I rarely complain about having a high profile coach. Getting Urban Meyer has been one of the best things that has happened to OSU since hiring Woody Hayes. But after reading an article where Chan Gailey complained about Devin Smith's inability to read defenses, I started to think of the downsides of having such a high profile coach. Yes, you can blame Devin Smith for his inabilities to read defenses. Anyone who  watched OSU games before last year's playoff run knew Smith struggled with everything but the deep ball. But, think about about all of the top football teams over the past decade. Think of all of the coaches that won the national championship. Their teams were littered with perennial All-Americans who had trouble translating their success to the pros.

Of Meyer's 2006 National Championship team, there was only one player, Percy Harvin, was nominated to an all pro team, which happened his rookie year in the NFL. On the 2008 team, you add Joe Haden, the Pouncey twins, and Hernandez to the list of successful players, and Jenoris Jenkins (who was kicked off of the team for being PacMan 2.0). But, with many of the offensive skill positions, you have a bunch of key under-performers. Guys who entered the league with a lot of hype but weren't able to produce. And this isn't just a Meyer problem. The Cleveland Browns drafted a running back who was supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread but he didn't pan out. When you look at Saban's teams, you have more underperformers who came in the league with a lot more hype. Here is a simple list: Glen Coffee, Rolando McClain, Kareem Jackson, Javier Areanas, Terrance Cody, Mark Ingram (is finally starting to produce), Mark Barron, Donte Hightower, Courtney Upshaw, Dee Milliner, etc. The list goes on. Many of these players were solid pros in the NFL but never lived up to their draft hype. 

So, what's the problem? I think you have to go back and look at the coaches but not point fingers. Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, Les Miles, Jim Harbaugh,  and all of the top coaches in college produce top college players. They do have incentives to produce top NFL talent, but they make majority of their money by having winning season. They essentially do what they can to produce a winning college football team, not a team full of NFL pro bowlers. To reference the fundamentals of economics, the economy is more profitable when workers specialize. A football team is better when you have players that specialize. With many of these coaches they have players who specialize in one task and that's it. Players are incentivized to be great in one area. For Devin Smith, it was the deep ball. For Trent Richardson, it was running through those wide open holes that your offensive line opened up for you. Richardson didn't even have to worry about being touched for the first 6 or 7 yards because his offensive line cleared out the entire defensive front. 

Now, back to Devin Smith. Any person with eyes and a brain would have known his weaknesses. Before his 3 game stretch last year he was consistently dropping short to intermediate passes and not getting separation on anything but the deep ball. So instead of wasting time and hurting the team by forcing him to do something he's not good at, Meyer correctly made Devin Smith specialize in one area. His professional success isn't Meyer's problem. Smith may not have even been drafted if he didn't specialize in the deep ball. So, like Smith, many players who were coached by these college football rockstars have problems adjusting to the NFL. Their lack of success, yes, is in part to coaches choosing to make them specialize in one or two areas. But, the biggest cause of their lack of success at the next level is pro scouts failing to identify strengths and weaknesses before they draft a player. So, Devin Smith's inability to perform in Chan Gailey's system isn't Urban Meyer's fault. It is Chan Gailey's fault.