This Year's Draft Steal

Since today is the first day in the month of April its time for us to start talking more about this year's NFL draft.

One of the hardest things to do in football is to project a player's talent to the next level. There are highly ranked high school players who never hit their stride in college football and very popular college players who fell off the map in the NFL. Ryan Leaf, Charles Rodgers, JaMarcus Russell, and Lawrence Phillips were all big name college players who didn't shine in an NFL system. On the other hand there are players that were little known in college who shattered any expectations that were set for them before they entered the league. Jerry Rice, Steve McNair, Tom Brady and Terrell Davis are all names that you know now but probably didn't know about when they were coming out of college.  Sometimes we get so caught up in the name of the school that we look past the actual talent of the player. Just this year alone Victor Cruz, an undrafted free agent out of UMASS, took the National Football League by storm.

In order to predicate who will be this year's surprise rookie we must look at talent alone without any names being attached. Take a look at this Wide Receiver, Standing 6 feet 2 inches, weighing 206 pounds, runs a 4.4 40-time, and a 38.5 vertical leap. In his senior season he had 38 catches for 550 yards and 3 touchdowns. And in the 225 pound test he finished with 21 reps. Doesn't this sound like a Wide Receiver that you would love to have on your team?

Well his name is Brian Tyms and he is the best wide receiver that you may not be talking about now but soon will be.  Much like Jimmy Graham of the Saints and Antonio Gates of the San Diego Chargers Brian was a basketball player that started playing football in college. To only have played the game for 4 years he has proven to be a very fast learner. His routes are crisp, he posses the size to fight for any ball thrown his way, and his best attribute are his hands. He also doesn't take any plays off. If the play is a run he posses the strength and will to take on his blocking assignment, and runs his routes as if he is always the first progression for the quarterback.

There are a couple of things that teams want college players to have and that is talent and passion for the game of football. Brian is one of the most passionate young football players that I have seen play the game in a very long time. In a time where players don't care if they win or lose Brian is the direct opposite. To best describe this young man he has the passion of Terrell Owens (without any of the locker room issues) and the work ethnic of Marvin Harrison.

Coming from  Florida A&M University (a Division I-AA school), a lot of scouts and fans will say that he has a lot of hard work to do to make it in the NFL but Brian is no stranger to hard work. Every since his was 17 years old he has had take care of himself. Then in college as a walk on he had to work hard to prove that he desired a scholarship so that he could have money to go to and finish school.

This Kid has been through the pit falls and still continues to excel and it will be no different in the NFL.In a copycat league where teams are trying to mimic the saints, packers, and patriots, by spreading teams out with multiple receivers I am sure that there are many teams that have space on the roster for this young receiver.

Watch out for this young receiver because, I have no doubt in my mind that Brain Tyms has the talent and passion to be next years Victor Cruz.

Rematch: Alabama vs. LSU 2

This Monday January 9th, 2012 we will all be watching as Alabama takes the field for a rematch against LSU and this time it's for the national championship.

The first game that was built up to be the game of the century and it didn't disappoint. It was a very low scoring defensive dominated game. This game promises to be no different. With over three weeks to prepare for each other I am sure that both offensives will have a few new wrinkles to try to confuse the opposing defense. The problem is that since these teams are conference rivals and both coaches are so familiar with the other that these surprises will only account for a few more big plays that will only turn into just a few more points.

Lets Break the game down.

Alabama's running offensive vs. LSU's running defensive: Even
When the Crimson Tide has the ball their number one goal will be to feed their Heisman Trophy Finalist Trent Richardson. Trent Richardson is a very fast and powerful running back. He is the type of back that loves contact and only gets stronger as the game goes along. The problem he will have is that much like the last game LSU will be able to put an extra Safety in the box to create an 8 man front. Last game Richardson finished the game with 23 rushes for 89 yards which is a 3.9 yard per carry average. I look for about the same this game.

LSU's running game vs. Alabama's run defense: Even
Alabama's front line is the best in college football and they showed it in the last game against LSU only giving up a combined 115 rushing yards to the Tigers. The one weakness that they have is against the option. On November 19 the Crimson Tide gave up 21 points and 302 rushing yards to Georgia Southern a Division I-AA football team. I look for LSU to adjust their offense and use mobile Jordan Jefferson to run the QB option much more often this game to loosen up the Alabama Defensive.

Alabama's passing game vs. LSU secondary: Advantage LSU
Alabama's Sophomore Quarterback A.J. McCarron only completed 16 of 28 passes for 199 yards and 1 interception. With no major game breakers at wide receiver and with LSU having the best secondary by far in college football don't look for the Quarterback to throw too many more times then he did last game. Alabama will try to throw a couple of times on first down and try to afford third and long and other obvious passing downs. In this game the sophomore will be asked only to manage the game and to avoid the costly turnover.

LSU's passing game vs Alabama's secondary: Advantage Alabama
In the last game LSU used more of its two head QB system with seniors Jordan Jefferson and Jarrett Lee. In that game Jefferson became the clear favorite and since then has taken most of the snaps. Jefferson is a mobile QB who doesn't have the best arm but has the legs to make up for it. Alabama's secondary held the Tiger Wide Receivers in check for only 91 yards receiving. Bama's secondary will again hold down the Tiger receivers but this time with Jefferson playing the majority of the game they will have to cover just a little longer and that will make the difference in a couple of more big passing plays for LSU.

This is a very evenly matched game that is going to come down to three things. The first one is home field advantage. Normally the National Championship game is played at a neutral site but not this time. Its no coincidence that LSU has won both of its National Championships in the BCS era at the Sugar Bowl. The crowd will be mostly Tiger fans and this will give the Tigers an edge. The second is whose quarterback will play the better game. In a game like this it's not always about who makes the play to win the game as much as who doesn't make the play to lose the game. LSU has its Senior QB Jordan Jefferson versus Alabama's first year stater A.J. McCarron. Because of experience Jordan Jefferson will make more plays than McCarron. The final factor in a low scoring game will come down to special teams. In this area LSU has a slight advantage as well with its own Heisman Trophy Finalist, the "Honey Badger", Tyrann Mathieu who will help to give Tigers an advantage in field position.

This is again going to be a very good low scoring game LSU will again beat Alabama 20 - 10 to win its third National Title in the Sugar Bowl.

Has the Clock Struck Midnight on the BCS?

Another college football Season is coming to an end and once again we are stuck with a big mess at the top of the BCS standings. Because LSU is the only undefeated team they were a lock to play in the national championship game but the team that would join them in the game was not so much of a lock. Behind the #1 ranked Tigers are three one loss teams. So the question then became which team was the best one loss team in the nation. Between the Human polls and the computers the BCS decided that Alabama was the best one loss team edging out Oklahoma State by .0086. 

Wait a minute! Wasn't the BCS supposed to clearly put the top two teams in the country head to head in the national championship game. How can we clearly separate one team from another. The truth is we can't. Not the way the system is set up now anyway. As a matter of fact this has happen more than just this year. In 2000 we were left with a similar situation. Oklahoma was the only undefeated and behind them were FSU, Miami, and the Washington Huskies all with one loss. Miami had beaten FSU but loss to Washington earlier that season. We ended up watching in my option the sloppiest game in BCS history with FSU going down to the Sooners 13-0. It was clear that the hurricanes were the better team but because they loss on the road with a Freshman QB their were locked out of the championship game. Then in 2004 we ended up with four undefeated teams, Oklahoma, USC, Auburn, and Utah. That year USC and Oklahoma ended up 1 and 2 and we watched another terrible game with USC blowing out the Sooners 55-19. That year Auburn was clearly the better team with players Cadillac Williams, Ronnie Brown, and Jason Campbell. So what are we going to get this year. Did the BCS get it wrong again this year with LSU and Alabama? 


The BCS is obviously a broken system that needs to be changed but will never be because of the money at stake, but it's time to work it out. Every other level of football makes it work and so could Division I A football. And sense my mother taught me to not criticize a system without having a solution here is my proposed solution. We could take the top 16 teams with the top 8 seeds playing on their home fields. The second rounds could be played at neutral sites with one of those sites being one of the four BCS sites. The Semifinals could be played at two of the remaining three BCS sites and the Championship game could be played at the remaining BCS site. The Bowls could rotate the Championship game every year as they do now. 

The top two arguments against switching from the current system is that one it would be to many games to play and two the schools and sponsors would lose money. If we added a four game playoff system this would mean the BCS Champs would have played a total of 16 games for most teams and for the ones who have conference championships it would be 17. 16 is the number of games a high school state champion football team would play in a season and also the number of games a team plays in division I-AA football. Also the National Football League has 16 game seasons. Secondly this system would more than likely make more money for the schools and sponsors instead of losing it. A playoff system would mean that more fans could stay optimistic about their team's changes of winning a national title instead of losing interest when their teams lose one or two games in a season. For the top 8 teams the additional home game will bring in extra revenue. The three BCS sites that are not hosting the championship will benefit from this the most because now the games that will be played there will have meaning. 
The major question now is what would happen to the money that is made from the countless bowl games? To me this answer is simple still play them. Any team with a .500 record can still be selected to play in a bowl game. 

A playoff system will solve all of college football problems. It would take the conversation away from what if and turn it to what actually happened on the field. Teams should not be able to win or be eliminated from the national championship picture due to preseason polls. Its only right that a true champion should have to win the championship on the field instead of winning it on a computer program. 

Urban Meyer: Good Fit for Ohio State

Three football seasons ago, Urban Meyer and the Florida Gators were on top of the college footballworld. They had just won their second BCS Championship in three seasons, their Heisman winning quarterback Tim Tebow had just announced that he would be returning for his senior season and they were certain to start the year off in the AP preseason Top 5. The next year didn't even end up in a championship and the following season would be Meyer's worst as a Gator. At the end of the 2009 football season, Meyer announced that he would be stepping down as the head coach of the Florida Gators. When asked why, he said he was stepping down because of health reasons. He also stated that he was stepping down because he wanted to spend more time with his family and watch his kids grow up. Even then, many people, including myself, thought he was stepping down for other reasons. Even if you didn't believe Meyer at the time it seemed a little insensitive to criticize a man who seemed so passionate about what he does for a living.

So after a while, people let him off the hook, but it is raising eyebrows that he is now talking about coaching again. ESPN analysts are saying it's because he now knows how to balance college football, his family life and his health. They are saying he can now get extra help so he won't have to overwork himself. But what good assistant coach worth his salt wouldn't have signed on to coach with the mighty gators alongside Meyer? It's time now to call him on his lies. He stepped down because Tim Tebow's time was up as a Gator and with talented sophomore Cam Newton gone, there were not any spread option quarterbacks left on the Gators' roster. Meyer was stuck with a highly recruited pocket passer John Brantley. Meyer was not talented enough to alter his offense to make it work, so instead of struggling he retired.

Meyer is now coming back to coaching because Ohio State has a highly sought after mobile quarterback, Braxton Miller, that Meyer believes he can build his famous spread offense around. Whatever happened to the great coaches who could coach to the talent that was on their teams? In today's sports, especially college football, there are no real coaches left, just system coaches. This was not spoken about Meyer while he was on top. He was mentioned among the league's best head coaches. But after all the championships and awards, we now know different. Meyer is nothing more than a system coach. A coach who will not survive change or the test of time. And to make things worst, he could at least be a guy who sticks around when things aren't going well, but he is a quitter. I guarantee that the first year he can't recruit a top-notch mobile quarterback, he is going to quit. Consider yourselves warned Ohio State. The few years of success will not be worth the setback when his health problems suddenly force him to retire again.