Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Sharing and its impact on draft status

I was thinking about Chris Wells and Antonio Pittman, and the whole issue of who'd start and when and who was better and all that jibber-jabber that we kill time with until the season actually starts, when something occurred to me: Cadillac Williams, Ronnie Brown, Reggie Bush, and LenDale White were collectively one of the best things to happen to the powerhouse schools in recruiting in years.

In years past, how often have two big-time backs split time in the same backfield? Eddie George didn't, Maurice Clarett wouldn't have if he was healthy. Ron Dayne, Ricky Williams, and just about every other great college running back of the past decade or so that comes to mind had the backfield to himself. Now, in two straight drafts, we'll have two running backs from the same school drafted in the first round (would have been "in the top 10" before White embarked on his draft sabotage quest).

Think about what this says to a high school recruit. In the past, a Chris Wells might have looked at Pittman's sophmore season and said "I'm at least going to split time for my first couple years there. I'm going elsewhere, where I can start immediately." Now a running back recruit can see an underclassman have a big season at his school of choice and still say "even if I split time, it doesn't have to hurt my draft stock." A prospect can choose on the basis of scheme, coach, and school, without having to worry much about the depth chart.

The end result? I wouldn't be surprised if we see more LenDale Whites and Reggie Ronnie [Thanks to CFR for the catch] Browns, and less DeAngelo Williamses. Bad for the second-tier schools, but good for us on the top.

2 comments:

O-FACE said...

Good point. Nebraska been doing that for years and most recently Minnesota. I think Pittman should start because he's a productive upperclassman and he had a hell of a season last year.

Sleeper Pick---Eric Haw, I think that guy is gone have a super season......

Sean said...

I really hope Haw gets it going. The guy looked to be real good coming out of high school, then kinda got himself in the doghouse. But the guy won two Heismans for me on NCAA 2007 (or was it 2006?), so he's alright in my book.