienced offensive line. It will be Violanti’s job to make that line work together and hopefully improve on the team’s 8th ranked offensive in the MAC a season ago.
-Sean Baker, S, Ball State
Baker has the size at 6’1, 195 for a safety prospect, and has been a do it all type talent for a struggling Ball State defense. He’ll need to show the next step when it comes to athleticism as well as set the tone of this defense, but his ball hawking skills both in the run and pass game will need to be shown once again this year for him to be a solid Top 150 prospect.
–Duke Ihenecho, S, San Jose State
His brother had a shot in the NFL a few years back and was a Combine invite, but didn’t get drafted and is currently with the Chargers. Duke, on the other hand, has a much better chance at being drafted. The 2-time All-WAC safety was hurt last year with a foot injury and missed the season. At 6’1, 210, he’s a run stopping strong safety who has some experience playing linebacker as a sophomore. If he can show more fluidity in coverage, he may rise on draft boards, as he appears to be a pretty solid athlete.
-Frank Trotter, DT, Memphis
The team was 1-11 last year, and they haven’t had a drafted player since 2009, where Clinton McDonald went in the 7th round. They haven’t had a Top 4 round drafted player since 2006. So Frank Trotter, a defensive tackle at 6’2, 270, has an uphill battle to try and go from the 117th ranked defense to one of 32 NFL teams. Still, he is the team’s leading returning tackler and had 16.5 tackles for a loss, and that quick first step and finishing ability as a tackler could force some teams to take a look if he can keep this up.
Matt Barkley vs. Jimmy Clausen
42-0 as a high school quarterback. Named the nation’s top offensive player as a senior. Called a “once in a decade” quarterback prospect by numerous recruiting analysts because of his mechanics, production, and experience with former NFL quarterbacks. The #1 rated quarterback coming out of high school. His name? Jimmy Clausen.
Matt Barkley didn’t have the exact same high school career, but pretty close. He was the nation’s top offensive player as a junior. He was considered the consensus top quarterback prospect in the country, ranked 5th by rivals to end his senior year. And, he also called his own plays in high school starting in his sophomore year.
But it wasn’t the production or accuracy or mechanics that caused teams to pass on Jimmy Clausen at the NFL level, it was his attitude and lack of great leadership qualities. Matt Barkley is coming into his junior season with high expectations, solid weapons around him, and in a system that sets himself up well for the NFL if he declares after the season.
I haven’t heard anything of the sorts on Barkley being like Jimmy Clausen in the locker room or the huddle. And that’s huge. A pro-style offense, a quarterback with it all, and the production to back it up. Maybe having the USC program spiral downward off the field helped in maintaining his humbleness as a person, who knows. But Barkley has the skill of Jimmy Clausen (if not more). He’ll need to prove he has a better head on his shoulders though if he hopes to go from prep phenom to NFL franchise quarterback.
Compliant FBS Schools
Far too often, we parade around the success of the Florida Gators, the Ohio State Buckeyes, or the North Carolina Tar Heels in the major sports at the college ranks. Since 1960, there have been 22 different FBS National Championships, including the Gators and Buckeyes. There have been
24 different NCAA Basketball Champions since 1960, including the Gators, Buckeyes, and Tar Heels.
However a list that recently came to my attention that got about 1% of the coverage that the national champions get is the list of schools that have NEVER had a major NCAA infraction. The whole list is here: Wall Street Journal: The NCAA’s Last Innocents
The three of the four BCS schools on there are Boston College, Northwestern, and Stanford. All three are private and don’t need to agree to the freedom of information act, which is how so many reporters are able to get the inside scoop on public schools. However, the one school that is public and is a major college football champion is the 2 time FBS football champion and Joe Paterno lead Penn State Nittany Lions.
Despite being a major college football program, having the prestige of the program that can lure top recruits, and being surrounded and competing against Michigan, Indiana, and most recently found guilty Ohio State, Joe Paterno and the rest of the Penn State coaches have maintained an outstanding stance of compliance. And that’s something that fans should be proud of, people should support, and something that should get at least a little press as Ohio State hogs the headlines for the opposite of how Penn State has been so compliant over the last 50 years.
Quick Rant: Let’s Slow the Andrew Luck Love-Train Before It Gets Overcrowded and Everyone Jumps Off
Andrew Lucks is the best quarterback prospect I’ve ever scouted for a few reasons. One, he has the ideal size, arm, length, and build you like to see in a quarterback translating to the NFL game. Two, he has a great head on his shoulders, is a leader, a quick learner, and doesn’t make mistakes twice. And three, he has outstanding poise in the pocket, keeps focused and with great footwork as he moves, and his arm strength and ball placement combination is special for a college football prospect.
Is he perfect? No. He can’t be. College players can’t be. NFL players strive for it, but almost always come up short. Are their flaws in Andrew Luck’s game? Yes. He could be more assertive in his arm strength across the middle. He drops fairly deep on rollouts at times and doesn’t put himself in ideal position. His touch across the middle within 20 yards could use some fine tunings. And that’s only to name a few.
One of the main problems with many in scouting is that we raise players up to be special prospects, but if we see too much of them, we crush them for the minor problems. I’ve seen it time and time again. Most recently, with Jake Locker. Just about everyone loved Locker in the 2010 NFL Draft. Some had him rated higher than Sam Bradford. Why? His arm was outstanding, he’s a rare athlete at quarterback, he can make plays on
the move, he played in a pro-style offense, when given time, he had solid accuracy.
But after another year in college, where I think he improved in a lot of areas, many bashed him for accuracy concerns (which were there) despite his arm and athletic ability being rare, and his supporting cast very suspect.
Andrew Luck will be a Top 5 player, and maybe he won’t be subject to over-analyzation because he’ll have another outstanding career. But when scouting a prospect, keep in mind that they are just people, allowed to have a few bad games, and try and find the core of their skills, not bury them because you’ve seen a bad quality numerous times. No one’s perfect out of college, not even close.
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