silverbear
Semi-Official Loose Cannon
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Some of my sleepers... note that I define a sleeper as a player who isn't likely to be drafted before the 6th round, if indeed he winds up drafted at all... IOW, some of these players might wind up as priority-type undrafted rookie free agents:
QB Dustin Long, Sam Houston State
Long transferred to Sam Houston State from Division I ball, which sends up a red flag-- was he incapable of dominating at the higher level of play?? We know he completely dominated on the field last season, leading Sam Houston State to the national championship game... his size is only adequate, but he has a strong arm, some mobility inside the pocket, and is capable of putting up big numbers... I have also read that he was a confident leader on the field...
RB Alvin Pearman, Virginia
RB Patrick Cobbs, Stephen F. Austin
RB Howard Jackson, UTEP
Pearman was used in a variety of different ways by the Cavs... essentially, he was their primary kick returner and 3rd down back, and he was quite effective in those roles... he doesn't have great pure speed, but he is elusive and instinctive with the ball in his hands... Cobbs would have been a MUCH higher draft pick if he had been able to duplicate his successful junior campaign, but he got hurt early on last season, and his draft prospects tumbled... when healthy, he has terrific speed... Jackson is incredibly small (5-6, 170 pounds), and incredibly fast... he has proven to be surprisingly durable for such a small back... I think of him as a poor man's Darren Sproles...
FB Will Matthews, Texas
FB Matt Pagel, Wisconsin-LaCrosse
FB Madison Hedgecock, North Carolina
FB West Keliikipi, Hawaii
There are a slew of really nice fullbacks likely to be looking for work late in the draft... Matthews is a favorite of this ol' Horns fan, he seems Daryl Johnston-esque in his blocking abilities... he also flashed some ability as a receiver out of the backfield late in the season... Pagel is very, very fast for a 240 pounder, reportedly under 4.4 second 40 fast... Hedgecock is intriguing to me, he's been a conversion project from DE... this suggests he has the requisite physical nature to play FB... I'd like to find out some more about Keliikipi, he's a recent addition to my draft board... I do know that he's 265 pounds, which would be a load as a lead blocker...
TE Bo Scaife, Texas
TE Patrick Estes, Virginia
I don't think the Boys have a great need at TE, but they might want to bring another in as an undrafted rookie free agent... if they're looking for somebody with some potential as a receiver, Scaife would be worth a look... but for injuries, he would have put up some pretty good numbers in his college career... if it's blocking you want, go for the 6-7, 280 pound Estes...
WR Rasheed Marshall, West Virginia
A conversion project from QB, a la Hines Ward and Antwan Randle-El from the Steelers... his size and speed ratio is reminiscent of those two, though of course we don't know if he'll have the same ball skills...
C Jason Respert, Tennessee
C Chase Johnson, TCU
C Drew Hodgdon, Arizona State
Three 310 pounders for your late round enjoyment... Respert can also play guard, Johnson is well-schooled in the art of pass blocking... Hodgdon is the quickest of the three... I have a hunch the Cowboys would like to improve their depth at center...
OG Sam Mayes, Oklahoma State
OG Steven Gibbs, Arkansas State
OG John Drake, UNLV
Mayes, Gibbs and Drake all go in the 340-350 pound range, qualifying each for the adjective "massive"... Gibbs may have an inside track at Valley Ranch, what with being an Arkansas boy... we all know Jerry likes his boys from Arkansas...
Erik Pears, OT, Colorado State
A 6-8 tower of an OT, with good quickness and agility...
DT Keyonta Marshall, Grand Valley State
DT Lynn McGruder, Oklahoma
A pair of stumpy 310 pounders, either one might be able to play the NT position or the more traditional 4-3 DT slot...
MLB Adam Seward, UNLV
MLB Robert Rodriguez, UTEP
Seward is a 250 pounder with exceptional speed for a MLB... Rodriguez is a little smaller, and a little slower, but he made a lot of plays for the Miners in the course of his college career, and I went to UTEP, so I'm allowed to put him on my sleepers list, LOL...
OLB Roger Cooper, Montana State
Every year, there seems to be an OLB prospect from the Big Sky country who can run pretty well... and every year, those prospects tend to get downgraded because of the caliber of competition to be found out there... Cooper is this year's example of that, a 240 pounder with 4.65 speed in the 40...
FS Peter Sands, Central Florida
FS Patrick Body, Toledo
We all know about the Boys' needs at FS, and these 2 intrigue me late in the draft... Sands is a 230 pound free safety (teammate and fellow draft prospect Atari Bigby was the SS for UCF)... he might ultimately be moved to OLB, but if his 40 times are adequate-- 4.55 seconds or better-- I might think about keeping him at FS... Body has run the 40 in the 4.35 second range... since the Boys are looking for a pure cover specialist at FS, that kind of speed might be just what they're looking for...
K Tyler Jones, Boise State
Mike Nugent gets all the ink, but Jones is MUCH better on kickoffs, and hit over 80 per cent of his field goals in college... he was also given the green light to attempt lengthy field goals with some regularity, which will keep your FG percentage down some... the only reason Nugent is rated as a first day prospect while Jones isn't is the former's reputation for coming through on the clutch kicks... personally, I much prefer Jones in the 7th round to Nugent in the 2nd...
OK, that makes 26 "sleepers" on my list (10 of them with "local" interest, i.e., from Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas or New Mexico)... assuming the Boys get a 6th and a 7th pick in the compensatory process, that means the Boys could draft 3 of them... and any of them that go undrafted should be high on their rookie free agent lists...
PS-- and you guys say Hos can waste some bandwidth... just wait until you guys get a load of my draft analysis, which will be up in a few days... you might want to print that one out, and save it for when you go sit on the toilet, LOL... make sure you have sufficient paper in the printer, and beside the toilet...
QB Dustin Long, Sam Houston State
Long transferred to Sam Houston State from Division I ball, which sends up a red flag-- was he incapable of dominating at the higher level of play?? We know he completely dominated on the field last season, leading Sam Houston State to the national championship game... his size is only adequate, but he has a strong arm, some mobility inside the pocket, and is capable of putting up big numbers... I have also read that he was a confident leader on the field...
RB Alvin Pearman, Virginia
RB Patrick Cobbs, Stephen F. Austin
RB Howard Jackson, UTEP
Pearman was used in a variety of different ways by the Cavs... essentially, he was their primary kick returner and 3rd down back, and he was quite effective in those roles... he doesn't have great pure speed, but he is elusive and instinctive with the ball in his hands... Cobbs would have been a MUCH higher draft pick if he had been able to duplicate his successful junior campaign, but he got hurt early on last season, and his draft prospects tumbled... when healthy, he has terrific speed... Jackson is incredibly small (5-6, 170 pounds), and incredibly fast... he has proven to be surprisingly durable for such a small back... I think of him as a poor man's Darren Sproles...
FB Will Matthews, Texas
FB Matt Pagel, Wisconsin-LaCrosse
FB Madison Hedgecock, North Carolina
FB West Keliikipi, Hawaii
There are a slew of really nice fullbacks likely to be looking for work late in the draft... Matthews is a favorite of this ol' Horns fan, he seems Daryl Johnston-esque in his blocking abilities... he also flashed some ability as a receiver out of the backfield late in the season... Pagel is very, very fast for a 240 pounder, reportedly under 4.4 second 40 fast... Hedgecock is intriguing to me, he's been a conversion project from DE... this suggests he has the requisite physical nature to play FB... I'd like to find out some more about Keliikipi, he's a recent addition to my draft board... I do know that he's 265 pounds, which would be a load as a lead blocker...
TE Bo Scaife, Texas
TE Patrick Estes, Virginia
I don't think the Boys have a great need at TE, but they might want to bring another in as an undrafted rookie free agent... if they're looking for somebody with some potential as a receiver, Scaife would be worth a look... but for injuries, he would have put up some pretty good numbers in his college career... if it's blocking you want, go for the 6-7, 280 pound Estes...
WR Rasheed Marshall, West Virginia
A conversion project from QB, a la Hines Ward and Antwan Randle-El from the Steelers... his size and speed ratio is reminiscent of those two, though of course we don't know if he'll have the same ball skills...
C Jason Respert, Tennessee
C Chase Johnson, TCU
C Drew Hodgdon, Arizona State
Three 310 pounders for your late round enjoyment... Respert can also play guard, Johnson is well-schooled in the art of pass blocking... Hodgdon is the quickest of the three... I have a hunch the Cowboys would like to improve their depth at center...
OG Sam Mayes, Oklahoma State
OG Steven Gibbs, Arkansas State
OG John Drake, UNLV
Mayes, Gibbs and Drake all go in the 340-350 pound range, qualifying each for the adjective "massive"... Gibbs may have an inside track at Valley Ranch, what with being an Arkansas boy... we all know Jerry likes his boys from Arkansas...
Erik Pears, OT, Colorado State
A 6-8 tower of an OT, with good quickness and agility...
DT Keyonta Marshall, Grand Valley State
DT Lynn McGruder, Oklahoma
A pair of stumpy 310 pounders, either one might be able to play the NT position or the more traditional 4-3 DT slot...
MLB Adam Seward, UNLV
MLB Robert Rodriguez, UTEP
Seward is a 250 pounder with exceptional speed for a MLB... Rodriguez is a little smaller, and a little slower, but he made a lot of plays for the Miners in the course of his college career, and I went to UTEP, so I'm allowed to put him on my sleepers list, LOL...
OLB Roger Cooper, Montana State
Every year, there seems to be an OLB prospect from the Big Sky country who can run pretty well... and every year, those prospects tend to get downgraded because of the caliber of competition to be found out there... Cooper is this year's example of that, a 240 pounder with 4.65 speed in the 40...
FS Peter Sands, Central Florida
FS Patrick Body, Toledo
We all know about the Boys' needs at FS, and these 2 intrigue me late in the draft... Sands is a 230 pound free safety (teammate and fellow draft prospect Atari Bigby was the SS for UCF)... he might ultimately be moved to OLB, but if his 40 times are adequate-- 4.55 seconds or better-- I might think about keeping him at FS... Body has run the 40 in the 4.35 second range... since the Boys are looking for a pure cover specialist at FS, that kind of speed might be just what they're looking for...
K Tyler Jones, Boise State
Mike Nugent gets all the ink, but Jones is MUCH better on kickoffs, and hit over 80 per cent of his field goals in college... he was also given the green light to attempt lengthy field goals with some regularity, which will keep your FG percentage down some... the only reason Nugent is rated as a first day prospect while Jones isn't is the former's reputation for coming through on the clutch kicks... personally, I much prefer Jones in the 7th round to Nugent in the 2nd...
OK, that makes 26 "sleepers" on my list (10 of them with "local" interest, i.e., from Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas or New Mexico)... assuming the Boys get a 6th and a 7th pick in the compensatory process, that means the Boys could draft 3 of them... and any of them that go undrafted should be high on their rookie free agent lists...
PS-- and you guys say Hos can waste some bandwidth... just wait until you guys get a load of my draft analysis, which will be up in a few days... you might want to print that one out, and save it for when you go sit on the toilet, LOL... make sure you have sufficient paper in the printer, and beside the toilet...