Kevin Smith

[ThreeSportStar80]

Kevin Smith has deceptive speed because he's a long strider, he's got great vision and cuts really well, I'd be ecstatic if Dallas drafted him in the 2nd round!

 

[ThreeSportStar80]

It's not silly. He ran in the 4.4's during his pro day, which makes it a suspect time to say the least. He ran in the 4.5's at the combine. His 10 yard split was not good. His vertical was not good...all things you'd like to have in a RB. He doesn't show prototypical explosiveness. Having "nice long runs" is a bit easier to do against UCF's level of competition...surely you don't think that the players in that level are of similar speed to NFL players. The best thing he has going for him is his excellent production...and it was very good and should be recognized...

IMO, he's a good college player, and will likely make a solid #2 guy in the NFL, but there are easily 10 or so guys I'd look at pretty hard before taking this one. Dunno, I'm just not sold on this one...

I guess you would have passed on Emmitt Smith back in 1990 then?

 

[tomson75]

I guess you would have passed on Emmitt Smith back in 1990 then?

Who knows...I may very well have. It's nice having the luxury of foresight. I'm sure you already knew that Emmitt was a future HOF'er back then too.

...and this guy looks nothing like Emmitt, IMO.

 

[Muhast]

Good college player. I don't think he has the foot speed or explosiveness to become a productive back in the NFL. There are two player in this draft I think are suffering form the same thing...Smith and Choice. IMO.

I still think Choice will be a great value pickup for whoever gets him. I live in GA so i've seen him play a ton. He cuts very well and has great vision.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0i5NOVLl_s

 

[CosmicCowboy]

I guess you would have passed on Emmitt Smith back in 1990 then?

 

[AsthmaField]

In 1990 I watched the draft with a guy who told me that Emmitt would never make it in the pro's. He said Emmitt didn't have the speed for the NFL. He also said that Emmitt made a living out of making people miss and that he wouldn't be doing that against NFL athletes.

Ahem.

I didn't know how good Emmitt would do, of course... but I did know that Emmitt made a whole lot of people look foolish in college... and the NFL is made up of guys that used to play college.

My point there is that if a guy has great production in college, you had better take a good long look at him, because he's doing it for some reason. Even against lower competition, Kevin Smith stood out when every other RB didn't. Not to mention that he ran for very good yardage against Texas and Mississippi State when all his teammates, including the OL, were seriously out-classed and the entire defense was keying on him. There is one and only one reason for that: He was good enough to do so.

On the NFL draft combine site, I watched a video on RB's and the announcer says that Kevin Smith ran an unofficial 4.43. That is the only place I could find his 40 from the combine.

Here is the link for the page with the video on it. It is said at the 2:10 mark of it. The Video is on the right side of the page: http://www.nfl.com/combine/profiles/kevin-smith?id=947

Also, read the "Analysis" tab on that page about Kevin Smith and you'll see why I think he'll do fine. The first thing it says is about how quick he is to the line of scrimmage. It says: "Good initial quickness to and through the hole. ... Flashes the explosiveness to attack the line of scrimmage, but his main asset is his vision and ability to pick and slide laterally along the line of scrimmage until he finds the hole. ... Good patience to allow his blocks to develop. ... Rare acceleration for a back of his size"

I think he'll be a good one.

 

[Tobal]

I think he'd be great pick at the bottom of the 2nd round.

 

[JohnnyHopkins]

Who knows...I may very well have. It's nice having the luxury of foresight. I'm sure you already knew that Emmitt was a future HOF'er back then too.

...and this guy looks nothing like Emmitt, IMO.

I would like to point out that KSmith was instructed by George O'Leary to have patience in the pocket, wait for the hole to develop and not just try to plow through. That had a tendancy to cause Smith to delay since UCF does not have a Superior O-Line and the holes didn't always open up that fast. That seems to have translated to his being "slow to the hole" by some. As for that foot-speed issue, he was seldom caught from behind last year when he hit the second level, so he seems to have more than enough game speed.

I'm not knocking you or your opinion because you are more than entitled to it, but given that you've only seen one game and are going on the opinions of those who have probably seen about the same amount, I thought the info might be helpful.

 

[JaiRiid]

If we cannot get one of the top running backs, I'm all about this kid and his personalized videos on his website imkevinsmith.com. There's also a cool video of his Pro Day at UCF and some type of boxing class he did with Sinorice Moss and Andre Johnson.

 

[JustinTheDestructor]

lousy competition and has very skinny build...

not sure he is going to be much of an NFL player

David

Boy, i wish everyone had thought like you when Ladainian Tomlinson was on the board in 2001. TCU was in the same conference at the time and I'm sure some bafoon like you said the exact same thing about level of competition. Listen, when you're on a team and you're its only bright spot, you've got poor to average o-line play, and defenses know that you can't pass for crap so they stack the line, it really says something about a running back who can crank out that kind of yardage.

"Lousy competition." What a chuckle head. 149 yards rushing, 24 yards receiving, and 2 rushing TD's against the University of Texas?

Central Florida played against 2 ten win teams, 1 nine win team, and 4 eight win teams. C-USA may not be the big 12, or the SEC, or the ACC, but kids that play within its confines can still game....or any conference for that matter. Judging a prospect by his school is ignorant. Hell...i bet you like the current BCS bowl system.

It's called Research, GET SOME.