The SEC sent out a release Thursday morning touting that it has 259 of its former players on the 2008 National Football League opening weekend active rosters, leading all NCAA conferences.
"The SEC had five of the top 12 schools on NFL opening day rosters.
Georgia was the SEC's leading squad and was third overall with 36 of its former players listed on NFL rosters, followed by LSU with 35, Tennessee at 34, Florida with 30 and Auburn with 27. Miami (Fla.) led all schools with 44 former players on NFL rosters, followed by Florida State with 37.
"Following the SEC, the ACC had 254 of its players on active rosters, followed by the Big Ten with 227, Pac-10 with 178, Big 12 with 170 and the Big East with 87."
My three cents: Obviously the big surprise is that the ACC is so close to the SEC and so far in front of everyone else. A big reason for that is the power of Miami and FSU. Of course, both programs have hit dips in the past few years and so this number is likely to backslide a bit. In my mind the biggest reason why that talent hasn't led to more quality play is because the league as a whole has failed to produce many quality QBs.
I was trading emails with a coaching buddy who used to work at an ACC school and he ticked off some big droughts at league schools in regards to their last very good QB:
"Virginia [since Matt Schaub]; NC State [since Phillip Rivers]; UNC [since, uh, um?]; Georgia Tech [since Joe Hamilton/George Godsey]; and hell, throw Miami and FSU in there since Chris Weinke and Ken Dorsey."
My question to him, was that due to poor evaluations in recruiting or poor coaching or just a lot of bad luck? He didn't want to go too far into that because he didn't have first-hand knowledge across the board, but did say the big-time guy his school had just couldn't handle the position. The evaluating part is the really curious thing here because it's not like the ACC hasn't been getting highly regard QB recruits.
Excluding QBs signed in the last few years there's still a bunch of guys who would have to be cast as underachievers given that Miami's Brock Berlin, Kyle Wright and Kirby Freeman; FSU's Chris Rix, Drew Weatherford and Xavier Lee, NC State's Marcus Stone; Virginia's Anthony Martinez and Kevin McCabe and Va. Tech's Marcus Vick, Sean Glennon and Ike Whitaker all could be labeled as blue-chip QB recruits.
The irony in all of this is the most successful QB the league has produced in a while, BC's Matt Ryan arrived with very little fanfare and one of the better QBs in the country, Wake's Riley Skinner only got to the ACC because his high school coach really sold Jim Grobe that the kid has some special qualities and was a winner, but Skinner was one of the last kids in the Deacs' recruiting class.
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•OSU-USC item du jour: After explaining the things that Todd Boeckman does well for Ohio State, Trojan safety Kevin Ellison was also asked about Terrelle Pryor. "He's alright." That's it? Yeah, he's alright.
There wasn't much more. Then, when I'd asked if Ellison, USC's resident film junkie, perhaps had studied footage of Pryor's exploits in last year's US Army All-American Game, I got the same "Are you outta your mind?!?' look my mom gave me when I was in junior high after I'd asked her opinion of me possibly being a race car driver.
•Security for high-profile college players is an issue for a bunch of players, not just Tim Tebow, writes Jeremy Fowler:
Bill McGillis, the senior associate director of athletics for USF, said there's only so much a school can do to assure safety for athletes. The Bulls already have two police escorts to and from games. USF officials were hearing that Matt Grothe had posted his cell phone online in an effort to sell his truck, McGillis said. A Florida Highway Patrol officer escorted the Grothe family to and from Saturday's game in Bright House Networks Stadium.
•Sly Croom is a smart guy. And smart enough to know how to deal with Robert Dunn, Auburn's dangerous punt returnman:
"It's real simple: Don't kick the ball to the guy, you know?" Croom told the Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger. "The guy's dangerous. I make no secret about it -- we don't intend for him to touch the football."
•Howard Schnellenberger sure hasn't built a timid program at FAU. A week after calling out Texas and then getting pounded 52-10, the Owls are at it again. This time, they have called out Michigan State.
"We will score a lot against them, trust me," FAU kick returner Jeff Blanchard told the Sun-Sentinel.
On the season Blanchard has rushed for two yards on two carries while also returning seven kicks for 134 yards.
•Miami may not generate a ton of sellouts, but the Canes sure do draw TV
viewers: UM's game at Florida last Saturday was the third most watched regular-season college game in ESPN history. The game drew a 5.0 rating and had 6,954,000 household impressions. The Canes have now been involved in the three most watched regular-season college football games to air on ESPN. No. 1 was the 2006 UM-Florida State game (9,120,000
households) and No. 2 was the 1994 UM-FSU game (7,667,000 households).
•Speaking of that game, Warren Sapp, on a Showtime conference call Tuesday for Inside the NFL, called UF coach Urban Meyer ''a classless dirtbag'' for kicking a field goal late in Florida's 26-3 win against UM. Somewhere I suspect Notre Dame fans are going "YEAH! ... Wait, Warren Sapp's calling someone classless?!?"
•P.J. Hill's two fumbles don't have the Badgers worried, according to the Journal-Sentinel.
•A weekly phone call between Michael Robinson and Darryl Clark only strengthens the connection between the two Penn State products, writes Sam Ross Jr.
Clark credits Robinson with helping him learn how to watch game tape productively and counseling him on how to handle the emotional ups and downs of playing quarterback. Robinson also sent a text message to Clark after the Oregon State game regarding one of Clark's runs. According to Clark, it read: "Dog, you've got to score on that quarterback sweep. If it was me, I would have scored." Clark's reaction? "I thought it was hilarious."
•There will be a bunch of celebs in town for the Ohio State-USC game.
Among them: Denzel Washington and Jamie Foxx. A source inside the USC program says they've been inundated with calls requesting tickets for famous people although the tricky part is when it's not actually for the celeb but for the celeb's brother or buddy.
•FSU DT Budd Thacker is hoping to get his four-game suspension linked to the academic scandal reduced, according to Steve Ellis:
The junior received a four-game suspension for academic misconduct, but he appealed to the NCAA to have the Miami game he missed last season count toward the suspension. The Music City Bowl game already counted as one of the games, and counting the Miami game would mean Thacker would miss just two games this season.
Bruce Feldman
