JonCJG
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from another Cowboys board.....
By Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY
This was not what Omar Jacobs expected when he cashed in his final year of college eligibility to enter the NFL draft.
At a time when hot prospects crisscross the country, touring NFL facilities and meeting with potential employers to make face-to-face impressions, the Bowling Green quarterback hasn't exactly been racking up the frequent-flier miles.
Since the NFL scouting combine ended in early March, Jacobs has been invited to visit one team. And for that he didn't even have to get on an airplane.
Jacobs drove from his mother's house in Delray Beach, Fla., to the Miami Dolphins headquarters. One visit. Is there something in the tea leaves here?
"I don't know what this tells me," Jacobs said this week during a phone interview. "Maybe I'm falling out of the mix. But the way the draft is, some teams don't talk to you and they really like you. So I've got mixed emotions. Maybe they're not liking me. ... I've got to think positive. Maybe they're trying to keep their interest in me under wraps."
Jacobs, 6-4, 232, has some eye-catching résumé material. In 2004 he led the nation with 41 touchdown passes, with only four interceptions, and tied an NCAA record with a stretch of 224 passes without a pick.
And he starred in the same wide-open Mid-American Conference that produced recent first-round quarterback picks Ben Roethlisberger, Byron Leftwich and Chad Pennington.
Yet Jacobs, whose 2005 season was disrupted by a left (non-throwing) shoulder separation that caused him to miss two games, doesn't rank among the top six, according to several draft websites.
There's been debate about his quirky, sidearm delivery and what some saw as an unimpressive combine workout.
"This is a classic case of a guy who could have stayed in school and helped himself by working on his delivery," said Gil Brandt, former Dallas Cowboys personnel director who now serves as an analyst for NFL.com.
Brandt ranked his top 15 quarterbacks from the draft. Jacobs is not on his list.
"I'm afraid he's in for a crushed ego," Brandt said.
Three quarterbacks — Texas' Vince Young, Southern California's Matt Leinart and Vanderbilt's late-riser Jay Cutler— are projected as first-rounders. There is little consensus for how the next tier of quarterbacks, including Jacobs, stacks up.
Jacobs said besides the rebuilding job he sees for Bowling Green this season, the lack of depth in the quarterback crop was one reason he bolted.
"It was Matt Leinart, Vince Young and who?" Jacobs said. "Then Cutler came up late. Before I got hurt, people were saying I was the No. 2 quarterback in the nation.
"You never know. These things fluctuate so much. From what I hear, I could be the fourth or fifth quarterback taken."
The uncertainty of the draft is frustrating for many prospects, but it is even more nerve-racking for those who opted to leave school early.
"It's been a roller coaster," Jacobs said, adding he looks forward to updates from ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr.
NFLDraftScout.com rates Jacobs as the No. 9 quarterback and projects him as a fifth- or sixth-round pick.
Is there anything else Jacobs can do to help his cause before the draft?
"Pray," he said.
There is no big draft-day party planned.
"I'm going to try to go to sleep," Jacobs said of Saturday afternoon. "The first 15 or 20 picks takes at least a couple of hours. Hopefully, by the time they call me, I'll be rested and ready. If you sleep, you can't worry about anything."
And when the call comes that he's been drafted?
"The problem will be trying to get some sleep," he said, "because I'll be so excited."
By Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY
This was not what Omar Jacobs expected when he cashed in his final year of college eligibility to enter the NFL draft.
At a time when hot prospects crisscross the country, touring NFL facilities and meeting with potential employers to make face-to-face impressions, the Bowling Green quarterback hasn't exactly been racking up the frequent-flier miles.
Since the NFL scouting combine ended in early March, Jacobs has been invited to visit one team. And for that he didn't even have to get on an airplane.
Jacobs drove from his mother's house in Delray Beach, Fla., to the Miami Dolphins headquarters. One visit. Is there something in the tea leaves here?
"I don't know what this tells me," Jacobs said this week during a phone interview. "Maybe I'm falling out of the mix. But the way the draft is, some teams don't talk to you and they really like you. So I've got mixed emotions. Maybe they're not liking me. ... I've got to think positive. Maybe they're trying to keep their interest in me under wraps."
Jacobs, 6-4, 232, has some eye-catching résumé material. In 2004 he led the nation with 41 touchdown passes, with only four interceptions, and tied an NCAA record with a stretch of 224 passes without a pick.
And he starred in the same wide-open Mid-American Conference that produced recent first-round quarterback picks Ben Roethlisberger, Byron Leftwich and Chad Pennington.
Yet Jacobs, whose 2005 season was disrupted by a left (non-throwing) shoulder separation that caused him to miss two games, doesn't rank among the top six, according to several draft websites.
There's been debate about his quirky, sidearm delivery and what some saw as an unimpressive combine workout.
"This is a classic case of a guy who could have stayed in school and helped himself by working on his delivery," said Gil Brandt, former Dallas Cowboys personnel director who now serves as an analyst for NFL.com.
Brandt ranked his top 15 quarterbacks from the draft. Jacobs is not on his list.
"I'm afraid he's in for a crushed ego," Brandt said.
Three quarterbacks — Texas' Vince Young, Southern California's Matt Leinart and Vanderbilt's late-riser Jay Cutler— are projected as first-rounders. There is little consensus for how the next tier of quarterbacks, including Jacobs, stacks up.
Jacobs said besides the rebuilding job he sees for Bowling Green this season, the lack of depth in the quarterback crop was one reason he bolted.
"It was Matt Leinart, Vince Young and who?" Jacobs said. "Then Cutler came up late. Before I got hurt, people were saying I was the No. 2 quarterback in the nation.
"You never know. These things fluctuate so much. From what I hear, I could be the fourth or fifth quarterback taken."
The uncertainty of the draft is frustrating for many prospects, but it is even more nerve-racking for those who opted to leave school early.
"It's been a roller coaster," Jacobs said, adding he looks forward to updates from ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr.
NFLDraftScout.com rates Jacobs as the No. 9 quarterback and projects him as a fifth- or sixth-round pick.
Is there anything else Jacobs can do to help his cause before the draft?
"Pray," he said.
There is no big draft-day party planned.
"I'm going to try to go to sleep," Jacobs said of Saturday afternoon. "The first 15 or 20 picks takes at least a couple of hours. Hopefully, by the time they call me, I'll be rested and ready. If you sleep, you can't worry about anything."
And when the call comes that he's been drafted?
"The problem will be trying to get some sleep," he said, "because I'll be so excited."
