cowboyjoe
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 28,432
- Reaction score
- 750
Commentary: Teams that pass on Dillard will be sorry
By JEROME SOLOMON Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
March 27, 2009, 12:27AM
RANKINGS AP | USA Today Top 25 | BCS He isn’t tall enough … they say.
He isn’t big enough … they say.
He isn’t fast enough … they say.
“They” showed up for pro day at Rice Stadium on Thursday morning to watch the Owls’ NFL prospects as if they were going to see something from Jarett Dillard they had not seen before.
Nope. The best receiver in Rice history is still not quite 5-11, stills weighs just 190 pounds, and still runs the 40-yard dash in only 4.5 seconds.
But man, what a football player.
And “they” know it.
Dillard is one of those guys who doesn’t run away from defenders but catches everything near him. Who wouldn’t like that?
But that’s not enough for the NFL.
“You have to talk yourself into saying something bad about the kid because he shows so much that it’s hard not to like him,” one AFC scout said. “But say what you want, in this business we can’t get away with too many mistakes. So if we’re going to make mistakes, we’ll make them on big, fast and strong over somebody that did a lot against college competition.”
So sayeth the scouts
That’s the trick with NFL scouts: College statistics don’t matter unless they say they matter.
Dillard produced, scoring touchdowns in 37 of his 49 games at Rice. His 50 career touchdown catches from quarterback Chase Clement (among 60 overall) set an NCAA record, but Dillard probably won’t be picked until the third round of the draft, maybe the fourth.
If you track wide receivers during the draft, at least 10 and perhaps 15 will be called before Dillard’s name is announced.
Texas Tech’s Michael Crabtree, Missouri’s Jeremy Maclin, Florida’s Percy Harvin and North Carolina’s Hakeem Nicks should be off the board early, but others you have never heard of will probably go before Dillard, too.
He is better than many of them.
He believes that too, but he suspects that some players projected to be taken after him aren’t overly impressed with his résumé.
“Come on. This 5-11, 4.5 (second)-running guy? I’m better than him,” Dillard imagines them thinking.
Typically, a Dillard-type player has to be exceptionally fast to be a top prospect in the NFL, because small guys are supposed to be super-fast.
But this not so super-fast package is nice. Dillard sports a 42½-inch vertical leap and hands that rank with Super Glue in tackiness.
Watch the games. This economics major can play.
Worth the gamble
I’d take him higher than the projection and just be wrong about him if he doesn’t turn into a decent player.
It’s kind of cool to talk about a Rice player not getting enough respect as an NFL prospect.
With James Casey likely to go in the first three rounds, Rice should have two players picked in the first five rounds for the first time since 1976.
Owls head coach David Bailiff said he was like a “proud daddy” watching Dillard, Casey, Clement and Brian Raines work out for NFL scouts.
There was a time Rice’s strongest sell to recruits was the quality of the school. That is still the case, but now bowl-trip reality, conference-championship possibilities and NFL dreams can be tossed into the pot.
“Young men can see Rice as not only a place where you can get a world-class education, but compete, win and possibly go on to the next level if you’re good enough,” Bailiff said.
Dillard is good enough.
jerome.solomon@chron.com
By JEROME SOLOMON Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
March 27, 2009, 12:27AM
RANKINGS AP | USA Today Top 25 | BCS He isn’t tall enough … they say.
He isn’t big enough … they say.
He isn’t fast enough … they say.
“They” showed up for pro day at Rice Stadium on Thursday morning to watch the Owls’ NFL prospects as if they were going to see something from Jarett Dillard they had not seen before.
Nope. The best receiver in Rice history is still not quite 5-11, stills weighs just 190 pounds, and still runs the 40-yard dash in only 4.5 seconds.
But man, what a football player.
And “they” know it.
Dillard is one of those guys who doesn’t run away from defenders but catches everything near him. Who wouldn’t like that?
But that’s not enough for the NFL.
“You have to talk yourself into saying something bad about the kid because he shows so much that it’s hard not to like him,” one AFC scout said. “But say what you want, in this business we can’t get away with too many mistakes. So if we’re going to make mistakes, we’ll make them on big, fast and strong over somebody that did a lot against college competition.”
So sayeth the scouts
That’s the trick with NFL scouts: College statistics don’t matter unless they say they matter.
Dillard produced, scoring touchdowns in 37 of his 49 games at Rice. His 50 career touchdown catches from quarterback Chase Clement (among 60 overall) set an NCAA record, but Dillard probably won’t be picked until the third round of the draft, maybe the fourth.
If you track wide receivers during the draft, at least 10 and perhaps 15 will be called before Dillard’s name is announced.
Texas Tech’s Michael Crabtree, Missouri’s Jeremy Maclin, Florida’s Percy Harvin and North Carolina’s Hakeem Nicks should be off the board early, but others you have never heard of will probably go before Dillard, too.
He is better than many of them.
He believes that too, but he suspects that some players projected to be taken after him aren’t overly impressed with his résumé.
“Come on. This 5-11, 4.5 (second)-running guy? I’m better than him,” Dillard imagines them thinking.
Typically, a Dillard-type player has to be exceptionally fast to be a top prospect in the NFL, because small guys are supposed to be super-fast.
But this not so super-fast package is nice. Dillard sports a 42½-inch vertical leap and hands that rank with Super Glue in tackiness.
Watch the games. This economics major can play.
Worth the gamble
I’d take him higher than the projection and just be wrong about him if he doesn’t turn into a decent player.
It’s kind of cool to talk about a Rice player not getting enough respect as an NFL prospect.
With James Casey likely to go in the first three rounds, Rice should have two players picked in the first five rounds for the first time since 1976.
Owls head coach David Bailiff said he was like a “proud daddy” watching Dillard, Casey, Clement and Brian Raines work out for NFL scouts.
There was a time Rice’s strongest sell to recruits was the quality of the school. That is still the case, but now bowl-trip reality, conference-championship possibilities and NFL dreams can be tossed into the pot.
“Young men can see Rice as not only a place where you can get a world-class education, but compete, win and possibly go on to the next level if you’re good enough,” Bailiff said.
Dillard is good enough.
jerome.solomon@chron.com
