College to NFL transition

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

How does one tell that a college player will not make it in the NFL? Like Charlie Ward and Eric Crouch. These are two Heisman winning QBs but they either weren't drafted or were drafted in the last round. Also, were guys like Chris Wienke, Danny Weurful, and Ron Dayne who have done zip in the pros, projected highly?

[Vern Gagne 0]

Size, Speed, Skill and Intangibles.

 

It's no guarantee if have or don't have these things, you'll make it won't make it. You do however get a pretty good idea of what players will make the successful jump.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

How does one tell that a college player will not make it in the NFL? Like Charlie Ward and Eric Crouch. These are two Heisman winning QBs but they either weren't drafted or were drafted in the last round. Also, were guys like Chris Wienke, Danny Weurful, and Ron Dayne who have done zip in the pros, projected highly?

In Crouch's case he ran the ball as much as he threw and was basically an option QB, those type never make it in the NFL. They almost always end up as a receiver or CB due to their speed and lack of arm strength.

[Vern Gagne 0]

It's not easy to change positions. Randle El did, although he did play receiver at Indiana, Bert Emmanuel the old Falcons reciever did. Not sure if played any receiver at Rice, and Tony Dungy was a QB at Minnesota, and had a cup of tea with the Steelers at S.

[2GOLD 0]

And I think Charlie Ward is fine with the NBA paycheck he got over the money he would have made in the NFL.

 

Ward didn't have arm strength, he was accurate and mobile but at the time the NFL teams didn't seem that interested in a scrambler type QB. If Ward had been coming out this year, I think he may have been top 25-30 pick because he was accurate and moved well with the ball.

 

Some guys DO break the mold since the things you can't measure are intensity and heart.

 

Basically, it's always a crap shoot. A sure thing could become injury prone (see Yatil Green) a small middle linebacker could become a monster (see Zach Thomas) or an amazing package could just not have the head for it (see Ryan Leaf).

 

No matter what, it's a guessing game.

 

Ron Dayne was a big power back, people expected him to be a between the tackles runner so yes he was highly rated. Sadly, Ron decided he wanted to try to bounce outside but someone should have told him he didn't have the speed for that. Imagine Jerome Bettis running sweeps and you had Ron Dayne. I never understood him and I'm sure the Giants fan didn't either.

 

Chris Weinke was just too old to have time to develop in the NFL. Nothing more and nothing less.

 

Danny Weurful wasn't highly projected, come to think of it I don't think he was projected in the top four rounds.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

What is the story with Weinke? Wasn't he in his late 20's his senior year?

[Vern Gagne 0]

Weinke was a 2nd round pick in the baseball draft. Things didn't work, and he ended up at Florida St.

[Damaramu 0]

Then I wonder if these guys like Manning and Fitzgerald will make it and the ones that actually turn out to hit it big are the guys that go low and are from small colleges...........could happen.

The transition always happens though.

There were guys that were big time in High School and moved on to College Ball and were nothing. I guess it happens in everything...maybe the "big fish, small pond" mentality there.

[Guest Crazy Dan]

Weinke had spent some years in the Minor Leagues for baseball. And one day he decided he was not going to make it as Pro Baseball Player, so he went to FSU and worked his way up to the National Title.

 

The problem with some of these great QB's is that they are products of a system. Usually a system filled with speedy WR, who blow by their defenders. All the QB has to do is throw the ball acurately and the WR will catch it. Danny Weurfal was a key example of this. That and he would have many games against weak Non Confrence Teams, and Spurrier would allow his first team to run the score up to no end, padding everyone's stats.

 

As for Nebraska QB's, they are great at running the option first, then passing every now and then. But this system is non existitant in the Pros, and it gets discovered that the Corn Husker QB has an alright arm, good speed, hence the reason many will get moved to other positions which suit their strengths. Unless of course you are Crouch, who refused to play anything but QB, quit the Rams, and now is trying to prove to everyone that he is a QB. I see him spending many a year in Canada in Europe with delusions of grandeur.

 

Charlie Ward I think was someone who was in another great system, which played to his strengths and surrounded with speed. But he was a lil undersized for a Pro QB. He made the right choice sticking with Basketball, which has turned into a nice career.

 

And some College Players make the mistake of comming out too early, thinking you are the greatest thing on earth. Ryan Leaf comes to mind. All the talents in the world + the brain the size of a pea + immaturity = recipe for disaster. Sometimes you need four years of college ball to be fully ready.

 

And finally, as much as college is a huge step up for many highschool players, the Pros are the best of the best. And man the talent and competition is so much better, that many of these great college players, get badly exposed as not being good enough. The players you could torch in college, are all of the sudden replaced with guys who are just as fast and talented than you. The player who have longevity adjust, the ones who can't, are out of the league in 3 or less years.

Hence the reason why even the worse NFL team would bitch slap the best college team anytime. (I am refering to the people who claimed that Miami of a few years could have beaten the Bengals... no they would not. They would have been smeared).

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I think part of the reason is that the professional league is more competitive and more specialized, thus players who do many things well, but none exceptionally aren't as likely to succeed.

[razazteca 0]

University of Miami seems to be a factory for recievers, running backs, tight ends, nearly every player drafted the last few years has done well in the NFL.