The book is barely closed on the 2012 NFL Draft, but it's never too early to start thinking ahead. Information is already being processed for next April's event, and it looks as though the early portion of the draft will be well represented by the senior class, with a number of versatile, complete linebackers available in the first round. So as we begin preparation for the 2013 NFL Draft, here's a list of 32 prospects expected to impact the early selections.
The 2012 NFL Draft illustrated teams' focus on the passing game, with quarterbacks, cornerbacks and pass rushers flying off the board. Teams can now afford to be much bolder at quarterback thanks to the rookie salary slotting system, allowing them to take guys higher than graded and to give up on former first-rounders quicker than before. Next year's class doesn't have an Andrew Luck in it, so predicting the top QB picks will be tougher, but teams will always find players to fit that need.
The final phase of scouting for 2012 begins this week with the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. Now that the season and all of the following All Star games are complete, it's time to revisit and reshuffle the big board. Here are the top 50 players on SI.com's big board as we get ready for a busy week ahead (* denotes underclassman).
The first day of NFL free agency -- March 13 -- can't come soon enough for Matt Flynn. The soon-to-be ex-Green Bay Packer backup is expected to be the league's most in-demand free-agent quarterback --once Drew Brees is signed or franchised by the Saints and outside of Peyton Manning being healthy and released by the Colts.
A year ago this time, with the SEC coming off its fifth straight national championship, my colleague Andy Staples compiled some interesting data that confirmed one of the primary reasons behind the league's recent dominance: The wealth of elite defensive prospects in its backyard. Andy noted that a staggering 43 percent of NFL defensive linemen hailed from a cluster of 10 Southeastern states representing just 22 percent of the general population.
It was one of those wonderfully surreal scenes we seldom see in college football. Two years ago, standing on the field of the Rose Bowl and watching Alabama celebrate its 13th national championship -- with the band blaring and confetti falling from the clear California sky -- I marveled at the moment.
Like most of you who live and breathe college football, I woke up Tuesday morning feeling sleep-deprived and a little bit depressed. As I wrote Monday night, Alabama's title-game performance was incredibly impressive, but the end-result made for an utterly unsatisfying season. Meanwhile, TV ratings were down for four of the five BCS bowls. Attendance was down across the board. And worst of all, after covering eight quarters and an overtime of Alabama-LSU field-goals, I was stuck in a crowded Superdome tunnel waiting to get on to the field when Trent Richardson finally scored a touchdown.
Now that Alabama and LSU have officially put an end to the college football season, all attention will start turning toward the prospects who are leaving school behind for a chance to play in the NFL and how the draft's first round might go.
updated: Tue Jan 10 2012 01:23:00
Player whose girlfriend was ripped from his arms and killed during Tuscaloosa tornado, takes the field in BCS Championship.
Alabama exacted revenge and clinched the Bowl Championship Series title on Monday night, besting Louisiana State University 21-0.
No. 2 Alabama clobbered No. 1 Louisiana State University Monday night, winning college football's Bowl Championship Series 21-0.
The film study is about to begin. The instructor, an SEC assistant coach with a graduate degree in Alabama and LSU football, is sitting at a desk in the back of a dark, windowless room in his school's football offices, his eyes locked onto a projection screen that stretches from floor to ceiling. Holding a laser pointer in one hand and a remote control in the other, he pushes the play button and suddenly it appears: the coach's spliced video from the LSU-Alabama game on Nov. 5, a matchup that will be reprised on Monday night at the Superdome in New Orleans in the BCS national title game.
NEW ORLEANS -- At first, trainers told LSU offensive guard Josh Dworaczyk that he might have only damaged his medial collateral ligament. Dworaczyk knew better. He had felt the telltale pop when a defensive end rolled into his knee during an inside run drill in preseason camp in August. "Something's wrong," the three-year starter said. "Something's off."
NEW ORLEANS -- For a kicker, Cade Foster was an unusually popular interview subject at Friday's BCS National Championship Game media day. Ironically, it's because of a night he could not have been less popular in the state of Alabama, back on Nov. 5, when Foster and teammate Jeremy Shelly combined to miss four field goals -- including Foster's 52-yard attempt in overtime -- in a 9-6 loss to No. 1 LSU.
Brent Musburger continues to get high-profile gigs at an age when most of his contemporaries have long since ridden off into the sports broadcasting sunset. At 72, in the middle of his sixth American act (take that, F. Scott Fitzgerald), Musburger will call top-ranked LSU against No. 2 Alabama in the BCS National Championship Game on Monday night (ESPN, 8:30 p.m. ET). As he enters his fifth decade on the air, Musburger remains a polarizing figure, revered by supporters and jeered by others. But he has never shunned questions about his work or style. SI.com caught up with him this week:
When Monday night finally arrives -- assuming it ever does -- 44 interminable days will have elapsed since Alabama last played a football game. Which begs the question: Has there ever been a more prickly period for fans of a team about to play for the BCS national championship?
On my media credential for this year's Sugar Bowl are the words "Preserving The Past ... Ensuring The Future." That sounds like a presidential campaign slogan for a candidate who has not studied any of the issues. I assume bowl reps also considered "The Sugar Bowl: Keeping America Strong And Safe." Hey, once you're swimming in empty promises, you might as well wade over to the deep end.
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- In his corner on the far right side of the Stanford sideline, kicker Jordan Williamson ran through the routine at least a half-dozen times in the moments before he took the field.
Ten bowl games have been played since the last Mailbag, but there's only one I regret not commenting on until now: The Boise State-Arizona State Las Vegas Bowl.
College football fans come in all shapes and sizes. This Christmas season, I've found a few football fanatics who reside fairly close to the North Pole.
College football has gone from the silly season before BCS Selection Sunday to the ridiculous season in the aftermath.
In the 13 years of the BCS, there have been only five occasions when we were reasonably certain the correct two teams played in the championship game. This isn't shaping up to be the sixth.
It's the oldest rule of college football (beside downs and distance and all that stuff). Whenever you look at a schedule of the coming week's games and say: "Eh" -- it pretty much guarantees the wildest weekend imaginable.
Two weeks ago, with the Game of the Century tied at 6-6 and the clock ticking down in regulation, I found myself standing next to Urban Meyer on the Alabama sideline. Meyer, who won national championships at Florida, was shaking his head as he pointed toward the field.
PALO ALTO, Calif. -- As Oregon players ran to a corner of Stanford Stadium and celebrated with their traveling horde of fans, Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck -- the presumptive Heisman favorite and No. 1 draft pick -- trudged slowly to the tunnel, helmet hung halfway down his head.
The latest version of the "Game of the Century," this time between LSU and Alabama, disappointed most football fans. But NFL scouts closely inspected the almost two dozen players with high NFL potential in the contest. They also saw several lesser-known prospects around the country, many who project as later-round choices, perform at the NFL level this weekend.
Ladies and gentlemen -- they're back. I present to you this season's first edition the Internet's most accurate bowl projections 10 years running.
Back in 2005, when he stopped studying third down tendencies long enough to work on a motivational self-help book, Nick Saban kept hammering on one phrase.
The sun was slowly sinking behind Tiger Stadium, and inside Les Miles' career at LSU was firmly on life support. On a glorious day early last November, time had seemingly stood still and the only sound was silence.
LSU and Alabama have topped the last five AP polls as the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the nation. On Saturday night, they get to duke it out in the first No. 1 vs. No. 2 regular-season matchup in five seasons in college football's consensus Game of the Year. The two teams are eerily similar across the board, from stifling defenses to run-first offenses to week-after-week blowouts, and they'll finally share a field with the nation watching. CBS had to tweak its contract with the SEC to move the game to prime time, and 600 credentialed media are expected to be in attendance (up from Alabama's normal contingent of 350). Tickets in 101,821-seat Bryant-Denny Stadium are in the $500-600 range online and Alabama security is expecting an additional 40,000-50,000 fans to show up in Tuscaloosa without tickets. How big is this one? The Nick-Saban-used-to-coach-at-LSU storyline is barely a blip on the radar.
Last Saturday I had the pleasure of covering my first game at Stanford Stadium. It was, without question, a vastly different scene from my usual Saturday travels. Caddy corner from Town and Country Village, where patrons can brunch on organic buckwheat pancakes and tofu scrambles at award-winning restaurants, the stadium sits shiny and clean, rebuilt from scratch in 2005. Tailgating fans unfolded their picnic tables and sipped wine from cups under the shade of the tall picturesque trees that cloak the surrounding parking lots. The Stanford band, befitting its quirky reputation, included members dressed as Darth Vader, R2-D2 and Jabba the Hutt.
In the Deep South, when it comes to college football this season, there is only one date that matters. You say it and everyone knows the meaning. Doesn't matter whether you are in Bayou La Batre, Ala., or Baton Rouge, La.
Monday, Nick Saban voiced his displeasure at Alabama's local press corps for daring to discuss topics beyond his team's upcoming game against Tennessee.
College football fans didn't need Sunday night's BCS standings announcement to tell them how the national title race is taking shape. What they really need is something interesting to happen on the field.
No. 6 Oklahoma State 38, No. 22 Texas 26: The Cowboys proved exactly what we thought heading into Saturday. They are better than Texas, but they aren't better than Texas the way Oklahoma is better than Texas. That's how life is going to be for the Cowboys from this point forward. They'll be compared to Oklahoma until they lose or until the Sooners come to Stillwater for Bedlam on Dec. 3.
Every year, people start freaking out about the possibility of some end-of-season BCS nightmare pretty much as soon as the games begin. My response is usually the same: Get back to me in early November.
In a week that saw college football's top teams affirm their national rankings, including LSU's win over Florida and Oklahoma's defeat of Texas, several defensive prospects took center stage. The eclectic mix ranged from potential first-round prospects to less known names. But some skill position players got in the mix, too, and a big-name quarterback is mulling whether to enter the draft this year.
After four weeks of humiliation and disgrace, things return to normal this week for the vaunted Big Ten Conference. Which means -- for now -- the league can only be embarrassed by beating itself.
Apparently "four" is the magic number when it comes to how many games are played before people start getting worked up about the polls. In what I've come to expect will be a yearlong recurrence, I received a bunch of e-mails this week about various' teams current position.
• No. 1 Oklahoma 38, Missouri 28: Nine minutes into the ballgame, it felt like déjà vu.
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Should LSU fulfill its vast potential and end its season with coach Les Miles holding a crystal football aloft in New Orleans, perhaps Miles should mail Chip Kelly a championship ring. Why would Oregon's coach deserve digit hardware? Because Kelly's offense -- or rather the threat posed by his offense -- helped turn LSU's defense into the relentless drive-killing machine that turned out the lights Thursday in Starkvegas.
Despite the absence of starting quarterback Jordan Jefferson, LSU defeated Oregon 40-27 in its opener in Dallas last Saturday. But a criminal investigation in Baton Rouge may determine whether LSU will be able to maintain its No. 2 ranking. After an off-campus brawl at a bar appropriately named "Shady's" on Aug. 19 that left one man with three fractured vertebrae, Jefferson and teammate Joshua Johns were charged with second-degree felony battery and suspended indefinitely (both have pleaded non-guilty).
ARLINGTON, Texas -- LSU's equipment truck sat parked in the vast field-level tunnel of Cowboys Stadium on Saturday night. Approaching from behind, one sees only the inscribed words made famous by the Tigers' eccentric coach: "Have a great day!"
BATON ROUGE, La. -- The thread was titled "Hey Lee Lovers," and the first post captured the sentiments of a healthy chunk of the LSU fan base, circa November 2009. A night earlier, some LSU fans had lustily booed the Tigers' offense -- specifically, quarterback Jarrett Lee -- during a thoroughly uninspiring 24-16 win against Louisiana Tech. The next day, on popular fan site TigerDroppings.com, a fan who calls himself TigerTaterTots took Lee's supporters to task.
We begin this week's Mailbag with a programming note. As you may be aware, the 2011 season kicks off NEXT WEEK. You can expect three regularly scheduled pieces from me each week: College Football Overtime on Mondays, the Mailbag on Wednesdays and Weekend Pickoff on Fridays in addition to other assorted columns and features. Andy Staples will write his weekly Power Rankings on Tuesdays in addition to columns, features and restaurant reviews. And I'd strongly recommend getting acquainted with the newest addition to our team. Holly Anderson, formerly of Every Day Should be Saturday, brings her unique and hilarious insights to SI.com's new Campus Union blog, where she'll be opining multiple times a day.
Can you feel it? The season's so close. Everybody's practicing. The first official preseason poll is out. Of all the questions one could ask about the 2011 season, why not start at the top?
It's 2011, and everything about college football moves faster now, from the offenses to the recruiting calendar to the media cycle. (One notable exception: NCAA investigations.) In that spirit, the Mailbag is making the earliest debut of its nine-year history this week, for two reasons. One, I'm getting married May 29, at which point I plan to vanish for a month, so I figured we'd squeeze a few more editions in beforehand. And two -- most college football fans want to read about college football no matter what time of year. Duh.
The next phase of scouting for the 2011 NFL Draft begins in earnest this week as franchises send scouting departments, coaching staffs and medical personnel to Indianapolis to inspect the 325 prospects on hand for the combine.
Two years ago, Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt defended signing 37 players to national letters-of-intent with a statement he probably intended as a joke.
With the college season completed and another SEC team crowned national champion, the scouting process for the 2011 NFL Draft moves to its next phase. The Jan. 15 deadline for underclassmen to declare for the draft is fast approaching and the Jan. 29 Senior Bowl is right around the corner. Then, everyone heads to Indianapolis for the combine. Before that all comes to fruition, here's a quick breakdown of the top 25 players in April's draft. (*Denotes underclassman)
Nebraska hired Bo Pelini to bring pride back to its sullen program, and three years in, he's right on the cusp. The Huskers came within a second of winning the Big 12 last season, and will likely get another title shot next month. They'll be an immediate contender upon joining the Big Ten.
BATON ROUGE, La. -- He had called a fourth-down play that required his quarterback to pitch to his tailback, who in turn pitched to a tight end blazing around the corner. Three plays later, that tailback crashed into the end zone to give his team the lead in a game no one believed he could win. Naturally, he was about to go for two.
AUBURN, Ala. -- As Cam Newton stood on top of the brick façade at the front of the Auburn student section in the South end zone of Jordan-Hare Stadium, engaging in his now-weekly celebration of another monstrous performance and another SEC victory, the scoreboard above him flashed the remnants of what might have seemed like a one-sided blowout.
Two semi-recent BCS champions, LSU and Texas, have seen their offenses go belly-up. For Longhorns fans, this is a new and quite perplexing development. Tigers fans, on the other hand, have been watching the same film for three years. I can't solve their problems for them, but hopefully I can shed some light on how they got here.
It certainly wasn't subtle. But an in-your-face signal that he was officially throwing his hat into the ring was exactly what Patrick Peterson needed.
The end result of Week 4 in the college season was a rearranging of the nation's Top 10 teams. We also saw a pair of highly rated players join the list of those sliding down draft boards. Here are the risers and sliders from the final weekend in September. (*Denotes underlcassman.)
The college season kicked off last week as NFL prospects from around the nation displayed their talents for league decision-makers. Several prospects looked good in the season opener, while a few high-profile prospects turned in disappointing performances.
ATLANTA -- The members of the North Carolina marching band sang along as they blared out a brassy rendition of Bon Jovi's "Living On A Prayer." Right then, Tommy and Gina's ballad never seemed quite so appropriate.
With college football kicking off this weekend, here's a look at the top defensive prospects for the 2011 NFL Draft. For a look at the top offensive prospects, click here.
MLB's first-year player draft begins with Monday's first round at 7 p.m. ET. The draft's key questions begin with the one player that everyone is talking about.
Penn State (10-2) vs. LSU (9-3) Jan. 1, 1:00 p.m. ET, ABC
Welcome to my seventh annual ranking of this year's bowl games, No. 1 through 34, in order of anticipated entertainment value. Much like the bowl business itself, these rankings are based only marginally on the teams' actual merits. They also take into consideration star quality, fan appeal, evenness of matchup, aesthetic appeal of the two teams' colors and whether or not any NCIS reruns will be airing at the same time.
Football Insiders: Check out Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback.
I wish I could have written Saturday about how Alabama receiver Julio Jones, who has struggled to break free all season, caught a 2-yard pass in the fourth quarter and turned it into a 73-yard touchdown. I wish I could have written about the grin on Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy's face when he said "I've never seen anybody run that fast."
The 10 storylines to watch this Saturday:
Cassius Marsh, one of the top defensive tackles in the nation, committed to LSU today.
I'll admit it. Given the choice, I much prefer to watch a back-and-forth shootout (think Texas-Oklahoma last year) than a defensive stalemate (think Texas-Oklahoma this year). So it's been somewhat unsatisfying that the four games I've covered in person this season have been decided by scores of 19-8 (Boise State-Oregon), 18-15 (USC-Ohio State), 13-3 (Florida-LSU) and 16-13 (Texas-Oklahoma).
Football Insiders: Check out Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback.
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Officially, Tim Tebow was not cleared to play against LSU until he passed his last set of medical tests late Saturday morning. Unofficially, the Florida star knew he was OK when he survived the flight from Gainesville to Baton Rouge.
Just for a moment, try to forget the 24-hour will-he-or-won't-he-play drama surrounding Tim Tebow. We'll get back to the Florida quarterback soon enough. With or without Tebow, top-ranked Florida (4-0, 2-0 SEC) will face its toughest test this season as it heads to Death Valley on Saturday night to battle No. 4 LSU (5-0, 3-0 SEC).
The 10 storylines to watch this Saturday:
There are three things I can count on with near-weekly consistency every time I open my in-box on Monday mornings: 1) fans complaining about where their team is ranked, 2) fluffy school press releases, like "Vols Staying Positive Ahead of Key Matchup with Georgia," and 3) fans complaining about the refs.
Football Insiders: Check out Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback.
The 10 storylines to watch this Saturday:
The fourth week of college football saw a highly ranked SEC program go down to defeat, while upstart Houston once again tamed a Big XII team. It was also a week that saw a number of receivers turn in top performances and a few well-known names disappoint NFL scouts.
Football Insiders: Check out Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback.
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