Breaking down the underclassmen
We’ve come to the end of the season and the time when your humble correspondent steps aside for the insanity that is college recruiting in the South. The AJC’s expert, Chip Towers, will get you through the process.
But before we go, here is a little exercise I put together this morning, breaking down the underclassmen who have declared for the draft by conference. It will not surprise you that the SEC (15) and the ACC (10) lead the way. Look at this list and tell me the guys you are really going to miss.
I want to thank you all for another wonderful season. We’ve had our ups and downs but that is what makes it fun and interesting. You are the smartest and most passionate college football fans in the world and I appreciate you. Have fun with this….TB
UNDERCLASSMEN WHO HAVE DECLARED FOR THE NFL DRAFT
SEC (15)
Alabama: Marcell Dareus, DE; Julio Jones, WR; Mark Ingram, RB
Arkansas: Ryan Mallett, QB
Auburn: Nick Fairley DT; Cameron Newton, QB; Darvin Adams, WR
Florida: Will Hill, S
Georgia: Justin Houston, DE; A.J. Green, WR
Kentucky: Randall Cobb, WR/KR/QB
LSU: Patrick Peterson, CB; Stevan Ridley, RB
Ole Miss: Jerrell Powe, DT
South Carolina: Tori Gurley, WR
ACC (9)
Clemson: Da’Quan Bowers, DE; Jamie Harper, RB
Georgia Tech: Nick Claytor, OT; Jarrad Tarrant, DB
Maryland: Torrey Smith, WR/KR:
Miami: Brandon Harris, CB
Virginia: Zane Parr, DE
Virginia Tech: Darren Evans, RB; Ryan Williams, RB
BIG TEN (7)
ILLINOIS: Mikel Leshoure, RB; Corey Liuget, DT; Martez Wilson, LB
INDIANA: Tandon Doss, WR
IOWA: Tyler Sash, S
WISCONSIN: John Clay, RB; J.J. Watt, DE
BIG 12 (3)
MISSOURI: Blane Gabbert, QB; Aldon Smith, DE
TEXAS: Aaron Williams, CB
BIG EAST (5)
CONNECTICUT: Jordan Todman, RB
PITTSBURGH: Jon Baldwin, WR; Henry Hynoski, FB; Dion Lewis, RB
WEST VIRGINIA: Robert Sands, S
PAC-10 (7)
ARIZONA STATE: Lawrence Guy, DT
CALIFORNIA: Shane Vereen, RB
OREGON STATE: Jacquizz Rogers, RB
UCLA: Akeem Ayers, LB; Rahim Moore
USC: Jurrell Casey, DT; Tryon Smith, OT
CONFERENCE USA (1)
SOUTHERN MISS: DeAndre Brown, WR.
MID-AMERICAN(1)
TEMPLE: Muhammad Wilkerson, DT
MOUNTAIN WEST (2)
UTAH: Brandon Burton, CB; Sealver Siliga, DT
INDEPENDENT (1)
NOTRE DAME: Kyle Rudolph, TE
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
273 comments Add your comment
Okie From Muskogee
January 17th, 2011
12:00 pm
@CMR isn’t Going Anywhere!!!
I suspect that most fans of other schools are “wishful” that he stays at UGA forever.
Back To Reality
January 17th, 2011
12:01 pm
AweBarn will fall off the map next year and show that they were a 1-man show all along. Not only are they losing their top offensive and defensive players, but they are losing almost the entire OL and will only return 7 of 24 starters.
ND Fan
January 17th, 2011
12:02 pm
ND is in the Big East in everything but football.
3rdN8
January 17th, 2011
12:02 pm
@ Dawg Tired
I didn’t see too many players on the Oregon team that I thought would play on Sundays. That’s not taking anything away from OU, or their season.
SEC Fact Finder
January 17th, 2011
12:06 pm
geauxtiger,
Yeah you are correct, and I think the OL line is probably the area of least concern for the Tiger fans, but after watching the Tigers pull out game after game with late heroics, trick plays if I were a tiger fan I would be hoping the same team that played in the Cotton Bowl shows up for 12 times in 2011.
They looked like world beaters from the 2nd quarter on. The QB battle is where I think we will see what the difference is now that Crowton is gone. Should be fun seeing their Spring Game.
Rocky
January 17th, 2011
12:06 pm
Tony, you have been a pleasure to read for college football. I would LOVE to see ANYONE that calls you Gomer try to be an editor that would be as diplomatic as you. Name Callers are the losers that wouldn’t last a week as an editor because they would get exposed for their pathetic outlook on life. They have blamed parents, teachers, coaches, sports columnist for THEIR short comings in life. Tombstone– LONESOME LOSER, GAVE NOTHING BACK IN LIFE So folks that whip out stupid name calling, it is YOU that 90% of the readers think are idiots and Gomers. SUPPORT TONY, do I hear an Amen to that?
aarh
January 17th, 2011
12:07 pm
DC- It makes sense that AU would havea lot of road games next yr., bc htis yr. they seemed to play just about every big game @ home…except for AL. i probably wouldn’t expect hem to only win 4 or 5 games…probably more like 8 or 9 like you say…I guess. You necer know though. Ther were 8-5 last yr. Nobody had ever even heard of Nick fairley or Cam Newton. Cam sounded like he should be pretty good, but not anything like he turned out to be. The emergence of He & fairleyt took them ot the next level. It all depends on how the guys do that step in to repalce those 2 along w/ the many other Srs. AU’s losing. They definitley have talent no doubt, but so does several other SEC teams, & the past couple of yr.s is a testament that talent doesn’t win alone, but the combination of talent & experience is important as well.
Okie From Muskogee
January 17th, 2011
12:08 pm
@3rdN8
I don’t believe that Oregon had the second best team in CFB this year. What they have is a gimmicky offense that allowed them to dominate a weak conference. That, and a little luck, got them to the BCSCG in a year in which the perennial favorites were all having down years. I expect rules changes to eventually remove the hurry-up gimmick from the Duck O.
3rdN8
January 17th, 2011
12:09 pm
I heard JoePa give an interview back in the eighties. He stated that it was his belief, that recruiting the right players, making the best use of redshirts, and coaching them all up…..he could be in a position to play for a national championship every four of five years.
I think this is still pretty true. Bama couldn’t stay on top this year, and I doubt that AU can next year. Florida came the closest, but they had Tebow for four years.
Next year may be LSU’s turn again…..I wouldn’t bet against it.
3rdN8
January 17th, 2011
12:15 pm
Okie
re: Oregon’s offense….and to some extent AU’s as well.
I think it probably is the wave of the future (unless the NCAA changes some of the substitution rules).
The fast-break offenses are the best way to neutralize the other teams’ defense. Bama had four substitution flags in the Iron Bowl. Two of those came on critical drives. Malzahn was able to negate some of Bama’s defensive strategies, because Smart couldn’t get the right personnel on the field.
Rocky
January 17th, 2011
12:19 pm
Bama–17 seniors + 3 Juniors + 2 non qualifiers so far= 22 which is how many are committed now
Projection left to sign–4-6
Injuries, transfers, etc. will work itself out, Saban has his elephants in a row, after all, hes being doing this for 20+ years. So, don’t blame him for his precise due diligence within the rules. He is PAID to do the best possible job he was hired to do, maybe you should look at your own coach for not figuring it out to be as competitive as you can be, he gets PAID MILLIONS TOO!
ARdawg
January 17th, 2011
12:23 pm
Rocky
It is better to keep your mouth closed and thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt
DC
January 17th, 2011
12:24 pm
aarh, agreed. Im ready for signing day to get here. So we can look at what we got (SEC as a whole) and start to get a grasp on what could be and what might be.
3rdN8, I guess teams need to do what AU did while preparing for the BCS game..ie do plays every 7 seconds…only thing i can think of to offset this offensive onslaught that teams are doing now…
Dawg Tired
January 17th, 2011
12:25 pm
It will certainly be interesting, and maybe painful, to watch how well we compete with one of those western teams from a weak conference in our season opener in Atlanta.
SEC Fact Finder
January 17th, 2011
12:28 pm
3rdN8,
The NCAA has been barraged with complaints to the rules committee from coaches concerning the subustitution rules as they exist now. The NCAA rule committee and the AD’s are looking at several formulas to make the situation more palpable for the defensive coaches. Now we all know the Defensive coaches want a lot more time to get the correct players on the field, but that is not going to happen, the coaches are compliaining about the no huddle guys and then the offense running a player on the field after the defense has set. How will they address it? Who knows.
The other areas that are going to get some fans upset is when the new celebration penalty goes into play and a team gets a touchdown nullified and the ball is placed at the spot of the infraction then 15 yards tacked on top of that. If a kid does that dive into the endzone with no one around it will be marked at the point of the dive and 15 yards added to it.
The other area of contention is the offensive stiff arm to the facemask, helmet to the defensive player, even slapping the defensive players helmet by the ball carrier. This is being addressed with a point of empathise this winter and spring.
We will more likely than not see the defensive coaches get a point or two to help them out but not enough to slow down every play to hurt teams like Oregon and Auburn and their style of play.
producewiz
January 17th, 2011
12:29 pm
easy to see why Florida lousy last year.Will Hill had to declare because why would you want him back anyway? 1 interception agianst Georgia in overtime, that’s it.Bye Will Good luck .u gonna need a lot of it. ! under classman coming out sort of tells you how things went in Gator Land..
Paul N Destin
January 17th, 2011
12:30 pm
You folks trying to keep up with Nick Saban need to give it a break. The limit is 85 and he will have 85 good players each and every year! His 1st class at Bama (done on the fly) was a weak class thus Bama had less Sr’s this year (loss of McClain and Jackon 1st rounders) and we paid for that weakness this year. Nick will have 4 recruting classes on campus come summer (2 #1’s,#4 and this class now #2) so the decked is stacked in favor of the Tide. Bama has 3 1st round Jr’s this year and next year Bama could have as many as 6 1st rounders so talent is all over T-town. Bama is in great shape at QB with AJ and Phi Sims in a real battle to be #1. FSU is the team on the rise folks. Jimbo is doing well.
JB
January 17th, 2011
12:34 pm
Why so many underclassman declare early in the SEC & ACC….The Obvious answer is poverty. Most of these young players ( Mostly black) come from fatherless homes with several brothers and sisters and are looked at as hope. Now, it’s not totally that way, but mostly. I’m sure most of that Oregon team that’s all coming back come from Middle class families. Just My 2 cents.
Tuna
January 17th, 2011
12:35 pm
I will miss Sealver Siliga. Who???
jumbeauxtiger
January 17th, 2011
12:35 pm
SEC Fact Finder,
I agree. We certainly hope we have the kind of play we had in the Cotton Bowl.
While it is true LSU had an open date before the Alabama game, the Tide had a week off before that game as well.
Bama had week off before we played them in 2009 in Tuscaloosa while we played the prior week. Not making excuses. That was one of the most physical games I’ve ever been to.
Dawg Tired
January 17th, 2011
12:36 pm
SEC Fact Finder – Do you agree that the days when defense won championships are officially over? I keep going back and forth on this. Alabama certainly wins partially because they are strong on defense, as does LSU. Certainly neither Auburn nor Oregon were great on D and played for the NC
Obviously you must be decent on D, but it seems the days when D dominates are gone, IMHO.
3rdN8
January 17th, 2011
12:40 pm
Here’s my pre-season top 5 (in no particular order).
Oklahoma, LSU or Alabama (one will eliminate the other), Ohio State (assuming they can get through the first five games unscathed), Florida State, and Boise State.
The big sleeper in the SEC (and elsewhere) is Florida.
jumbeauxtiger
January 17th, 2011
12:44 pm
SEC Fact Finder,
Good post about the defensive substitution issue.
You can bet coaches will be spending the off-season trying to resolve this. The defense eventually catches up to the offense until someone comes up with a new wrinkle (ie wishbone, veer, run ‘n shoot, shotgun, pistol, spread)
jumbeauxtiger
January 17th, 2011
12:46 pm
3rdN8,
I’d have to include Oregon in your top 5. They will start the season 2nd or 3rd in my opinion and if they beat LSU the first game they will get a big confidence boost and alot of national support.
King Gator
January 17th, 2011
12:47 pm
Wil Hill needs to go as he has 3 kids who need the $$ and UF who needs a Safety who doesn’t always take a bad angle and can actually wrap up when making a hit.. on 2nd thought his g/f might want him to wrap up too. Go Gators!
SEC Fact Finder
January 17th, 2011
12:49 pm
Dawg Tired,
I and you have seen this go through cycles. The Offenses change, add wrinkles, gimmicks or whatever one can call it. The defensive coaches slowly adjust and work to get players who will fit a system to stop those new offenses.
If anyone is old enough to remember back when the triple options, wishbones, veer offenses came into being, the first two years the defenses could not stop or had a hard time stopping them. The first thing that happens is defensive coaches started calling each other, had clinics and came up with game plans to stop the “new offenses”. The offensive coaches adjusted and the defensive adjusted some more. It is just so cyclical.
We have noticed that these offenses being run now by many many teams is based upon multiple factors that include tempo, down and distance oddities, and getting matchups that create opportunites.
We have notice over the past 10 years of the average Wide Reciever, flanker become these big tall, guys going up against a DB who is 5′9, 5′10, 5′11″. A distinct advantage for the offense. We slowly are seeing in new recruits the big DB’s and speciality players.
I think it just a new paradigm that changes each season.
3rdN8
January 17th, 2011
12:49 pm
jumbeauxtiger
I left Oregon out, because I think LSU takes it to them in September. If LSU wins, that would mean back-to-back losses against top tier SEC teams. Oregon’s credibility would take a big hit.
jumbeauxtiger
January 17th, 2011
12:50 pm
King,
Will Hill was one of those highly recruited players that just never achieved greatness on the college level.
We have all had those.
jumbeauxtiger
January 17th, 2011
12:52 pm
I hope you are right 3rdN8 but I expect that we will have our hands full with the Ducks.
another viewpoint....
January 17th, 2011
12:55 pm
I would like to see the NFL make it a rule that only College Seniors that have graduated can be drafted.
I’m sure a lot of you disagree, and there are valid points on both sides, but I for one am tired of the dog and pony show these Juniors trot out every year at this time.
99% of them are going to the NFL only for the short term $ so mamas and cousins and brothers and sisters( none of them have live-in daddys) grandmammas, etc…can cash in. They all say that they are doing what’s best for the family so……. to hell with the university family that propped them up for 3 years.
Most of them will not be starters.
Most of them will be broke and out of the league within a few years.
Change the rules now and make them earn what they signed up for.
3rdN8
January 17th, 2011
12:55 pm
How many standout college players are recruited out of high school as an “Athlete”. Bama has signed a few four and five star “athletes” the past several years, and I can’t think of one that has made a big impact.
Maybe Russel Sheppard at LSU.
3rdN8
January 17th, 2011
1:01 pm
jumbeauxtiger
I think OU will have a harder time moving the ball against LSU than they did AU. Miles has the whole month of August to get his team prepared. Tough game for the Ducks.
3rdN8
January 17th, 2011
1:03 pm
another viewpoint….
I look for the opposite to happen. I can’t imagine why some high school senior hasn’t already filed a law suit for restraint of trade. The NBA had to adjust, and I’m pretty sure the NFL will at some point.
ARdawg
January 17th, 2011
1:04 pm
3rdN8
The “stars” used to rate these guys out of high school is severely skewed. All the evidence one needs for this can be found at UGA. Let’s call it what it is. UGA (Richt) has recruited much of the very best talent available. A few hang around UGA for a few years (3) and actually retain that status going into the draft, all having played on mediocre teams. Stafford, Moreno, Green come immediately to mind. Others and too many to mentioned come to UGA and wander off into oblivion.
Bottom line here is they are not getting coached up at UGA. My point is; many 2-3 start players come to school (usually not UGA) get coached up and take off in the NFL draft ahead of many 4-5 stars.
The stars rating is only a snapshot in time and quite often fades by the time they actually play a game based on they’re coaching
Okie From Muskogee
January 17th, 2011
1:08 pm
@another viewpoint….
I’d rather see the NFL take some of these guys straight out of High School. There should be no illiterate “students” playing the college game.
@3rdN8
Wasn’t Javier Arenas recruited as an “athlete”?
root4au
January 17th, 2011
1:09 pm
Aubun reloads in 2012..AU will be the team to beat in the west in 2012. Book it. Tons of young talent on the plains with another top 5 class coming this year.
Okie From Muskogee
January 17th, 2011
1:10 pm
@root4au
I like your enthusiasm. I think that you are delusional, but a good fan should be, I suppose.
3rdN8
January 17th, 2011
1:11 pm
@ ARdawg
Don’t disagree about the “Star” rating in general. Some players make the leap to the college level, and others don’t. Also, some players are not as physically mature coming out of HS as others; and then hit a growth spurt in college (David Robinson is the poster child for this one).
My question was directed at HS football players labled as “Athletes” on the recruiting boards. I haven’t seen many of those players pan out.
DC
January 17th, 2011
1:11 pm
root4au…shhhhh dont start them yelling at us…show some modesty..we have a tough year this year and we are going to get bashed hard…at least I went 14-0 in trash talking with my friends this past year haha
3rdN8
January 17th, 2011
1:13 pm
@ Okie From Muskogee
You may be right re: Arenas. He was a last minute commit in one of Shula’s classes, and I don’t recall how he was classified.
Okie From Muskogee
January 17th, 2011
1:14 pm
@3rdN8
“Athletes” usually play on special teams and trick plays. Probably not many more of them that wash-out as there are wash-outs for other, more specific positions?
check it out
January 17th, 2011
1:16 pm
Tennessee is still waiting on the final ruling from the NCAA concerning Kiffin Gate.
Ole Miss got caught sending letter of interest to Juniors for the juniors to sign.
Auburn meets with NCAA investigators for a “update” on Jan. 26 and 27
LSU reports official allegation to NCAA concerning Auburn and their current recruiting practices.
Jimbo Fisher and FSU has reported allegations against Auburn in the past 45 days to the NCAA and the ACC offices.
just catching everyone up.
check it out
January 17th, 2011
1:21 pm
Has anyone looked at Oklahoma’s 2011 football schedule( incomplete)
They only play at FSU early, and on the road to Oklahoma St late,
of their 10 games scheduled they are so easily in the BCS due to not playing anyone. With the BIG 12 falling apart the road for The Sooners is getting very close to Boise St in previous years.
DC
January 17th, 2011
1:24 pm
“check it out”, where is your source on the Jimbo Fisher FSU allegations? Along with the LSU allegations. Thanks!
PTC DAWG
January 17th, 2011
1:24 pm
As long as the scholarships stay 1 year deals, I’m all for the kids being able to leave early and try to earn a living in the NFL. It’s a two way street.
It’s the oversigning that I think should be addressed.
DC
January 17th, 2011
1:25 pm
if you say tigerdroppings im going to punch my computer..
another viewpoint....
January 17th, 2011
1:28 pm
I have not seen many high school athletes that would be NFL ready without college first.
Does anyone come to mind?
Uncle Jesse
January 17th, 2011
1:34 pm
Isn’t there some way that when the investigation is done and Auburn is found guilty,and has to vacate their wins, that UGA will not be 6-7, but will actually not have a losing season?
Nick
January 17th, 2011
1:34 pm
Was just counting them up, Auburn’s losing three, Alabama’s losing three and the way I see it, Kentucky’s losing three also!
It’s a damn shame frankly. But it’s all about the money.
3rdN8
January 17th, 2011
1:34 pm
another viewpoint….
Rolando McClain is the only player that Bama has had that I would think could have played on Sundays right out of HS. But that may be a stretch. Maybe Julio Jones as well.