GrnBay007
04-14-2008, 10:34 PM
Thomas on the Draft: Worst QB crop in years?
By Jim Thomas
There have been better years for quarterbacks in the NFL draft, that’s for sure. In fact, one veteran NFL offensive coordinator said this is the worst crop of college quarterbacks he’s seen in years.
Matt Ryan of Boston College is the only sure first-rounder. But adding color to an otherwise drab year at the position is the emergence of small-college prospects Josh Johnson and Joe Flacco.
Johnson threw 43 touchdowns and only one interception last season at San Diego. (Not San Diego State. But the University of San Diego Toreros.)
"That’s hard to do," Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden said of Johnson’s unbelievable TD-to-interception ratio. "Then you watch the East-West game, and watch him run around and make plays. Phil Simms (the former New York Giants’ star) came out of Moorhead State. A lot of these guys came out of small schools. He’s going to play in the league, I’m convinced of that."
So will Flacco, a Pittsburgh transfer who threw for 4,263 yards last season at Delaware.
"I think his (Senior) Bowl game performance really helped him," Gruden said. "He stood out there. He’s a big guy, poised and confident. People like his stroke."
At just under 6 feet 7, Flacco stands out just about everywhere. And he has one of the strongest arms in this year’s draft pool.
Flacco felt he was stuck on the depth chart at Pitt behind Tyler Palko, so he transferred after the 2004 season to Delaware, who had recruited him out of high school. After sitting out the ‘05 season under NCAA transfer rules, Flacco started the next two seasons for Delaware, completing 63.4 percent of his passes for 7,046 yards and 41 TDs.
Flacco, who will make a pre-draft visit to Rams Park on Tuesday and Wednesday, may go as high as the second round, ahead of several more heralded quarterbacks from BCS schools.
"There are a lot of different reasons that guys play at the smaller level," Flacco said. "But at the quarterback position, I believe that the competition is all relative. There are open guys, and there are covered guys. And I think that if you can play, you can play."
Meanwhile, Johnson went to the "smaller level" because he had no other choice coming out of Oakland (Calif.) Technical High.
"In my senior year, there was a point in the middle where I didn’t think I’d ever play college football," Johnson said.
He was simply too small, playing at 150 pounds his senior season.
"No one was really recruiting me," Johnson said. "I just wanted the opportunity to play."
He got that at San Diego, where former NFL quarterback Jim Harbaugh was the head coach. "Coach Harbaugh really helped my mind grow a lot," Johnson said.
His body began to grow as well. At the NFL Scouting Combine, Johnson measured in at 6-3, 213 pounds. Johnson did more than throw the football at San Diego. He rushed for 1,864 yards and 19 TDs during his career with the Toreros, averaging 6.1 yards per carry. At the Combine, he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.53 seconds.
And what about that one interception in 2007?
"It was a scramble play, and I was rolling out," Johnson said. "I kind of threw it slightly across my body. It kind of ricocheted off the tight end’s chest up in the air, and (the defender) caught it."
Here comes Henne
Along with Delaware’s Flacco, Michigan’s Chad Henne will visit Rams Park this week. Along with Louisville’s Brian Brohm, Flacco and Henne are the leading candidates to follow Matt Ryan of Boston College as the second QB taken in the draft.
After an injury-plagued regular season for the Wolverines, Henne’s stock has been rising since his MVP performance in the Capital One Bowl against Florida. Henne completed 25 of 39 passes for 373 yards and three TDs in the Wolverines’ 41-35 victory.
"It was definitely a different perspective against Florida," Henne said. "We spread them out. We went empty (backfield). I was in the shotgun a lot, and throughout my career, I was mostly under center."
Henne followed that performance with an impressive week at the Senior Bowl. He threw for two TDs in the Senior Bowl game and was named North squad MVP. Those performances served as a reminder to scouts of what Henne could do when healthy. He missed one game last season with a separated right (throwing) shoulder, and two others with a knee injury. He played hurt nearly all season.
"The shoulder was very difficult," Henne said. "I did that in Illinois _ I played through that game. I missed Minnesota after that. It was tough. But against Florida, it felt pretty good."
Dixon’s dilemma
Dennis Dixon’s Heisman Trophy campaign at Oregon was derailed by a knee injury that required surgery. Now, more than four months removed from reconstructive surgery, Dixon is hoping to minimize damage to his NFL career on draft day.
"Just to have my name mentioned, just having an opportunity, just getting drafted _ it’s a blessing," Dixon said. "And if I were to get drafted, I’m going to be. . .dedicated in everything I’m doing."
In large part because of the injury, Dixon isn’t expected to be drafted until the mid-to-late rounds. But he seems determined not to let the injury get the best of him.
"You can’t let it," he said. "You’ve got to continue to focus. I think the most devastating loss that I ever had _ and nothing will ever compare to that _ was losing my mom."
Dixon’s mother died of breast cancer when he was a freshman at Oregon.
"Life goes on," he said. "There’s challenges out there. It’s going to be rough, but it’s how you respond in the end."
Dixon suffered the injury, a torn ACL in his left knee, on Nov. 3 against Arizona State. He played the next week against Arizona, keeping the injury a secret to the public, but was unable to finish the game.
Despite missing the Ducks’ final three games, Dixon finished the season with 2,136 yards passing, 20 TD passes, and just four interceptions. He also rushed for 583 yards and nine TDs to earn offensive player of the year honors in the Pacific-10 Conference.
Dixon threw well at a workout for NFL Scouts earlier this month, but did not run the 40.
Danny’s nephew
Tennessee’s Erik Ainge isn’t as accomplished on the basketball court as his uncle Danny. That would be Danny Ainge, the former John Wooden award winner at Brigham Young, longtime NBA player, and current executive director of basketball operations for the Boston Celtics.
Not that Erik was a slouch on the hardwood.
"Going into my senior year of high school, I played AAU ball all over
the country. . .and couldn’t guard some of the guys that were at the elite level," he said. "And that’s when I decided to play football or baseball. I ended up choosing football."
Ainge’s football career went well enough with the Volunteers that he’s projected as a mid-round draft pick.
Erik’s father Doug is a basketball coach at Linfield College in Oregon.
"Obviously, I’m from a big basketball family," Erik said. "I figure there’s (fewer) 6-6 quarterbacks than there are shooting guards with average ‘hops’ and OK defense. I can still shoot it, though."
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/rams/story/982E8E4D80D5D8388625742B000D051A?OpenDocument
By Jim Thomas
There have been better years for quarterbacks in the NFL draft, that’s for sure. In fact, one veteran NFL offensive coordinator said this is the worst crop of college quarterbacks he’s seen in years.
Matt Ryan of Boston College is the only sure first-rounder. But adding color to an otherwise drab year at the position is the emergence of small-college prospects Josh Johnson and Joe Flacco.
Johnson threw 43 touchdowns and only one interception last season at San Diego. (Not San Diego State. But the University of San Diego Toreros.)
"That’s hard to do," Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden said of Johnson’s unbelievable TD-to-interception ratio. "Then you watch the East-West game, and watch him run around and make plays. Phil Simms (the former New York Giants’ star) came out of Moorhead State. A lot of these guys came out of small schools. He’s going to play in the league, I’m convinced of that."
So will Flacco, a Pittsburgh transfer who threw for 4,263 yards last season at Delaware.
"I think his (Senior) Bowl game performance really helped him," Gruden said. "He stood out there. He’s a big guy, poised and confident. People like his stroke."
At just under 6 feet 7, Flacco stands out just about everywhere. And he has one of the strongest arms in this year’s draft pool.
Flacco felt he was stuck on the depth chart at Pitt behind Tyler Palko, so he transferred after the 2004 season to Delaware, who had recruited him out of high school. After sitting out the ‘05 season under NCAA transfer rules, Flacco started the next two seasons for Delaware, completing 63.4 percent of his passes for 7,046 yards and 41 TDs.
Flacco, who will make a pre-draft visit to Rams Park on Tuesday and Wednesday, may go as high as the second round, ahead of several more heralded quarterbacks from BCS schools.
"There are a lot of different reasons that guys play at the smaller level," Flacco said. "But at the quarterback position, I believe that the competition is all relative. There are open guys, and there are covered guys. And I think that if you can play, you can play."
Meanwhile, Johnson went to the "smaller level" because he had no other choice coming out of Oakland (Calif.) Technical High.
"In my senior year, there was a point in the middle where I didn’t think I’d ever play college football," Johnson said.
He was simply too small, playing at 150 pounds his senior season.
"No one was really recruiting me," Johnson said. "I just wanted the opportunity to play."
He got that at San Diego, where former NFL quarterback Jim Harbaugh was the head coach. "Coach Harbaugh really helped my mind grow a lot," Johnson said.
His body began to grow as well. At the NFL Scouting Combine, Johnson measured in at 6-3, 213 pounds. Johnson did more than throw the football at San Diego. He rushed for 1,864 yards and 19 TDs during his career with the Toreros, averaging 6.1 yards per carry. At the Combine, he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.53 seconds.
And what about that one interception in 2007?
"It was a scramble play, and I was rolling out," Johnson said. "I kind of threw it slightly across my body. It kind of ricocheted off the tight end’s chest up in the air, and (the defender) caught it."
Here comes Henne
Along with Delaware’s Flacco, Michigan’s Chad Henne will visit Rams Park this week. Along with Louisville’s Brian Brohm, Flacco and Henne are the leading candidates to follow Matt Ryan of Boston College as the second QB taken in the draft.
After an injury-plagued regular season for the Wolverines, Henne’s stock has been rising since his MVP performance in the Capital One Bowl against Florida. Henne completed 25 of 39 passes for 373 yards and three TDs in the Wolverines’ 41-35 victory.
"It was definitely a different perspective against Florida," Henne said. "We spread them out. We went empty (backfield). I was in the shotgun a lot, and throughout my career, I was mostly under center."
Henne followed that performance with an impressive week at the Senior Bowl. He threw for two TDs in the Senior Bowl game and was named North squad MVP. Those performances served as a reminder to scouts of what Henne could do when healthy. He missed one game last season with a separated right (throwing) shoulder, and two others with a knee injury. He played hurt nearly all season.
"The shoulder was very difficult," Henne said. "I did that in Illinois _ I played through that game. I missed Minnesota after that. It was tough. But against Florida, it felt pretty good."
Dixon’s dilemma
Dennis Dixon’s Heisman Trophy campaign at Oregon was derailed by a knee injury that required surgery. Now, more than four months removed from reconstructive surgery, Dixon is hoping to minimize damage to his NFL career on draft day.
"Just to have my name mentioned, just having an opportunity, just getting drafted _ it’s a blessing," Dixon said. "And if I were to get drafted, I’m going to be. . .dedicated in everything I’m doing."
In large part because of the injury, Dixon isn’t expected to be drafted until the mid-to-late rounds. But he seems determined not to let the injury get the best of him.
"You can’t let it," he said. "You’ve got to continue to focus. I think the most devastating loss that I ever had _ and nothing will ever compare to that _ was losing my mom."
Dixon’s mother died of breast cancer when he was a freshman at Oregon.
"Life goes on," he said. "There’s challenges out there. It’s going to be rough, but it’s how you respond in the end."
Dixon suffered the injury, a torn ACL in his left knee, on Nov. 3 against Arizona State. He played the next week against Arizona, keeping the injury a secret to the public, but was unable to finish the game.
Despite missing the Ducks’ final three games, Dixon finished the season with 2,136 yards passing, 20 TD passes, and just four interceptions. He also rushed for 583 yards and nine TDs to earn offensive player of the year honors in the Pacific-10 Conference.
Dixon threw well at a workout for NFL Scouts earlier this month, but did not run the 40.
Danny’s nephew
Tennessee’s Erik Ainge isn’t as accomplished on the basketball court as his uncle Danny. That would be Danny Ainge, the former John Wooden award winner at Brigham Young, longtime NBA player, and current executive director of basketball operations for the Boston Celtics.
Not that Erik was a slouch on the hardwood.
"Going into my senior year of high school, I played AAU ball all over
the country. . .and couldn’t guard some of the guys that were at the elite level," he said. "And that’s when I decided to play football or baseball. I ended up choosing football."
Ainge’s football career went well enough with the Volunteers that he’s projected as a mid-round draft pick.
Erik’s father Doug is a basketball coach at Linfield College in Oregon.
"Obviously, I’m from a big basketball family," Erik said. "I figure there’s (fewer) 6-6 quarterbacks than there are shooting guards with average ‘hops’ and OK defense. I can still shoot it, though."
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/rams/story/982E8E4D80D5D8388625742B000D051A?OpenDocument