Prospects

[HarveyWallbangers]

From touted to doubted
By Charles Robinson, Yahoo! Sports

It was the second day of Senior Bowl week and Oklahoma linebacker Clint Ingram was trying to rip the head off of Ohio State center Nick Mangold. Haymakers flew, jerseys were yanked, players screamed – and finally Chad Greenway stepped into the middle of the chaos.

"Whoa!" Greenway yelled, jamming himself between Mangold and Ingram, who were each still swinging wildly. "Get back!"

The fracas came to an abrupt halt and the players shuffled in opposite directions thanks to Greenway, who had stayed in the middle of it all. The situation has become all too familiar for the Iowa linebacker, who has been stuck in his own fight ever since.

Once projected to be a top-10 pick by NFL scouting departments, Greenway has been trapped in the middle of dueling perceptions about his ability over the last few months. On one side, he's viewed as an elite player whose attributes simply didn't test well. On the other, he's billed as a player whose measurables and skill had been highly overrated heading into the predraft process.

Sound familiar? It should. A similar debate centered around former USC and current Seattle Seahawks linebacker Lofa Tatupu last season.

Like Tatupu, Greenway did nothing but produce in college, garnering All-American status last season while notching 13 tackles per game. Four months ago, when NFL scouts talked about "special" linebacker prospects, the conversation usually went in this order: 1A. Ohio State's A.J. Hawk; 1B. Chad Greenway.

But early draft evaluations are often built on sand. And when the scouting combine arrived for Greenway, the tide had come with it.

Only a few weeks after an impressive Senior Bowl showing, Greenway hit a workout wall at the combine in Indianapolis. After predicting a 40-yard dash time in the range of 4.5 to 4.6 seconds, Greenway ran as slow as 4.8, according to some teams. And that was only the second alarming number. He also managed only 16 repetitions in the bench press – a result considered weak for a 242-pound player.

"I could have done more but they got me for rocking," said Greenway, explaining why some of his lifts were disqualified for improper form. "… It's obviously not the showing I wanted to have."

It's just the latest knock in what has been a career full of lumps for Greenway. Growing up on a farm in tiny Mount Vernon, S.D. (population hovering around 480), Greenway's graduating class boasted a grand total of 29 people. His high school football games weren't even fit for regular 11-on-11 play. Instead, Greenway learned the game playing 9-on-9.

"It wasn't really that different," Greenway said. "It was just football as we knew it in South Dakota. If growing up playing 11-man football, [if] you thought that was normal, well, to you guys it was normal. To us, it was normal playing nine-man football."

Unfortunately for Greenway, the combination of living in South Dakota and playing a pared down version of the game didn't exactly endear him to college football recruiters. He appeared destined for a Division II career until Iowa offered him a scholarship at the last minute. Even then, it would take two full years – one redshirt campaign and a freshman season limited by a torn ACL – before Greenway flashed the star power that eventually landed him on NFL radar screens.

By the end of his sophomore year, Greenway had established himself as one of the best linebackers in the Big Ten, finishing with 132 tackles and earning second-team all-conference honors. Two seasons later, he had polished himself into one of college football's premier defensive players and was thought to be fighting with Hawk for the honor of being the draft's first defensive player off the board.

But the celebration was merely a prelude to another round of doubts. Billed as a player with all the tools and instincts, Greenway was already undergoing some nitpicking before his below-average combine performance. Scouts complained that he ran around blockers rather than shedding them and getting to the ball, and when it came to his pass-rushing skills, he was a work in progress at best.

By the time he'd gotten done with the combine, pundits were already moving him down the draft board in a deep linebacker class. The player once seen as a top-10 pick was suddenly wading into the deep end of Round 1 – somewhere between picks 20 and 32.

But as the draft draws closer, flaws typically tend to get blown out of proportion for linebackers. A year ago, Tatupu was too small and slow, Texas' Derrick Johnson couldn't shed blocks and Georgia's Odell Thurman was a character train wreck. All three watched their draft stock suffer in some respect, and all three rebounded to be top-flight rookies.

MORE IMPACT LINEBACKERS

Here are five more difference-making linebackers:

A.J. Hawk, OLB, Ohio State – Considered the best and most polished defensive player available, Hawk – some believe – could turn out to be the best player in this draft. He would have been rated one of the top defensive players last year, and another year in college only added seasoning. Depending where he lands, he could be the early favorite for defensive rookie of the year.

Ernie Sims, OLB, Florida State – Compared favorably to former FSU linebacker Derrick Brooks, Sims plays with the wild abandon that linebacker coaches love. That said, he can get too reckless at times, over-pursuing plays and running the risk of long-term concussion issues. He'll have to get slightly bigger in the NFL, but his combination of speed and aggression should make him an instant highlight.

DeMeco Ryans, OLB, Alabama – Like Greenway, Ryans has seen his draft stock take a hit despite stellar college production. Scouts want him to get a little bigger and improve his strength when shedding blockers. He also doesn't have great ball skills when playing pass defense.

Bobby Carpenter, OLB, Ohio State – He's not the super athlete like A.J. Hawk or Ernie Sims. But he moves well for being in the mold of a big, old-school linebacker who relies on instincts and taking the right angles. He can over-pursue at times, but he's considered a good, balanced all-around linebacker.

D'Qwell Jackson, ILB, Maryland – Jackson had a nice showing at the Senior Bowl. Many teams want an inside linebacker bigger than the 229 pounds he played at last season. He has good speed and instincts, but he shouldn't be expected to be a sideline-to-sideline guy. His upper body strength (19 reps on the bench press) was just average.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Survival of the fittest
By Charles Robinson, Yahoo! Sports

When the door closed and the New York Giants personnel people gathered around Tamba Hali two months ago, the probing nature of the NFL scouting combine evaporated. The 30-minute private interview – the one where teams often assault prospects with demanding questions about character – took on a different tone.

For the better part of their meeting, the Penn State defensive end told his life story. And in what is a rare occurrence at the combine, he left an NFL team largely speechless.

"I was just overwhelmed with not only his story, but the way he told it," Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi said. "He's such a thoughtful, intellectual, moving person. Obviously, you see these players as players, but the one thing about this interview process – even though a lot of them are coached and they're prepared for you – you still get to sit and talk to them for the first time.

"I tell you what, you could hear a pin drop in our interview room."

When reporters gathered to talk with Hali at the combine, the crowd around him began in modest fashion for a player expected to be a first-round pick. But as Hali began to talk about his flight from Liberia in the mid-1990s – at a time when the country was in the throes of civil war – the gathering began to swell. Soon, reporters from the other side of the room and the cavernous walkway in the RCA Dome added to the swell.

And as he had done with Accorsi, Hali's tale silenced what is typically a non-stop buzz in the interview room.

"A lot of the things he's told us since we've been together make my jaw drop," Penn State cornerback Alan Zemaitis said. "It's unbelievable the kind of adversity he battled to get where he's at."

Leaving his mother and sister behind, Hali and three of his siblings fled Liberia when he was a child, heading to the relative safety of the Ivory Coast. It was there that he was put in contact with his father Henry, who had moved to the U.S. when Hali was 3. Nine years had passed since Hali and his siblings had been able to reach their father, who became a chemistry professor at Farleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey.

They would be reunited in 1994, but it would come at a bittersweet price. Hali's mother couldn't make the trip.

U.S. law allowed Hali's father to sponsor his four children and bring them stateside, but because Hali's mother had remarried and was not considered a blood-relative of his father, she has had to stay in Liberia, along with her daughter from the second marriage. Hali hasn't seen his mom in 12 years – since the day she shepherded he and his three siblings to the airport and out of the country.

"It's been tough," Hali said. "First, you go through life with your mother, then you go through the second half of your 22 years without her. You deal with it and work through it. That's how life is – full of adversity."

And full of perspective. Despite becoming one of the best defensive ends in the country over the last two years and leading the Big Ten with 11 sacks in 2005, Hali displays more of a determined maturity than the arrogance or cockiness exuded by so many top prospects. While his stories of living in Liberia's upheaval as a child are captivating, Hali's unexcitable fashion when telling them can be equally mesmerizing.

He swings from one topic to another, navigating a schizophrenic line of questions – about coach Joe Paterno, about Penn State, about escaping Liberia. And sprinkled into the queries are always the morbid curiosities about the slayings he witnessed as a child.

"Sometimes it would be a lot [of killings]," Hali said. "Sometimes it would be just one. Sometimes you'd see a stack of bodies sitting on the side of the road while you're walking. … A lot of [Liberian] kids weren't educated. You have kids carrying guns. A lot of them would be running around killing people for no reason."

"[To stay alive], certain people would hide us. We'd have places to stay in little huts. You find ways to manage. You find ways to eat, cook and all of that.

"The first time we got attacked [by rebels], the plane came down [and] we were just sitting there. I remember my mother was cooking. Gunfire just started erupting all over the place. That just started happening all the time – frequently. So we went into hiding.

"My step-dad got a car and we went to a village far away from the city. We'd spend six months there and then come back out and things would cease a little bit. Then they would start again. After a couple of times of that, [his mother and step-dad] thought we should flee the country."

That eventually led Hali to the U.S., where he has found a level of stardom unimagined when he began playing the game in middle school. In the coming months, he's expected to gain his U.S. citizenship, which will in turn allow him to sponsor his mother and step-sister's departure from Liberia.

Since Hali's father sent his mom a cell phone, Hali has had the opportunity to talk with her on a weekly basis, though he's sure she still doesn't grasp the strides he's made in football.

"She has no clue what's going on," Hali said. "If it were soccer, maybe.

"It's going to be drastic [change] for her. She's going to go from living like in a hut to living in a nice home. I hope that will be able to explain [the success]."

MORE IMPACT DEFENSIVE LINEMEN

Here are five more difference-making defensive linemen:

Mario Williams, DE, North Carolina State – Williams is the draft's most complete package of measurables and skill at the defensive end spot since Julius Peppers. He'll still need to add some polish and consistency to his game to become more than a one- or two-move pass rusher. But if he fulfills his potential, he could be the NFL's next dominant rusher.

Haloti Ngata, DT, Oregon – He's a massive defensive tackle who will be a run-stuffing plug rather than a pass-rushing tackle in the NFL. He has good quickness for an interior lineman and is adept at shedding blockers in the hole. He can suffer from fatigue late in games and have some trouble locating the ball, though.

Brodrick Bunkley, DT/DE, Florida State – Bunkley has the strength and skill to be a tackle in a 4-3 scheme and the size to be an end in a 3-4. He has very good upper body strength and gets off the ball fast enough to beat blockers with his first move. He's still a few pounds undersized, but he has the frame to add more weight if a team needs him to play as a two-gap tackle.

Kamerion Wimbley, DE/OLB, Florida State – If he adds weight, Wimbley has the edge speed and explosion to be a pass-rushing end similar to Indianapolis Colts end Dwight Freeney. Several teams are looking at Wimbley as a hybrid defensive end/outside linebacker in a 3-4 scheme, but Wimbley could just as well end up as a traditional end in a 4-3, cut in the mold of the NFL's lighter, faster pass rushers.

Gabe Watson, DT, Michigan – Watson has an absurd amount of athleticism and has shown he can be a dominant player when motivated. His weight and conditioning have a lot to do with his lack of consistency. On the upside, he has the talent to be Shaun Rogers. On the downside, he has the motivation of a Gerard Warren.

[HarveyWallbangers]

In for a big surprise
By Charles Robinson, Yahoo! Sports
April 10, 2006

There's always the "if" hanging over Antonio Cromartie.

If he had gone back to Florida State, he would probably be the No. 1 cornerback in the 2007 draft class. If he had held on another 12 months, he probably would have been a top-10 pick. And of course – the one that stabs at him the most – if he hadn't injured his knee in the first place, he might be fighting with North Carolina State's Mario Williams and Ohio State's A.J. Hawk to be the first defensive player selected in this month's NFL draft.

"I don't look back on it," said Cromartie at the annual scouting combine while expounding on the knee injury that robbed him of his junior season with the Seminoles. "You can go crazy. It's time for me to move on."

Move on and move up.

After raising eyebrows by declaring for the draft despite missing his entire junior season with a left knee injury, the FSU cornerback has rallied in recent months, wowing teams at the combine and the Seminoles' pro day. Now it looks like Cromartie could end up being this year's Willis McGahee – a super-talented player who overcomes an injury nightmare to become this year's surprising first-round pick.

Not that Cromartie landing in the first round would be a total shock. Even with his injury, word around the league is that he's carrying a grade of late first round to second round on NFL draft boards. The real surprise might be how high Cromartie actually goes. Considered by most to be a risky pick who likely will land with a team that has the luxury of easing him in for a year, it now appears that Cromartie could vault as high as the middle of the first round.

According to John Murphy of Next Level Scouting, Cromartie has drawn strong interest from seven teams: the Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, San Diego Chargers, Dallas Cowboys, Cincinnati Bengals, Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots. Two of them – the Patriots and Chargers – have had personal visits scheduled. Nearly every team in the league also was on hand for Cromartie's pro-day performance when he posted a 42-inch vertical, clocked 4.4 seconds in the 40-yard dash and had an impressive showing in defensive and special teams drills.

"You put your hands over your ears with the knee and just go on what you see and you say, '[He's] at the top of anyone out there in the secondary' – without a question," said a defensive assistant in the NFC North. "But you factor in that knee, which I don't think he's totally back from, and you move him down the board because that's a huge deal.… He looks good running around, and he looks good on all of his tape before the injury. So you say, 'This kid is the real deal.' But when it comes time to make the pick, someone has to take the risk."

The last few weeks would have been impressive for any corner, but for one the size of Cromartie – 6-foot-2¼ and 203 pounds – they were downright unique. With the NFL's elite cornerbacks standing between 5-10 and 5-11 and weighing 190 pounds (like all of the starters in this year's Pro Bowl), the big corner has been largely absent – or playing safety. But few corners have displayed the athleticism and coverage ability in college that Cromartie did during his first two seasons at Florida State.

"He's a great big, physical guy," said Florida wideout Chad Jackson, who also is expected to be a first-round pick. "He's got great size and great speed. He's a tall guy, and he should be able to play the safety spot or the cornerback spot. Honestly, I was surprised to see him at the cornerback spot when I played against them."

In his first two years, Cromartie lived up to the hype as one of the nation's most coveted cornerback recruits. Despite playing in a deep and talented secondary, Cromartie played in every game as a true freshman, then earned All-Atlantic Coast Conference first-team honors despite starting only one game as a sophomore.

Heading into his junior season, Cromartie was expected to vault to All-America status. That expectation was scuttled when he tore his anterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament and hamstring in a voluntary offseason workout. The injuries cost Cromartie five months to surgery and rehabilitation and made his medical charts just as popular as his workout numbers at the combine.

"To me, I have to prove something to myself," Cromartie said. "I feel like I don't have any pressure on me right now – just go out and do what I've always done and that's play football."

MORE IMPACT DEFENSIVE BACKS

Here are five more difference-makers in the secondary:

Michael Huff, S, Texas – It's looking more and more like Huff is going to have to stay at safety rather than corner, but some think he's an Ed Reed type of player at safety. He struggled to catch the ball at Texas' pro day. Scouts say: He's got the explosion and range to be special.

Jimmy Williams, CB/S, Virginia Tech – Some personnel people have been turned off by his cockiness. And it's clear that some are projecting him at safety, even though he's been adamant that he wants to play cornerback. Scouts say: He's great in press and man-to-man, but he's slow to react in zone coverage and tends to guess.

Jason Allen, S/CB, Tennessee – He's fluid and fast, but his future still seems to be at safety. His ballistic numbers at the combine put to rest the short-term fears about his surgically repaired hip. Scouts say: His injured hip has tested out with about 85 percent of the strength of his healthy one, and it could be an issue as his career progresses.

Jonathan Joseph, CB, South Carolina – Joseph has drawn the "upside" label after injuries and junior college limited him to only one full season at South Carolina. Had he played two years, he might have developed into a "total package" cornerback. Scouts say: He's fast and has all the physical tools and instincts, but he still is polishing his raw coverage technique as a cornerback.

Tye Hill, CB, Clemson – If you're looking for the super-fast track athlete at corner, with amazing agility and leaping ability, Hill is at the top of the list. He has shown a good ability to find and go after the ball when it's in the air. Scouts say: His size (5-9) is going to scare off some teams because it's a liability against the run and the league's bigger wideouts.

[b bulldog]

hALI OR wATSON IN ROUND TWO WOULD BE GOOD PICKS.

[Bretsky]

hALI OR wATSON IN ROUND TWO WOULD BE GOOD PICKS.

I like Watson; he treated the Badgers well. Hali abused us.

[b bulldog]

dIDN'T PLAY ALOT IN THAT GAME DUE TO HIS UNMOTIVATED PLAY IN THE PRIOR WEEKS GAMES.

[Rastak]

If Cromartie's knee checked out OK, he'd be a very good 2nd round pick....GB could do it easily and Minnesota has the ammo to trade up in round two.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Cromartie is actually a top 10 talent, but just didn't play enough to make teams feel comfortable drafting him that high. Plus, he has injury concerns. I wouldn't be surprised if he went in the first round though. If he's there in round 2, he'd have to be a major consideration.

[Tarlam!]

Thanks for posting this stuff, Harv. I am soooooo draft weekend pumped, it's not even funny!

How long does each team have on the clock?

[MJZiggy]

15 minutes.

[Rastak]

Cromartie is actually a top 10 talent, but just didn't play enough to make teams feel comfortable drafting him that high. Plus, he has injury concerns. I wouldn't be surprised if he went in the first round though. If he's there in round 2, he'd have to be a major consideration.

He's an intriguing talent. Probably too risky at #17 for Minnesota.

[Tarlam!]

15 minutes.

Ta muchly.

[MJZiggy]

Thought this was interesting from KFFL...

Texans | R. Bush not a lock to be No. 1 draft pick?
Mon, 17 Apr 2006 17:38:45 -0700

Adam Schefter, of the NFL Network, reports there is now legitimate reason, for the first time, to think that USC RB Reggie Bush is not going to be wind up with the Houston Texans, the team that currently holds the No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick. This does not come from one source or from one team. This comes from multiple sources, from across the league, without any agenda to push. As of Monday, April 17, the Texans had not had any contract discussions with Bush and his representatives. When Bush was in Houston, a certain segment of the organization never introduced itself to the running back. The Texans know they have a dependable running back and kick return man, the two spots Bush fills. A person in the Bush camp said Monday, "Do I have a feeling that Reggie is going to Houston? No, I have a feeling that he's not."

[Rastak]

Thanks for posting this stuff, Harv. I am soooooo draft weekend pumped, it's not even funny!

How long does each team have on the clock?

I think first round is 15 minutes, and 5 thereafter if I'm not mistaken.

[HarveyWallbangers]

From Pro Football Weekly:

Through our everyday dealings with teams, PFW offers the opinions and thoughts of those who matter, which are being conveyed in the final weeks leading up to the draft. Keep in mind, a lot of smoke flies in April as teams try to conceal their intentions, and this is the time of the year that many scouts change their opinions when they are dealing with even their closest peers and, no doubt, media.

PFW does not necessarily agree with all of the statements made by evaluators below, but it nonetheless offers some of what is being said in draft meetings around the league. Whether these opinions are sincere or not, they are still NFL opinions and carry many truths:

“(Penn State CB Alan) Zemaitis reminds me of (2005 Colts first-rounder) Marlin Jackson. He’s very instinctive.”

“(Maryland TE) Vernon Davis is not dumb when you are talking to him — he just does not have a good base of football knowledge or really understand how to convert routes. … There’s a big difference between scouting and looking at numbers (production, height, weight and speed). Davis may have better numbers than (Jeremy) Shockey and (Kellen) Winslow (Jr.), but he is not nearly as refined of a pass catcher as either were coming out. Go back and watch Davis and show me one catch he makes where he does not have to stop to bring in the ball. No one can deny his physical ability, but he’s got a lot of work cut out for him.”

“I know there are some scouts who have first-round grades on (Fresno State CB) Richard Marshall, but I don’t know what they are looking at. He’s stiff. He will play, but I don’t ever see him being more than just a guy in the league. I have him graded in the third round.”

“I watched four games of (Maryland LB) D’Qwell Jackson yesterday. I love his football temperament, instincts and the way he plays the game, but I do not like his foot speed. This is not the 1980s anymore. He is a liability vs. the pass.”

“(Purdue SS) Bernard Pollard is very active. He has good instincts. He plays fast, has good man cover skills. He can mirror a quarterback and break on throws. He is a playmaker. He’s a second-round talent.”

“(Florida State FS) Pat Watkins shows some situational toughness, but he is so long and gangly. That concerns me.”

“I went back and watched more of (Florida State DT) Brodrick Bunkley. He is a mean sucker. Wow! You put on the North Carolina tape, and he is a man. I haven’t seen anyone kick the (crap) out of his opponents like he does in a long time.”

“(Ohio State S) Donte Whitner is the last guy moving. His angles are bad. He can cover on the short end but not on the top end. He’s (Patriots 2005 fourth-round pick) James Sanders. He has no instincts. He is aggressive, tough, can close to the ball. He’ll hit you and support the run, but I didn’t like his key and diagnose. He’s not a half safety. You need some special goggles to evaluate if you think he’s a half safety. He’s choppy in his movement. He can run and he’s fearless, but he’s not Bob Sanders moving at the snap. And little safeties wear down.”

“I can’t cosign on drafting (Syracuse S) Anthony Smith because he’s only 194 pounds. (Bengals 2004 second-rounder) Madieu Williams wore down at 190 pounds and has not been able to stay healthy. It’s going to be the same issue.”

“(Auburn OT) Marcus McNeil passed our physical. He never missed any time. He doesn’t tuck his tail and get in and up on (defenders) like you want him to, but he’s not a major medical risk in the eyes of our doctors.”

“(South Carolina CB) Johnathan Joseph will take several years to figure it out and he may be a bust. He’s not a good worker. He misses a lot of tackles not wrapping. He gets beat a lot. He does not like the weight room. He has a 315-pound squat and two injuries after only playing one year. He can’t hold up.”

“Does (Michigan WR) Jason Avant get drafted on the first day? I put him in the fourth round. He can’t run. A lot of receivers are going to get drafted higher than they should. This is the worst receiving class I have seen since I have begun evaluating.”

“(Minnesota RB Laurence) Maroney is a tight, erect runner. He’s not a creator. There has to be a lane there for him to clear the line. He is a system guy. And he has an odd personality. He does not know when to shut up.”

“(Ohio State CB) Ashton Youboty is very young in his thinking. He should have stayed in school. He looks terrible on tape sometimes. He’s not consistent at all.”

“(Notre Dame TE) Anthony Fasano is a lot like (Steelers 2005 first-rounder) Heath Miller was last year. He’s not as good of an athlete, but he can help your team in a lot of the same ways.”

“(Western Michigan TE) Tony Scheffler reminds me a lot of (Bengals third-rounder) Aaron Schobel. (Scheffler) runs routes like he has a rod shoved up his ass. When you watch him on tape, he looks like a guy you see in black and white cut-ups, like he came out of the 1930s. He’s not fluid at all. I'd be surprised if he went on the first day, but he could. Anything is possible with the group of guys making decisions in this league.”

“I talked to a coach the other day who had (Michigan State DT) Domata Peko graded as a first-day talent. And I couldn’t correct him, but I hope they take him there. That just means another good player will be there for us. (Peko) is a one-year starter from junior college. Those are not the guys I want to bet on coming around.”

“Vince Young has put the brakes on his slide. It’s amazing how all of these evaluations come full circle. No football has been played since January, and what you thought he was then, he still is now. I think he is still more of a thrower than a passer. He’s so big. He drops 11 yards on seven steps. His presence is so intimidating.”

“(Penn State DE) Tamba Hali cannot find the ball. He is very overrated, and when you combine the history of Penn State defensive ends — Courtney Brown, Michael Haynes — I wouldn't touch him. More mistakes are made on players at that school than any because of the way the head coach (Joe Paterno) treats scouts. Call me shortsighted, but I have never drafted one from that school, and it will take a lot of convincing before I do.”

“I like (Miami, Fla.) OT Eric Winston better than (USC OT) Winston Justice. (Winston) is a good technician with solid fundamentals.”

“(Georgia TE) Leonard Pope is a 50-50 catcher with marginal concentration. He has way too many drops. With the amount of time tight ends have to catch in traffic in the pros, I don’t want him on my team. He can’t get in and out of routes.”

“I think a lot of teams will get spooked out by Ernie Sims’ concussions. I love the way he strikes, but I don't know how long he can hold up with the way he hits. He's an assassin."

“(Boston College DE) Mathias Kiwanuka cannot transfer his speed into power. He has no power. He has few special qualities. He's manufactured. You don’t want to know where I graded him. I have him in the third round.”

“(LSU OT) Andrew Whitworth will be overdrafted like all those big, long-armed maulers are. He can’t pull and change directions well enough to help us. He cannot stop a speed charge. He’s not explosive. He has no upside. He hasn’t changed since his freshman year except getting stronger. He has no flexibility. He’s a straight-line mauler with no lateral quickness. But someone will overdraft him because he’s an overachiever.”

“(Virginia LB) Kai Parham is a dinosaur. He will never be successful in the National Football League. He would have been really good as an inside ’backer in the 3-4 back in the early ’80s.”