The only way OSU could stop Maybin last year.Next Saturday is huge. Not only do the common folk finally get a chance to see the young Buckeyes in action at the Spring Game, but there's also all of the grub and sodas to be had at the 11W Spring Game Social later that night. Oh, and there's the NFL draft, which could see your favorite team welcome a Buckeye to the fold.
Where the former Buckeyes may end up will come next week, but there are some other Big Ten teams and a few of them actually have some players that could hear their name called on Saturday.
In most mock drafts around the internets, the Big Ten should produce 5 first round picks, with 3 of them coming from Columbus. Of course, it's an absolute crap shoot when it comes to mock drafts, but they do provide a source of heated debates during the dreaded off-season.
Potential First Rounders
Aaron Maybin absolutely destroyed the Ohio State O-Line last season, on his way to first team All-Conference and perhaps the first Big Ten player taken in this year's draft. He is a little undersized for a DE, but might be a great fit for a 3-4 scheme.
Maybin has hovered around the top 10 the entire time, with the most popular picks being Green Bay, San Francisco and Buffalo at 9-11. He has a quick burst off the ball and at the age of 21, will continue to develop, but may not make an immediate impact. The tackles last year in the conference were young, his numbers at the combine were not that impressive for his group and he only played 2 seasons at Penn State. For me, this is a risky pick for a player who may not have a defined position yet, but the NFL coaching ego is powerful and potential is always the rage.
Vontae Davis of Illinois shot up the charts after he put up great numbers at the combine, arguably the best of the corner position. He lead all corners with 25 reps on the bench and tied for fourth with a 4.49 in the 40. With Malcolm posting some lower numbers, questions started surrounding him about his future position and Davis quickly became the favorite for the first corner drafted.
Now that most experts have come to their senses, Davis has dropped to the later half of the round, which is better for him. Don't get me wrong, I think he is a solid player and will make an immediate impact, but he shouldn't be drafted ahead of Malcolm based off better combine stats.
The early mocks had Davis going to the Saints at #14, but it looks like he will fall to a team like Minnesota or New England at 22 and 23 respectively, if they pass on him, he won't get past Tennessee or Pittsburgh.
Second and Third Rounders
The second round may be a long one for the other Big Ten schools, but I think their are some hidden gems that will slip in or hang around til the 3rd. Shonn Greene of Iowa ran for over 100 yards in each of his games this year and has a chance to slip into the late second, possibly at Arizona with the 63rd pick. Even though he is 24, there isn't much wear on his body and he would be a nice compliment to an established back. Derrick Williams of Penn State has been mentioned for a potential late 2nd rounder as well, after posting 44 catches for 485 yards and 4 touchdowns in his senior season. He caught 161 balls in his career and showed his versatility by returning kicks and rushing for 250 yards in 2008.
Two linemen, AQ Shipley and Gerald Cadogan of Penn State could also hear their name called on the first day. Shipley, the 2008 Remington Award winner has been the best center in the Big Ten over the last 2 seasons, while Cadogan earned All-Conference honors at the tackle position. For me, Shipley is going to be a steal for who ever drafts him, but don't be surprised to see Cadogan go first due to his position.
Luckily for Ohio State's offensive line, they didn't have to face Mitch King of Iowa over the last couple of seasons. Most drafts have him projected in the third round, but this kid is going to be a stud. Norm Parker has churned out some solid NFL D-Linemen over the last 6-7 years, including Jared Devries and Aaron Kampman. The B10 defensive lineman of the year will work his tail off to become better and as a Bears fan, I would love to see them snag him in the 3rd round, but something tells me he won't last that long.
Another hidden gem could be Travis Beckum of Wisconsin, a forgotten man with all of his injuries this past year. After posting back to back 900+ yard seasons on 136 catches, he slipped to just 23 catches for 264 yards and zero touchdowns. Most mock drafts have him going towards the end of the 3rd round.
Javon Ringer could slip into the first round, but I think he is a bit under sized. What do you think? Is there anyone else that could get a first day phone call? I know one thing, it is going to be interesting to see if Ohio State can have more players drafted on Saturday than the rest of the conference.
Comments
Ringer will go in the 3rd or 4th b/c teams will be afraid of the 20+ carries he got each game for 2.5 years. I don't like Maybin that much but he can fit the 3-4 rush LB. The thing about that position is the teams that run it really well, Pittsburgh (PUKE), find their guys in the later rounds and don't use high picks on the rush LB. If Maybin does go in the top 15 then that will let someone slide down and maybe be in the 2nd round when they shouldn't.
I think Shonn Greene would be a good mid-draft value pick for someone like the Browns. Either him or LeSean McCoy. Obviously, the Brownies have more pressing needs right now than running back, Mangenius and crew may have to cross their fingers and hope JLew has something left in the tank for 2009.
Off topic, but why do I have a feeling Noopy Crater is going to end up at Florida International, playing for Zeke????
Agreed on Beckum. He could be a sleeper.
Off topic sort of again. With the 2009 Buckeyes so young, unless a d-lineman becomes a national stud, tOSU probably won't have a first rounder in 2010 for the first time in a while...
I agree 100%. I struggled (without doing much research) to remember a great pass rusher who was taken in the top 10 in recent years. All 3 DE taken in the top 10 last year were disappointments (C.Long, The Gun Show and D. Harvey). Mario Williams could be thrown in there, but he took a few years to develop. I'm just glad the Bears won't be suckered into taking him.
If there is a potential 1st rounder on this team, I would put my money on Kurt Coleman and the stellar season he is about to have.
Read in the dispatch or somewhere last night that Coleman was barking at players on first team D to get into position, and really taking that leadership role. All I can say is, THANK YOU!!!!!! Someone needed to take the horns and I see nobody better out there....
wouldnt he have to sit out another year?
Amen
Derrick Williams was the #1 overall recruit when he came out of high school, yet he never even had 550 yards receiving in a single season at PSU. What a bust. I can't believe he's even on the radar screen of any NFL teams.
To be fair, he wasn't a bust. They had 3 great receivers in his class that all saw playing time right away. They did the receiver-by-committee thing....not saying he's gonna be much of a bright spot in the pro's, but thats why his lack of yardage was there
the nfl has a lot of specialists. maybe they see him as a punt returner with upside of maybe being a 3rd or 4th reciever.
Agree. He def. wont be a #1 guy, but Hester made his way up doing kick returns and made slot or 4th receiver in 4-wide formations
Michigan just offered Paulus a scholarship.
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/big...
[...] -Some Big Ten players who could get drafted early [...]
So the article said he didn't even work out and DickRod offered him a scholarship? How desperate have things become in Ann Arbor where they are offering scholarships to kids that haven't played football in four years?
Desperation.....it is a putrid smell
Dan Patrick actually broke that story with his live interview with Paulus this morning. The WWL is shady beyond belief...
....... wow! I am blown away that the so-called "spread offense genius" cannot get and does not have a QB who can run his special brand of spread. Why?? If he is truly a great coach wouldn't he have a great QB on his roster from his first recruiting class?? Did he swing and miss on a couple of guys? Did the good ones tell him to F off and he settled for mediocre players to fill the roster?? Is this guy being pursued to push younger players due to a lack of senior QB's?? Do they seriously think a guy who has not played football at ANY level in 5 years is going to play well at this level?? DickRod is beginning to make Cheeseburger Charlie look like the genius that he thinks he is. If this is level of depseration DickRod has now, I reitierate that he won't see year 4.
like blood in the water....
^^^this dude is reading my mind. GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!
2 more years til the "system QB" excuse runs out in ann arbor.
love the tater tot logo.... DickRod is a fraud--the world will find that out soon and when he is fired that will set the program even further back for Les Miles to fix.
.... and Tressel getting the commitment from Pryor instead of DickRod now looks like it may be a death blow!
ha thanks, but they are def HATER tots. I eat a steady diet of them... haha
dickrod get's fired and then goes on to FIU to created the worst overall coaching staff in college sports.
zeke + dickrod = BFF for-ev-er
but wasn't hester a corner in college? and a good one at that, right?
i could see williams filling a kick return roll for a coupel seasons, and if he does well coudl stick aroudn the league as a specialist. him filling a 4th WR spot is kin dof a stretchat this point i think
i think that the snake oil salesman knew that if he didn't get pryor it would do siginificant damage to his chanes coaching scUM. i'm sure he thought about slitting his wrists in the bathrub when pryor made the obvious, and educated choice that is tOSU.
agreed
judging by his history i'd said greene is a better fit for the bungles.
Your reasoning isn't convincing--even in the receiver-by-committee approach, Williams (485 receiving yards) was greatly overshadowed by both Butler (810 receiving yards) and Norwood (637 receiving yards). That shouldn't happen to a #1 overall high school recruit. Unless, of course, said recruit is a bust.
Are you seriously comparing Williams' returning capabilities to Hester's? Wow, you must watch a lot of football.
FIU...... that is awesome... Dick Rod and Thomas-- great pair of losers!
I think Williams will find a spot somewhere, because he can return kicks, catch, run and probably develop into a gunner on punt coverage. Guys like him are valuable in the right situation, but a team that thinks he can be a #2 receiver might be in for a bad draft grade.
Haha you all are morons. This is nothing but a win win situation here. They have an extra scholarship sitting around being unused. It adds depth to a position where two freshman and Nick Sheridan sit. If he ends up being good then use him. If he is bad then he sits on the sidelines. The kid is a flat out competitor and can only bring positives to the program. He was the gatorade high school player of the year in high-school and has athleticism. No one expects him to be a starter. More of an insurance policy so Nick Sheridan doesn't touch another piece of grass inside the white lines. Hell the guy interviewed with the Packers. You actually think the Packers would take time out of their day to talk to a nobody? Hahah keep dreaming up reasons to hate Rich Rod. Your lives are pathetically fueled by a hatred and rivalry that your feeble minds have no control over. Haha go ahead call me a dueche bag faggot fucker. I love those replies
That's all fascinating, really, but can you please explain to us feeble-minded simple folk what RichRod's fascination with bulimic quarterbacks is?
You patrol this site more than buckeye fans, and WE are pathetic? I think you just got used to the feeling of winning, spending so much time on tOSU sites, that now your hooked and can't crawl back to MGOBlog, no matter how witty that hippy may be......
Just here cause you all make it so easy to rag on you folks. I always recieve nothing more than an elementary school response along the lines of: Dick Rod sucks, you are a faggot, how does it feel to be a loser, and go crawl back to your own site. Plus, at Mgoblog you have to login and deal with all that garbage. Here just enter any name and respond, and I just know more OSU fans and have become accustomed to talking to them over the scUM fans. Did I do that right? Using scUM to talk about the team up north?
that would be it......in the meantime, the rest of us, will be hoping that all the bad things that happen in life, happen to you, and only to you.....hate, hate, hate..lol
Williams never had a QB.
Thats why the two QB's that fit his system told him to go fuck off!
The writing's on the wall.
Nobody gives you an intelligent response because all the counterpoints you try to make are idiotic and pointless. You may be the only person in Michigan and Ohio that thinks signing Paulus is a great idea. Sure if you have an extra scholly, why not use it? But the real issue is why the true elite spread-type Qb's told RR to go fuck himself. So we really dont give a fuck if there is some irrelevant sense to be made of signing this cocksmoker, you just ignore the real issues surrounding your pathetic football program and try to get a rise out of fans whose team is living in the real world. Thats not worthy of a response.
Now go crawl back under your rock ---- fucker.
I think Gibson could also grow into a first-rounder depending on the season he has.
Language my good man!
I can't help but smile wide whenever some michigan fan comes to post on this website knowing that we absolutely own them and no matter what they say publicly ("actually MSU is more of a rival" Right.) it eats at them day and night. The worst part isn't that we have kicked their teeth in on a consistent basis, but that they might not have an end in sight with the juco program Rodriguez is assembling in Ann Arbor. So worry not my fellow Buckeyes for 23 South shall be renamed the new Trail of Tears.
Amen....
As fun as it is to laugh at them, I think this is a low downside move, although it does seem a bit nuts to offer a guy a scholarship without any kind of workout or film that isn't 5+ years old.
DRod experienced first hand what life was like with no backup qp options (or starting options, for that matter) last year, and this provides higher quality depth than they'd otherwise have, especially with Calista looking like the presumed starter. Some 240 lb linebreaker is going to break his ass in two.
The only downside is one of their kids losing the practice snaps that he would take in his crash course learning the offense.
What I don't understand is why Paulus would somehow think this was a good stepping stone to the NFL? DRod's spread is just not NFL-friendly as far as QBs. (See: Pat White's shot put throws)
I'm guessing the Packers didn't have him run a bunch of read-option when he went up there to work out.
If Paulus' truly wanted to prep for a possible NFL career, he'd be much better served in a pro-style offense, even if it's at a lower level.
If you can ball, the NFL will find you in faraway places (McNair, Flacco, Warner, host of others).
Apologies for the harsh language.
Maybe Rita agreed to perform oral relations on him.
R rated version.
Halloween 2008 at the 'I run the O' household...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/g...
it is a no downside move if they have an extra scholly open...
but it is pretty clearly worthy of derision - no matter how much Kool Aid Man thinks he has schooled everyone.
from this post its clear several things are true about you:
1. you are lazy ("Plus, at Mgoblog you have to login and deal with all that garbage")
2. you are condescending ("Did I do that right?")
3. you fear people you think are smarter than you ("Just here cause you all make it so easy to rag on you folks.")
i am sure your mother loves you and all, but you are kind of pathetic.
I just saw on ESPN that Pryor had a sore arm.
Maybe opening practice was a bad idea.
Don't know if I'm just blazed or what, but I just laughed for a good 5 minutes at that.....spot on
Again, not convincing. Butler and Norwood had the same QB throwing to them, and they vastly outperformed Williams.
DeMarcus Ware and Shawn Merriman.
Todd McShayne just said on ESPN that there's a huge gap between Malcolm Jenkins and any other DB in the draft. Music to my ears.
Yeah they are all pretty high on Beanie as a pro, too.
McShay isn't high on Beanie. McShay is a Mc-....well poop. I was gonna drop the f-bomb there. But anyway. He's a jobber and always tries to blast the Buckeye players in the draft. He mostly does it to try and create a different brand than Kiper, who is normally high on Buckeye players (but this year, not so much).