Bradford a clear No. 1 in 2010
OU’s Sam Bradford would have jostled with Matthew Stafford and Mark Sanchez for quarterback supremacy in the 2009 NFL Draft, had Slingin’ Sammy decided to go pro this year.
You never know, but it certainly appears likely Bradford will be atop all QB draft boards in 2010, and here’s what’s wild. Most of the other top candidates are very familiar to Sooner fans.
I scanned a few 2010 prospect lists, and while the guys who make up those lists have no idea how quarterbacks rank right now, much less a year from now, they at least identify the guys who will be on radars.
Bradford is No. 1, of course, but here are some of the guys listed right behind Bradford: Texas’ Colt McCoy; Ole Miss’ Jevan Snead, who transferred from Texas after McCoy won the QB job; Florida’s Tim Tebow; Notre Dame’s Jimmy Clausen; and OSU’s Zac Robinson. All are in the top eight of quarterbacks listed on the draft lists I found.
The only possibly high picks listed from off the Oklahoma radar are a couple of Mid-American Conference quarterbacks: Central Michigan’s Dan LeFevour and Western Michigan’s Tim Hiller. The success of Ben Roethlisberger (Miami-Ohio) will give those MAC QBs a close look, and if you’re making me bet, I would say those are the only two who could keep Bradford from being the first quarterback taken.
A variable in all this is the new wildcat trend in the NFL, in which a few plays a game teams run shotgun by snapping the ball to a tailback. The Dolphins, particularly, embraced the concept and on Saturday picked West Virginia’s Pat White, certainly a non-traditional NFL quarterback prospect, in the second round.
If teams want to use more and more wildcat, why not snap the ball to a guy who can run AND throw, like Tebow or Robinson or Illinois’ Juice Williams?
Anyway, down the list of quarterbacks, either near the bottom of the top 10 or below it, are even more quarterbacks of local interest. Florida Atlantic’s Rusty Smith, who plays, of course, for Howard Schnellenberger. BYU’s Max Hall, who has an early-September duel with Bradford. Cincinnati’s Tony Pike, who played against OU last September and helped lead Cincy to the Orange Bowl.
Other familiar names deeper on the list include s on the list are Southern Cal’s Mitch Mustain, who transferred from Arkansas; Kansas’ Todd Reesing; Washington’s Jake Locker, who quarterbacked against OU last September; and Jacksonville State’s Ryan Perrilloux, who transferred from LSU after Les Miles pilfered him away from Texas in a spirited recruiting battle.
Also on the lists are Nevada’s Colin Kaepernick, West Virginia’s Jarrett Brown, Houston’s Case Keenum, UAB’s Joe Webb, Bowling Green’s Tyler Sheehan, Minnesota’s Adam Weber, Penn State’s Daryll Clark, Eastern Michigan’s Andy Schmitt, Hawaii’s Greg Alexander, Iowa’s Ricky Stanzi, Delaware’s Pat Devlin, Eastern Washington’s Matt Nichols, Wake Forest’s Riley Skinner, San Jose State’s Kyle Reed, South Florida’s Matt Groethe and Tennessee’s Jonathan Crompton.
Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel.
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Mr. Tramel,
Why is it you spell your name the way you do. It seems odd, have you ever thought about adding another M, or even an L.
Also, you should quit this two bit business of writing. Who even does this anymore? You could start up your own radio station and call it the Sports Mamal, or even better, the Sports Mamal. Then you could save all of those precious hours spent arguing with Jim and put them to good use, An 8 hour Tramel the Mamel show where you talk about sports.
Let me know if you need any more ideas. I’m “ful” of them.