cowboyjoe
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 28,435
- Reaction score
- 757
http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/tackle+problem+like+Watkins/2973020/story.htmlHow do you tackle a problem like Watkins?
Kelowna lineman would be a sure No. 1 pick in the CFL draft, if he wasn't also on the NFL radar
By Mike Beamish, Vancouver SunMay 2, 2010Comments (1)
More Images » Danny Watkins of Kelowna, B.C., is a starting offensive lineman for the Baylor University Bears and is shown in the Baylor game with the University of Connecticut on Parents weekend at the Floyd Case Stadium. Photo taken in Waco, Texas, Sept. 19, 2009. - Photo: Matthew Minard/Baylor AthleticsPhotograph by: Matthew Minard/Baylor Athletics, Special to the SunAmong the rookies making an appearance at the Denver Broncos' mini-camp today is centre J.D. Walton of the Baylor Bears, who could end up snapping the ball to 2007 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow at some point in his NFL career.
Danny Watkins of Kelowna, Walton's former roommate and the Bears' current starting left tackle, spent last weekend at the home of J.D. and his parents in Denton, Texas, celebrating and marking the achievement after Walton was picked in the third round, 80th overall.
"I took J.D. to the airport to see him off [to Denver]," Watkins said this week from Waco, Texas. "When I was growing up, I didn't pay much attention to football. I was always watching hockey on TV. Now, after what's transpired over the past couple of years, I should probably pay a little more attention to what's going on in football."
Watkins, as unlikely a story as there is in the game, was the surest thing to being the No. 1 pick in Sunday's Canadian Football League draft, except for two qualifiers: He still has a year of college eligibility left at Baylor, and he's squarely on the NFL's radar for the 2011 draft. It's why the B.C. Lions, with the third overall pick in Sunday's draft, won't consider taking Watkins early, although they could risk one of their next picks - 10th, 16th or 18th - on the off-chance that Watkins ends up playing professionally in Canada. What people suspect is that Watkins could go the way of Rob Maier (No. 1 overall, 1999), Brett Romberg (second round, 2002) or O.J. Atogwe (first round, 2005), three Lions draft picks who have enjoyed long and productive careers in the NFL.
Last season, his first at Baylor, Watkins had the job of replacing Jason Smith, who signed a $62-million US contract with the St. Louis Rams as the second overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft. Conventional football wisdom is that tackles who protect the quarterback's blind side - the title of a 2010 Academy Award-nominated film - command a premium, and that fact hasn't been lost on Watkins.
"Jason and J.D. kind of set the bar high for me," Watkins says. "I hope to follow those guys [into the NFL] and give some hope to other guys under me. It definitely would be an honour to play in the CFL. But there's a couple of teams here talking with my coach [Art Briles] and asking for film, so there's a possibility I could go to the NFL. It's looking brighter and brighter each day. It's something I'm definitely considering."
When he graduated from Mount Boucherie high school in Kelowna, Watkins' dream was to save people from burning buildings, not protect a quarterback's hide. He wanted to be a firefighter, from the time he got his driver's licence at 16 and joined the recruit class. In fact, Watkins is on a first-name basis with the fire chiefs of Kelowna and drops in on the halls for a chat whenever he's on a break from school. Indeed, he went to Butte Junior College in Oroville, Calif., not because of its football reputation - Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, NFL all-decade guard Larry Allen and Lions cornerback Davis Sanchez played there - but because of the school's recognized fire science program. His football background was zero when he joined the Roadrunners as a mature student. Watkins turns 26 in November.
"He was a big kid [6-4, 280] and we're always looking for big kids," says Butte head coach Jeff Jordan. "We convinced Danny that he could do both [fire studies and football]. He's very athletic and he soaks up knowledge like a sponge. It's unbelievable what he was able to achieve for somebody who has changed his whole life goals around. After two years with us, Hawaii, Cal, Arkansas ... some pretty big name college programs came after him. Now, he's potentially a third-round guy in the [2011] draft."
The possibility of Watkins and John Bender, another Canadian redshirt lineman who plays at Nevada, being drafted by the NFL next year has consequently raised the 2010 CFL draft profile of Joe Eppele, a Washington State O-lineman from the unlikely football community of Squamish.
Eppele, 22, probably would have been a top-eight pick by the CFL in any case. However, free-agent signings by Waterloo's Joe Reinders and Concordia's Kristian Matte with NFL teams following last weekend's draft have thrust him into consideration with Queen's linebacker Shomari Williams for the No. 1 overall pick. Both players are represented by Montreal agent Darren Gill and trained together for two weeks in Florida for the CFL evaluation camp.
By coming out early, Eppele passes up any chance of an NFL career, although he was considered an unlikely pick in the 2011 draft, despite his size (6-8, 316) and obvious athletic talent. He finished seventh at the 2005 junior Pan-American Games in the hammer throw, missing the chance for a bronze medal because of a slight foot fault. One of his teammates with the Richmond Kajaks track club, Trey Henderson, another hammer thrower who played football at Vancouver College, convinced him to switch from Howe Sound secondary to VC for his Grade 12 year because of the prep school's football prowess. College's head coach, Todd Bernett, recommended him to Eastern Washington, where Bernett played his college football. But while he was at an Eastern Washington summer camp, Eppele was spotted and offered a scholarship by Washington State.
Eppele can play guard or tackle, but he wasn't getting a chance to play enough of either when he informed the WSU coaching staff in December that he would declare for the CFL draft in 2010. Though Eppele graduates on May 8, he still has a year of U.S. college football left. He decided to bid toodle-oo to Wazzu, however, because he didn't feel he was getting a fair shake from head coach Paul Wulff. Eppele was recruited by the Cougars' former head coach, Bill Doba, and was being used mainly as a backup by the Wulff pack.
"I was frustrated with the situation," Eppele admits. "College football was a bittersweet experience for me. I was beginning to come into my own and mature, with the old coaching staff. Then, the new guys came in and they wanted to rebuild with their athletes. I feel I dropped back to the bottom of the food chain. I didn't feel I was getting the opportunities I was looking for. Some of the coaches told me privately I should have been starting."
If Eppele should go No. 1 in Sunday's draft, he'll join the aforementioned Meier (1999, Lions) and defensive end Adam Braidwood (2006, Eskimos) among other B.C. high school athletes who went to Washington State and were selected first overall.
For him, unlike Watkins, the CFL college draft is as good as it gets.
[email protected]
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/tackle+problem+like+Watkins/2973020/story.html#ixzz0msMkRIy9
DAL @ GB
