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| In and Out |
| Monday, January 14, 2008 |
While everyone was watching the NFL Playoffs, a lot of interesting developments took place in the college football world. Lets take a look.
First, another reversal by a star running back. West Virginia junior Steve Slaton said early on in the bowl season that he would be returning to school for his senior season, which appeared to be a wise decision due to his subpar (by previous marks) year that he had just completed and the sheer amount of junior running backs that had already declared. However, Slaton changed it up and decided on Sunday that he would be foregoing his senior year of eligibility and enter the draft. Apparently he was projected as high as the second round, but its hard to see him going that early. Unless teams are interested in underachieving backs that could see their roster spot taken by an undrafted free agent, its hard to see Slaton going as high as he’d like to think. I believe that a good many of these running backs are going to regret coming out so early because there is simply not enough teams that have a need or the desire to blow a pick on a kid they could replace with an undrafted kid. Luckily for the Mountaineers, they are set for at least another two years at the position as Noel Devine looks every bit as good as advertised and in fact, his talent and ability could have scared Slaton away some insiders believe.
Brandon Flowers of Virginia Tech declared for the draft last week and projects to go in the first couple of rounds. His college teammate Victor ‘macho’ Harris decided to follow suit and enter his name into the NFL draft pool. While Flowers will be chosen near the top of the draft, its easy to see Harris’ stock stay where it currently is, low. Harris could have come back to the Hokies and been the big man on campus and been one of the top corners in the country going into next season. Instead, he leaves and fails to fully realize his draft potential, and on top of that, leaves his school hurting even more than expected on defense, especially in the secondary. Next season for the Hokies inexperience will reign with only 3 returning starters and plenty of underclassmen needed to step in.
Harris’ decision has nothing on the next early entrant. Penn State corner Justin King will also skip his senior year, as was widely speculated and enter the NFL. King was a highly touted recruit when he came to Happy Valley but never fully reached the level expected. King had talked about coming out early since his junior year but most thought he should come back for one more year of seasoning for the Nittany Lions. He had struggled in coverage for much of this season, routinely missing tackles and blowing assignments, so its hard to see him being able to stick with pro wideouts such as Randy Moss or Terrell Owens right away. King will get drafted, based solely on long-term potential and with some development, he might become a decent backup in a few years. While King has graduated, another year should have been the decision. Reports suggest that it was a tough decision for the junior, making it all the more clear that he should have come back.
The good news just keeps coming for Ohio State. Despite waves of negativity and back-to-back national championship losses, the Buckeyes should roll into next season extremely well regarded. It was announced over the weekend that both junior offensive tackle Alex Boone and junior linebacker Marcus Freeman will be returning to school to finish out their college careers. Both were debating entering the NFL and decided against it, now leaving linebacker James Laurinaitis as the only Buckeye left to declare his intentions. Either way at this stage, the Buckeyes are far better off than most people expected going into the fall. Coach Jim Tressel must have some serious powers of persuasion or these kids must be really serious about finishing the job next year.
If you’re looking more some more insight on some of the top prospects collegefootballnews.com has some good stuff and Pete Fiutak knows his college ball.Labels: Alex Boone, Justin King, Marcus Freeman, Steve Slaton, Victor Harris |
posted by ntb60 @ 7:29 AM   |
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