This time last year I was getting the itinerary to fly on Dan Snyder’s private jet and attend the NFL draft live in Radio City Music Hall. (One
of the coolest experiences of my life!) This year the NFL draft wont be as
exciting watching from my couch and waiting until Friday for the 51st
pick for the Redskins to be on the clock.
The mock drafts have the Skins filling the safety position
first. Even with salary caps the one thing Redskins fans can always count on is
never knowing what Snyder will pull out of his bag of tricks. So until Snyder’s magic show begins, I’ll be rooting for the VOLS.
The University of Tennessee has several prospects that
defined a season full of making great plays and a season full of dropping
routine passes. Untimely, WR Cordarrell Patterson will be a first rounder (or he
is projected to be) and the VOLS should see other alum drafted as well.
The controversy over Cordarrelle Patterson is that he only
spent one year of playing at the college level for the University of Tennessee
under Dooley’s debacle of a program. The lack of having a real coach or even a
full SEC college football experience has left CP’s raw talent still untapped
making him a risk and steepens the margin for being a draft hit or miss. Personally,
I hope CP turns out to be a stud (just as long as he doesn’t end up in a Eagles
jersey). He is an electric player to watch. He’s still a kid, he needs a solid
foundation to mature and ripen, but when and if that happens- he’ll have a
winning career in the NFL.
OT Dallas Thomas is projected to be a second rounder along
with wide receiver Justin Hunter. WR Zach Rogers is also expected to have his
name called.
The one player I was excited to announce that he was
forgoing his senior year of eligibility was QB Tyler Bray. Don’t get me wrong,
the kid has a cannon and he can hit his targets. But he’s not a mobile QB and
with the new hire of Butch Jones’s spread offence it was a win for both Bray
and UT. The issue with Bray is that he is a gun-slinging gambler with no
protection plan. He called his own shots in the huddle and while he made great
plays, he couldn’t win in the SEC and VOLS fans will always remember that he
never beat Florida. Great players preform at crunch time and Bray gambled more
than he played smart. With the right mentor and someone to beat the cocky-ness
out of him, he might be more humble and learn to play with his head and his arm.
Bray doesn’t have the Brett Favre charm to pull off being so cocky. The
smartest sentence Bray has ever said was acknowledging during Gruden’s QB camp was
that Tennessee football was a religion in Tennessee and I’ll support anyone who
worships the same sports gods as I do.
I was in Atlanta last weekend and happened to be at the same
bar/restaurant as Georgia OLB and first round draft prospect, Jarvis Jones. The
server told me he didn’t drink so I sent him a Shirley Temple. To my surprise,
he found my joke as funny as I did and even posed for a picture with a VOLS
fan. He’s in the SEC family so naturally I respect him and I’m rooting for the
coolest dawg I know to hear his name called on Thursday night.
But where will Manti To’e fall into the draft? AJ McCarron’s
girlfriend had more airtime during the National Championship game than Notre
Dame had possession of the ball. To’s individual performance was a reflection
of being exposed by the SEC. To’e was invited to attend the draft, but he
declined. I guess he wanted to stay at home and watch the draft with his
girlfriend…
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