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Friday, April 25, 2008
Draft streaks on the line for Miami, Alabama
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just some random ramblings on a “Free-Wheeling Friday.”
1. Draft streaks for Miami, Alabama, on the line: My job for Saturday’s NFL Draft is to keep an eye on the SEC and ACC players. Here are two streaks I’ll be watching:
Miami has had a player taken in the first round for 13 straight drafts. But unless there is a mild upset, that streak will be broken on Saturday. DE Calais Campbell probably would have been a first rounder if he had come out after his junior season. The debacle that was Miami’s 5-7 season in 2007, where the defense just collapsed, did not help him.
Alabama has not had a first-round draft pick since 2000 when running back Shaun Alexander and OT Chris Samuels both went early. Alabama has not won an SEC championship since the 1999 season. Coincidence? I think not. We talk a lot about coaches in this league and the coaches in the SEC are among the very best. But the team with the best players usually wins.
Based on Nick Saban’s early recruiting, it’s obvious that Alabama’s dry spell in the draft will end in the next couple of years.
2. The draft is important to recruiting: Our D. Orlando Ledbetter told you this morning about DT Kentwan Balmer of North Carolina, who could be one of the steals in the this draft. Balmer was on nobody’s radar until Butch Davis became head coach and John Blake became his position coach. Together they have coached this guy up into a potential first round pick. Recruits notice this kind of thing and if they don’t, the head coach will bring it up. “Every place that I’ve ever coached, we’ve always emphasized that we’re going to have a pro-style football program, one that’s going to showcase kids’ talents,” Davis told reporters on a conference call this week. “(We’re) going to give them the opportunity to play schemes that if they perform and play the way we expect them to play, the NFL is certainly going to recognize that.”
3. The NFL is still the top dog: We love college football. We think it’s the greatest game in the world. But you have to give the NFL its props. When it comes to interest, there is nothing quite like it. Consider this: Jan. 1 falls on a Thursday in 2009 and you’ll have the usual assortment of games. Jan. 2 is a Friday and two games (Cotton, Liberty) have locked in that date to join the Sugar. A lot of folks are going to take that day off from work so that schedule makes sense. But the BCS will not play again until Monday, Jan. 5 with the Fiesta Bowl because the NFL Playoffs begin on Saturday and Sunday. College football has learned that you just can’t go head to head with the NFL. You have to respect that.
4. What will happen to Florida State’s Parker? Florida State already has many as eight starters who are going to sit out the first three games on suspensions related to an academic cheating scandal. Now wide receiver Preston Parker has been arrested and charged with carrying a concealed weapon (a felony in Florida) plus a small amount of marijuana. Florida State has a clear policy: Any athlete charged with a felony cannot compete until the matter is resolved. You have a new athletics director in Randy Spetman who needs to make it clear that he’s in charge. You have a veteran coach in Bobby Bowden who is winding down his career and a coach in waiting in Jimbo Fisher who has to be thinking long term. How this case is handled will be very interesting.
5. A sweet deal for Notre Dame: I get asked all the time why Notre Dame is able to deal from such a position of strength in college football negotiations regardless of its success (or lack thereof) on the field. My stock response is always: “Because they ARE Notre Dame!!** Another example rose this week. Notre Dame has signed a six-year agreement to play Connecticut, but none of those games will be played in the state of Connecticut. Three will be played at Notre Dame and the other three will be played in larger stadiums in Boston, New York and New Jersey. Notre Dame has the leverage in these negotiations because a school like UConn knows that it will benefit tremendously from the national exposure that comes from playing the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame is not going to play UConn in the Huskies’ smaller on campus stadium because it can play in the Meadowlands and fill the place up with its fans. FYI: Notre Dame tried to make basically the same deal with Rutgers and AD Bob Mulcahy said no. Rutgers wanted to play its home games at home.
Scheduling note: The final two spring games in the ACC and SEC are at Maryland and Arkansas on Saturday. Sunday I’m headed off to the BCS meetings in South Florida. We’ll see you then.
