Surefire NFL Prospects

[Hater]

Who do you think was the most highly touted, surefire, can't-miss prospect to be taken #1 overall in the NFL draft? Regardless of how that player ended up doing, what player struck you (or the public in general) as a lock to be a superstar in the NFL?

 

[AdamJT13]

The top five, in no particular order -- O.J. Simpson, Lee Roy Selmon, John Elway, Bo Jackson and Troy Aikman. At the top would be either O.J. or Elway.

 

[jamez25]

Ed Jones,Troy Aikman,John Elway,OJ, and Earl Campbell....

 

[Longboysfan]

Steve Entmann..... DL - OL eater.
Bad knees did him in.

 

[burmafrd]

i don't know that I ever have seen any player that I was absolutely SURE that he was going to be a great pro. I have always had some doubts about every one. Now I have thought they would be at least good pros, BUT I have never seen one prospect- Not Elway, BUsh, ANYONE- that I was sure was going to be a GREAT PRO.

 

[Hostile]

John Elway, Troy Aikman, & Peyton Manning would be the 3 I probably had the most confidence in.

I didn't include Bo Jackson simply because I wasn't sure he was going to play football.

 

[L-O-Jete]

Peyton Manning, Bo Jackson

 

[Seven]

Marshall Faulk. Actually got to see him live a few times in college. In our division.
He was a man amongst boys. Everything he did looked effortless. Almost choreographed......I'm not exagerrating. This guy was literally smooth. I haven't seen that since.

 

[JackMagist]

Jim Plunkett - Rookie of the Year and eventual Superbowl MVP - played many years on some very bad teams and got the crap beat out of him. Rose up late in his career from the backup he had become to lead his team to the Superbowl (2 of them if I remember correctly) where he was named MVP. Had he gotten on a decent team earlier in his career there is no telling how great of a career he might have had.

 

[royhitshard]

Bo Jackson

 

[RCowboyFan]

Since mine is limited to only last 10 years or so, Peyton Manning would be one for me.

But I see in here people are posting about players who were not No. 1 Overall though. If that was the case, I had several players then.

 

[Yeagermeister]

Bo Jackson

Because Bo knew football

 

[Big D]

Marshall Faulk. Actually got to see him live a few times in college. In our division.
He was a man amongst boys. Everything he did looked effortless. Almost choreographed......I'm not exagerrating. This guy was literally smooth. I haven't seen that since.

I feel the same way about Brian Urlacher.

I've watched close to all of his games at UNM and the guy is a football monster.
He played the S , LB, TE, PR, WR positions.

Urlacher - the REAL slash.

 

[mkelly71]

Tony mandarich and Brian bosworth were surefire cant miss prospects hahahaha

 

[DandyDon]

1951 - Kyle Rote
1957 - Paul Hornung
1967 - Bubba Smith
1969 - OJ Simpson
1978 - Earl Campbell
1983 - John Elway
1986 - Bo Jackson
1989 - Troy Aikman
1996 - Keyshawn Johnson
1997 - Orlando Pace

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I didn't see Elway play that much at Stanford to personally have an opinion. Only went by what I read which was he was the best to come out at the QB position in 20 years.

As for who I personally saw enough of to KNOW, he was sure to be a lock, great player, for me it is Bo Jackson and Peyton Manning.

Both guys absolutely dominated the SEC their entire college careers. In fact, before the '98 draft, I could never figure out what all the debate was about between Manning and Leaf. Manning had been the best player in the SEC for nearly 4 years and Leaf seemed to me to be just another "flavor of the month" QB, who came on strong his Sr. year. (Similar to what Akili Smith was the next year.)

As for Aikman, again, I just didn't see enough of him play to have a view based on personal observation and not just the reports from the draft gurus.

I have to say, I was a little skeptical of Aikman. I was hoping for great things, but he had never won big-time in college and there were some mixed reviews.

I even have a buddy who told me at that time, he thought Aikman was just another Chuck Long. I STILL remind him of that prediction every draft season!

 

[Sitting Bull]

I've always been a Pac-10 guy and felt very confident about Aikman and Bledsoe being stars when they were drafted first. But I felt the strongest about Keyshawn being a superstar, since he reminded me of Irvin at the time. I became indifferent to Key once he entered the league and by the time we got him, age/baggage had dampened my enthusiasm. He won me over again, however. He may not've become a superstar, but he's a player.

 

[baj1dallas]

prob has to be Manning although I never believe any QB is a "lock" to make it in the NFL.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Joe Namath, while at Bama was as good a College QB pospect as there ever was. He was unbelievably talented.

 

[ravidubey]

Bo. His 4.12 combine time and 9+ National Combine rating sealed the deal for me at the time. Too bad that fluke cartilage injury did him in. It was amazing that he still played baseball with a fake hip afterwards, though that was in part a marketing ploy.