From Sara in Tampa: Being a huge college football guy, how much do you get into the NFL draft? Will you tune in beyond the first hour?
Hey Sara, I love the draft. Always have. It used to bug me whenever I heard media types complaining about the draft. My thinking was it'd be like a physician not wanting to study up on new techniques.
There are certainly a bunch of guys I've gotten to know over the years covering the beat, who I'm pulling for -- as well as some other story lines, most of which probably won't get hashed out till later in the afternoon. Among the things I'm keeping an eye on will be:
• Whether Haloti Ngata slides out of the top 12.
• Can Ohio State or USC have six players taken in the first round?
• Whether or not Miami can keep its streak of first-rounders intact. It's at a record 11 years and counting. My hunch is that Kelly Jennings, Eric Winston or Sinorice Moss will end up making it 12 years in a row.
• Where do Brad Smith, Jon Alston, Maurice Drew, Marcus Vick, Jeremy Bloom and Tim Day end up?
• And will the three Long Beach Poly teammates (OT Winston Justice, TE Marcedes Lewis and S Darnell Bing) get selected in the first round? I suspect two will, with Justice appearing to be a lock and Lewis probably going later in the first round.
Lewis is certainly one of those guys you should root for. He's a real battler. He takes after his mom Yvonne, who had him when she was 15. She worked three jobs. He said the toughest thing the family coped with, though, was her abusive boyfriend. One of his first childhood memories: being about 3 years old and seeing the guy yank her hair and smash her head into a wall. Marcedes says the beatings happened often. His mom eventually ran away from the guy two years later, taking Marcedes and his 2-year-old brother Ashley with her.
Yvonne has since married and things are good now. She even runs her own child-care business in Lakewood, Calif. Marcedes' rough upbringing has made such an impact on him that he vows to use some of his NFL money to support child-care programs for kids in similar situations.
From Brian in Dallas, Texas: Bruce: I enjoy your blog and appreciate your work. I think you had a major oversight on your coaching tree list though -- Frank Broyles at Arkansas. Just a list of assistants off the top of my head: Barry Switzer, Joe Gibbs, Johnny Majors, Jimmy Johnson, Hayden Fry, Doug Dickey and Jackie Sherrill. There is a reason the award for the top assistant in college football is named after Broyles.
Ah, the coaching tree list, such a pain in the butt to compile, and still yet so many gaffes. This one, though, wasn't one of them. My criteria: I was just focusing on the fruits of current 1-A head coaches. Having said that, I think this is a good spot to marvel at some of the guys Brian mentioned. In Broyles' 19-year run as the Razorbacks' coach, he had more than 25 assistants go on to become college and pro football head coaches, including all of the guys Brian named.
Former CU coach Bill McCartney's list includes: Les Miles, Rick Neuheisel, Karl Dorrell, Gary Barnett and Gerry DiNardo. Plus, Steve Logan, Ron Vanderlinden, Lou Tepper, Bob Simmons and Mike Hankwitz.
Thanks to Bert from Jacksonville for bringing up the name Bill Peterson, the former FSU coach who nurtured a pretty impressive bunch too. Among them: Bobby Bowden, Bill Parcells, Don James, Joe Gibbs and Dan Henning.
Thanks to Robert from San Diego for naming Don Coryell. While the former Chargers coach has more names that slanted to the NFL side, it is still pretty awe-inspiring:
Among his former assistants: John Madden, Joe Gibbs, Bill Walsh, Ernie Zampese, Jim Hanifan, Rod Dowhower and Tom Bass.
As for those gaffes, I think both the Earle Bruce tree and Jimmy Johnson tree should've been higher ranked since Bruce can claim Pete Carroll, who was Bruce's secondary coach in 1979 when OSU lost to USC. Meanwhile, Larry Coker coached under Johnson when the two were at Oklahoma State.
Wes from Greensboro wondered why Johnny Majors wasn't on the list, since he can claim Walt Harris, Phil Fulmer and Ron Zook, not to mention former head coaches Jackie Sherrill and David Cutcliffe. That one actually was a tough omit. I went with Belichick and Bellotti's threesome over Majors. My tie-breaker was that I thought the Bellotti guys would have more wins this season than Majors' crew. In truth, neither should've cracked the top 10 because …
From Doug in New York: How about the Jim Sweeney (200 wins and not in the College Football Hall of Fame) coaching tree? He produced Mike Price, Dennis Erickson, Sonny Lubick, Mike Martz, Jeff Tedford and Pat Hill.
Yeah, with that list Sweeney not only should've been on the list. He probably should've been in the top five when you add in Joe Tiller. (Former Stanford coach Jack Elway is another Sweeney guy too.) My hunch is also that USC assistant Lane Kiffin, who was a QB for Sweeney will be running his own program within the next three years.
And …
From Sam in Davis, Calif.: You left off Jim Sochor from UC Davis. Although coaching at a DII school, Sochor has produced: Bellotti from Oregon, Chris Petersen at Boise State, Dan Hawkins at Colorado, Gary Patterson at TCU, Paul Hackett formally of USC -- all coached (some played) at UC Davis for Sochor.
Thanks Sam. Sochor should've made the top 10 as well. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and won 18 straight conference championships at Davis.
From Tim in Irvine, Calif.: Lloyd Carr actually let [defensive coordinator Ron] English talk to, egads, a reporter?!? Don't you think that all the Schembechler-era secrecy hurts the program? If he allowed more access to his players, as well as allow NFL scouts on campus, wouldn't that help the program?
Speaking as someone in the media, I'm going to say, it can only help, and all programs should throw open their doors to the media. Feed them big plates of barbecue and get them drunk. Seriously, I think coaches have to stay true to their personalities. Obviously, better access can help programs promote their players and programs and assistant coaches. Some teams care about it. Some don't. A cynic might argue that the more button-up a program is, the tighter the team might play in tough spots, if they're reflecting their coaches' tone. But I don't think that's actually a 100 percent deal.
I talked to a coach at a BCS school a few weeks ago who says it's all a balance. You have to be careful of the distractions, but he likes how good it makes the players and their families feel to know they're getting the attention.
From Trey in Austin, Texas: Don't forget about Chris Simms for QB hype. He was so hyped that even his mostly successful career at Texas was unfairly considered a colossal failure by the media and many Texas fans.
Actually, I did mention him in that entry among the hyped QBs.
From Kristin in San Fran: Did you mean to call Joe Mauer a bust by lumping him in with those other blue chip QBs? If so, I think that's a bit unfair since he went off and played baseball.
Nah, I didn't intend for it to read that way. I'm sure some FSU fans still probably wonder what if Mauer was their QB and not Chris Rix those four seasons.
Random Stuff
• A follow-up in regards to the Marshall spring game/1996 title team reunion/movie shoot: The event drew 17,500, which is amazing -- double what the school was hoping for. My guess is that number might equal the attendance of all of the other Conference USA spring games combined.
Matthew McConaughey and David Strathairn served as honorary coaches. McConaughey worked with Randy Moss and Chad Pennington. Strathairn was on the side with Billy Lyon and John Wade. The game also drew some 200 Herd recruits. "Everyone came to see a spectacle," says coach Mark Snyder, "and it really was a spectacle. It was an awesome deal."
• A bit of positive news out of USC: John David Booty's recovery from back surgery is going very well. I spoke with his family yesterday, and they say that he'll be ready to resume throwing and running in about two weeks.
• Josh Portis, the much-hyped former Florida Gator QB, is adjusting to life at Maryland. The Washington Times has a look at how Portis is coping with life in the Fridge's world:
"Classes are harder, and coach Ralph Friedgen wryly noted yesterday Portis has 'run a few times' for going afoul of team rules he was oblivious to upon his arrival at Maryland. 'There's a lot of things that are very different, but I find in my mind that I have to accept it,' said Portis, a cousin of Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis. 'I'm not used to it. When I first got here, I was missing study hall because no one was telling me anything. I had to learn on my own. There would be days where I would miss breakfast and I'd say 'We had to go to breakfast?'"
• Curious story out of Oklahoma: Freshman center Chad Roark has asked to leave Oklahoma and will transfer to Nebraska, where he will join his older brother Craig.
Roark, who at one time in the recruiting process had committed to FSU, had worked quite a bit with OU's first team this spring while the Sooners battled through some injuries. This is noteworthy because the Sooners will be one of the trendy picks to crack the top five, and their O-line is the biggest question mark. This departure surely won't help. I used the term curious because of the quote from Roark in the Daily Oklahoman Friday:
"I'm not really supposed to discuss it," Roark said Thursday. "Coach Stoops doesn't want me to discuss why I'm leaving. I don't want to say anything bad about the University of Oklahoma.
"I just wasn't happy there, and it wasn't the place for me."
Since he's transferring within the Big 12, Roark must sit out next year and forfeit a year of eligibility, essentially wiping out his redshirt option, meaning he will be a sophomore at Nebraska in 2007.
Bruce Feldman
