Scouts quotes on prospects

[YosemiteSam]

No, you don't want a new coach at UT.

Mack Brown has built a friggin dynasty. UT was a middle of the road when Mack showed up. His system does coddle players but it also works at the collegiate level.

UT guys are over drafted just like USC guys. You get so many good players together and consistently bring in the top athletes out of high school and the most athletic will be over drafted. It happens to everyone. You win and players get more looks and combine maxed out physiques form world class training programs and good overall technique and these types of players have less room to grow.

But none of that is a knock on Mack's program. His job is to dominate the collegiate landscape and he has done so. One down year in a decade is hardly a reason to fire him.

All that said, I am a Texas Techsan so by all means fire Mack. I'd love to see UT slip back to a mere top 15-20 recruiting school. They'd seldom beat Tech if that happened.

I'm just not a Mac Brown fan. I would prefer a new coach. Hell, if TCU wasn't my preferred school, I would want Texas to hire Patterson. Of course, that isn't going to happen. Patterson has been locked up now. (thank god!)

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

You mean Justin Blalock WAS the starting LG who is now a free agent.

That's fair.

 

[InmanRoshi]

Cedric Benson has had two straight 1000 yard plus seasons in Cincy.
Jamaal Charles is putting up monster numbers in KC.
Jermichael Finley was hurt this year but he's clearly the #1 guy in GB.
Colt McCoy has come from 3rd string to starter in his rookie year in Cleveland.
Derrick Johnson has averaged 85 tackles for 6 seasons. 121 last year.
Roy Miller is a monster in Tampa. He anchors their interior D.
Aaron Ross is playing well at CB for the Giants.
Jordan Shipley had 52 catches in his rookie year in Cincy.
Ricky Williams has had good production for a long time in the NFL.
Jonathan Scott is the starting LT for Pittsburgh.
Shawn Rogers has been good for a long time in the NFL.
Casey Hampton has anchored the Pittsburgh D for 10 years.
Lamarr Houston is the starting R DE for Oakland in his rookie year.
Quentin Jammer has been a fixture at CB in San Diego 9 straight seasons.
Tim Crowder is the starting LDE for Tampa.
Michael Griffin 4 year starter in Tenn. and just posted 108 tackle season 2010
Earl Thomas is lights out in Seattle.
Nathan Vasher is the starting RCB in a very tough Detroit defensive unit.
Brian Orakpo is the real deal in Washington.
Justin Blalock is the starting LG in Atlanta.

UT gets the best high school athletes in the country, it would be pretty shocking if some of them didn't eventually translate those talents to the NFL. In Breer's article it was pointed out that many who eventually wind up "succeeding" in the NFL need 3 or 4 years to be deprogrammed from Mack Brown's culture of entitlement and coddling. Many of the names on your list fall under that category who didn't pan out until their 2nd team or their 4th or 5th year in the NFL.

But it's the nature of the beast you get with Mack Brown. He's a great recruiter, and part of what makes him such a great recruiter is he feeds the egos of these kids and goes out of his way to make them as comfortable as possible. Overall the good has outweighed the bad for UT (before last year). That doesn't mean much to NFL personnel departments, though.

 

[Doomsday101]

lol....I guess you can tell what Tyler Sash looks like


I dont like the marriage of PP and Campo. PP does have some percentage of Deion in him and I dont like his potential coach letting him do w/e he wants

Ultimately his coach is going to be Rob Ryan. As DC you oversee all of the defense and dictate to your coaches what you want out of them

 

[The Realist]

Cedric Benson has had two straight 1000 yard plus seasons in Cincy.
Jamaal Charles is putting up monster numbers in KC.
Jermichael Finley was hurt this year but he's clearly the #1 guy in GB.
Colt McCoy has come from 3rd string to starter in his rookie year in Cleveland.
Derrick Johnson has averaged 85 tackles for 6 seasons. 121 last year.
Roy Miller is a monster in Tampa. He anchors their interior D.
Aaron Ross is playing well at CB for the Giants.
Jordan Shipley had 52 catches in his rookie year in Cincy.
Ricky Williams has had good production for a long time in the NFL.
Jonathan Scott is the starting LT for Pittsburgh.
Shawn Rogers has been good for a long time in the NFL.
Casey Hampton has anchored the Pittsburgh D for 10 years.
Lamarr Houston is the starting R DE for Oakland in his rookie year.
Quentin Jammer has been a fixture at CB in San Diego 9 straight seasons.
Tim Crowder is the starting LDE for Tampa.
Michael Griffin 4 year starter in Tenn. and just posted 108 tackle season 2010
Earl Thomas is lights out in Seattle.
Nathan Vasher is the starting RCB in a very tough Detroit defensive unit.
Brian Orakpo is the real deal in Washington.
Justin Blalock is the starting LG in Atlanta.


Say what you will about Texas players but there are several in this league who are starting and posting very good numbers.

My issue is that the UT players at the top of the draft don't live up to their draft status. That's not only on the players though. Some of them have no business getting drafted that high.

Leonard Davis, Roy Williams...........what's the top 5-10 OT's name that was a massive bust? I want to say Mike Williams for some reason.

I have no issue with the guys later in one or from 2 on.

DJ was massively overrated and been blah so far in NFL. 85 tackles per year.

He's not even a Bradie James yet and we got him in 4.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

UT gets the best high school athletes in the country, it would be pretty shocking if some of them didn't eventually translate those talents to the NFL. In Breer's article it was pointed out that many who eventually wind up "succeeding" in the NFL need 3 or 4 years to be deprogrammed from Mack Brown's culture of entitlement and coddling. Many of the names on your list fall under that category who didn't pan out until their 2nd team or their 4th or 5th year in the NFL.

But it's the nature of the beast you get with Mack Brown. He's a great recruiter, and part of what makes him such a great recruiter is he feeds the egos of these kids and goes out of his way to make them as comfortable as possible. Overall the good has outweighed the bad for UT (before last year). That doesn't mean much to NFL personnel departments, though.

This is a fair point but I would suspect that this point can be made for most players in the NFL. I just think it typically takes a few years for players to adjust to the NFL.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

My issue is that the UT players at the top of the draft don't live up to their draft status. That's not only on the players though. Some of them have no business getting drafted that high.

Leonard Davis, Roy Williams...........what's the top 5-10 OT's name that was a massive bust? I want to say Mike Williams for some reason.

I have no issue with the guys later in one or from 2 on.

DJ was massively overrated and been blah so far in NFL. 85 tackles per year.

He's not even a Bradie James yet and we got him in 4.

I did not include Davis or Roy in this discussion because I did not want this thread to degenerate into what always seems to happen when discussing those two players. However, both Davis and Roy have seen a certain measure of success in the NFL. Are they worth there draft status? IDK.

Mike Williams was a flat bust. I agree with you.

I think on the issue of DJ, he is exactly what he was when he was drafted. 85 is an average over multiple seasons. He has posted seasons of 95, 76, 94, 85, 37 and 121. He is also responsible, in KCs defense, to defend the passing game. I would actually say the he is actually a great deal more then Bradie James but I would not argue the point too greatly. James has been a good player for us and we have been lucky to have hit on him. Your point is valid. Not all of Texas 1st rd players have played up to expectations of many fans in certain cases.

 

[DFWJC]

Patrick Peterson - " goes low too much as a tackler-it drives me nuts. I'm usually dialed in to height-weight-speed prospects, but he is horrible freelancing. He's not good with his back to the ball. If he lands in our division, bombs away. "

."

:laugh2:
But let's trade our entire draft for this sure thing and best player in years!

Actually, if he fell to us I'd take him.

But I would not trade up like so many here want to do. He is not a sure thing to be a multi-year ProBowler and if you are not that then I don't wish to sell most of my draft for one guy.
That's just me though.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

The sentiment that UT's "country club" treatment hurts these guys as pros has been around for a long time now.

IMO that goes on at a lot of schools. I've always felt that's the problem with a lot of highly-touted guys from bigtime winning programs where football is king... They get so pampered and worshipped that the grind of pro football is almost a letdown for them.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

The sentiment that UT's "country club" treatment hurts these guys as pros has been around for a long time now.

IMO that goes on at a lot of schools. I've always felt that's the problem with a lot of highly-touted guys from bigtime winning programs where football is king... They get so pampered and worshipped that the grind of pro football is almost a letdown for them.

See that a lot in the NBA as well.

 

[DFWJC]

This is a fair point but I would suspect that this point can be made for most players in the NFL. I just think it typically takes a few years for players to adjust to the NFL.

I agree that most players (regardless of school) take awhile.

It could be that many of these UT players are not underacheiving, but instead where not as good as the headlines said they were. They were solid NFL players but not superstars. If that's the case, then it's not anyone's fault except those that overrated them.

There are MANY exceptions---Arakpo. Shipley, Thomas and more were all good right away...as were many others.

FWIW, it does sound like Brown has taken the gloves off a little this offseason.

Most certainly USC and Ohio State both also have a rep for having a country club atmosphere. They are all seriously rich athletic programs anchored by very strong football programs.

 

[TheCount]

Again, with apologies to Hos, I tend to side with the scouts I talked to a while back regarding Peterson. His future is playing safety in this league facing the ball. This guy simply agree's as do most I talk to.

With that said it does not change my opinion of him. I have always slotted Peterson as a safety and would still move up to 5 to take him.

I've been saying that not only do I think Peterson would make a better safety, but his impact would be greater there (on the secondary as a whole) than at CB.

On top of that, spending a high pick on a safety has more impact on your defense than spending it on a CB.

I've also said no one loves Patrick Peterson more than Patrick Peterson. The kids ego is out of control, and I don't know how hard he'll work on the little things than make players great. Athleticism alone won't save you in the NFL.

 

[jterrell]

The sentiment that UT's "country club" treatment hurts these guys as pros has been around for a long time now.

IMO that goes on at a lot of schools. I've always felt that's the problem with a lot of highly-touted guys from bigtime winning programs where football is king... They get so pampered and worshipped that the grind of pro football is almost a letdown for them.

When Miami was king you got good players but worried they'd be arrested before they made it to training camp. Now UT, OSU, USC all produce top classes yearly but there are almost never any overlooked kids and instead you see workout wonders who played on great football teams and they get drafted very high. Some other kids with slightly lesser athleticism had to lead their programs and carry teams to wins. There is a value in that but that isn't Mack Brown's fault. He has crap for X's and O's but as a college coach whose job is producing league championships and BCA berths for the big money he is doing quite grand.

--Mack certainly coddled VY. It looks pretty brilliant now. Not only did VY lead UT to a National Title the non-coddling approach basically got an NFL coach fired.

That country club that run in Austin is a huge recruiting tool and the reason they have had a top 10 class virtually every year for over a decade. Tell me a college coach who does it right, produces better and more NFL talent and wins more in college and I'll gladly concede the points. Otherwise, it is all crying over someone's success.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

How was I crying? I agree with you and IR that the schools do this because it works for them. They're in the business of winning college games, not preparing guys to be pros.

 

[Randy White]

Brandon Harris- " Plays with his eyes. he's confident. we see him more as a late second or third round guy."

James Brewer - " has long arms. He's a good athlete. He can run. He's a helluva zone blocker. You don't see him maul anyone in the run blocking, but he has the feet to play on the left side. They had Saffold there, so they kept him on the right side. "

Jake Locker - " has an ascend factor. What you see is what you get. I don't think you can throw him out there day one, but I would take him over all of them. He has so much upside."

Marcell Dareus - " is a slam dunk. I would take him....He's a helluva football player.."

Pretty much what I've been saying for the last couple of months now and in Brandon Harris case, it's EXACTLY what I said at the begining.