Hula Bowl: LL1

[fanof71]

When is ULs pro day?

[RaginDave]

I would predict that 6-8 qbs get drafted this year. And I agree 100% this is not a great class. But for sure these 5 are guaranteed to be drafted.

Kenny Pickett. Pitt
Matt Corrall. Ole Miss
Malik Willis. Liberty
Desmond Ridder. Cincy
Sam Howell. UNC

Carson Strong. Nevada probably will get drafted as well very late. He has a huge upside.

But I think one or 2 of the following will be a surprise pick for someone.

Bailey Zappe. Western Kentucky
Brock Purdy. Iowa State
Dorian Thompson Robinson. UCLA
And watch out for

EJ Perry. Brown. He is a transfer from Boston college. Huge upside. Could be a late round shocker.

[moorecajun]

I'm pretty sure Lewis had already came out and said he was going to work. Wanted to use his civil engineering degree or go into coaching.

If he wants to do civil work he needs to find a job and start working on getting his PE rather soon.

You are right. I had heard he interned at Fenstermaker. Hopefully he already has his EIT and starts getting some valuable experience.

[moorecajun]

He does not have a civil engineering degree. He got out of engineering his freshman year. His degree is in General Studies.

Oops, please disregard my previous post for it no longer applies.

[moorecajun]

When is ULs pro day?

With NIL, isn't it every day now?

[Cajunrunner]

I was told that he did.

That's what I understand as well.

Now...said firm employs lots of field surveyors too, which you don't need an engineering degree to perform, and can still make a good career.

[Bandwagon King]

I would predict that 6-8 qbs get drafted this year. And I agree 100% this is not a great class. But for sure these 5 are guaranteed to be drafted.

Kenny Pickett. Pitt
Matt Corrall. Ole Miss
Malik Willis. Liberty
Desmond Ridder. Cincy
Sam Howell. UNC

Carson Strong. Nevada probably will get drafted as well very late. He has a huge upside.

But I think one or 2 of the following will be a surprise pick for someone.

Bailey Zappe. Western Kentucky
Brock Purdy. Iowa State
Dorian Thompson Robinson. UCLA
And watch out for

EJ Perry. Brown. He is a transfer from Boston college. Huge upside. Could be a late round shocker.

Nice, thanks: And when I look at all of those guys, one term comes to mind, developmental player. And in some cases another term comes to mind. Follow your alternate career path young man. I only see one first round pick in this whole group & the fact that he bowed out of his bowl game would bother the hell out of me as an NFL GM. So he might not even make the 1st round. That's Pickett. Strong & Zappe both have potentially huge upside, but upside isn't getting guy into the first round at QB. Ritter's been the most consistent.

I'm still trying to figure out what's so special about Willis from Liberty. Another reason I want other guys at that combine besides knowing the NFL's propensity to miss on so many great players through the years. Is their propensity to miss on so many duds. When I have the pressure of having to draft an unproven player which is what these guys are. I want to see them along with guys who are considered better & worse. I even want a few guys who's physical skill set, or size might not match their accomplishment level.

The number one problem with pro scouting in the NFL is everyone is always looking for the under achieving super athletic looking guy & so few do the due diligence of looking for the over achieving mentally tough guy who is willing to put in the work & always seems to perform their best when the stakes are their highest. This is why Tom Brady almost wasn't drafted. And had he been from Central Michigan instead of Michigan, he wouldn't have been invited to the combine. It's why Drew Brees was a second round pick. It's why Kurt Warner wasn't invited & almost never played the game. It's why Jake Delhome wasn't invited & almost never played the game. Just because something's been screwed up 40 years doesn't mean in a case as this it can't be unscrewed. By the way, the same type of people who say Levi Lewis isn't BIG enough to play in the NFL, said the same exact thing about Johnny Unitis. He got run off from Noter Dame for being a peep squeak. Then he got run off from the Steelers for the same reason. Now I'm done.

[RaginDave]

Nice, thanks: And when I look at all of those guys, one term comes to mind, developmental player. And in some cases another term comes to mind. Follow your alternate career path young man. I only see one first round pick in this whole group & the fact that he bowed out of his bowl game would bother the hell out of me as an NFL GM. So he might not even make the 1st round. That's Pickett. Strong & Zappe both have potentially huge upside, but upside isn't getting guy into the first round at QB. Ritter's been the most consistent.

I'm still trying to figure out what's so special about Willis from Liberty. Another reason I want other guys at that combine besides knowing the NFL's propensity to miss on so many great players through the years. Is their propensity to miss on so many duds. When I have the pressure of having to draft an unproven player which is what these guys are. I want to see them along with guys who are considered better & worse. I even want a few guys who's physical skill set, or size might not match their accomplishment level.

The number one problem with pro scouting in the NFL is everyone is always looking for the under achieving super athletic looking guy & so few do the due diligence of looking for the over achieving mentally tough guy who is willing to put in the work & always seems to perform their best when the stakes are their highest. This is why Tom Brady almost wasn't drafted. And had he been from Central Michigan instead of Michigan, he wouldn't have been invited to the combine. It's why Drew Brees was a second round pick. It's why Kurt Warner wasn't invited & almost never played the game. It's why Jake Delhome wasn't invited & almost never played the game. Just because something's been screwed up 40 years doesn't mean in a case as this it can't be unscrewed. By the way, the same type of people who say Levi Lewis isn't BIG enough to play in the NFL, said the same exact thing about Johnny Unitis. He got run off from Noter Dame for being a peep squeak. Then he got run off from the Steelers for the same reason. Now I'm done.

I don't think this is accurate, but Todd McShay has 5 QB's going in the first round, including Ridder, Howell, Willis, Pickett and Corral. If that is to occur then their will be at least 8 QB's taken.

Willis is all about athleticism. What they see in Willis is what others have seen in a guy like Lamar Jackson or even Trey Lance. McShay in his mock draft has Pickett #12 to the Steelers, he has Matt Coral #13 to Washington, he has Willis #17 to Denver, he has Ridder #19 to the Saints and finally he has Sam Howell #25 to the Lions.

Mel Kiper has 4 going in the 1st round. He has Willis going pick 11, Pickett 18, Corral 20, Howell 28. Interestingly enough he does not have Ridder in the 1st round, but does consider Ridder the QB with the most upside, he thinks he reminds him of Josh Allen who had many of the same attributes. He thinks he will be an early to mid 2nd rounder.

[Bandwagon King]

I don't think this is accurate, but Todd McShay has 5 QB's going in the first round, including Ridder, Howell, Willis, Pickett and Corral. If that is to occur then their will be at least 8 QB's taken.

Willis is all about athleticism. What they see in Willis is what others have seen in a guy like Lamar Jackson or even Trey Lance. McShay in his mock draft has Pickett #12 to the Steelers, he has Matt Coral #13 to Washington, he has Willis #17 to Denver, he has Ridder #19 to the Saints and finally he has Sam Howell #25 to the Lions.

Mel Kiper has 4 going in the 1st round. He has Willis going pick 11, Pickett 18, Corral 20, Howell 28. Interestingly enough he does not have Ridder in the 1st round, but does consider Ridder the QB with the most upside, he thinks he reminds him of Josh Allen who had many of the same attributes. He thinks he will be an early to mid 2nd rounder.

I'm breaking my word, but WTH, you threw out too much red meat this morning. Just by reading what you wrote, it would make sense to me if either one of these guys is correct, or close to go along with what you said, to have a ratio of players to seriously scout, not only for the purpose of drafting a guy, but also for the purpose of not drafting a guy I'm gonna miss on with a 1st round pick.

Look, Willis passes the "eye ball test." And if you only look at his highlight reel you could get enthralled with the guy. But he can't hold Lamar's jock strap coming out of Louisville. The simple fact is his numbers aren't that good & his receivers were running wide open most of the time against the competition they played for a lot of his career. When the competition stiffened up some at the end of the season this year, he went in the tank. Ole Miss stoned him. Then UL owned him, then Army disowned him. He makes way too many mistakes & misreads. IMO he will only become a major waste of someone's time & a waste of a high draft choice.

Coral is a project player at best. Pickett & Ridder are the only two that have any shot of playing in their rookie season & being effective to any degree IMO. I'm weary of UNC QBs period & Howell just reminds me of a distant cousin of Trubisky. Those guys might be right. But it's just a guarantee of more misery & wasted time for fans of more NFL teams. Personally I hope they're just pimping these guys. If there is any accuracy to what they are saying the league needs at least a 2-1 ratio of guys at the combine to help these teams make a better analysis of these people. To get to that number they need to call guys like Levi out & say come participate. Help us not screw this thing up.

[CajunEXPRESS]

I gotta tell ya BWK, we don’t read long, long posts, followed by long, long rebuttals. I know you believe we hang on your every word. I generally try to give you a fair shot, but———-life’s too short.

[RaginDave]

I'm breaking my word, but WTH, you threw out too much red meat this morning. Just by reading what you wrote, it would make sense to me if either one of these guys is correct, or close to go along with what you said, to have a ratio of players to seriously scout, not only for the purpose of drafting a guy, but also for the purpose of not drafting a guy I'm gonna miss on with a 1st round pick.

Look, Willis passes the "eye ball test." And if you only look at his highlight reel you could get enthralled with the guy. But he can't hold Lamar's jock strap coming out of Louisville. The simple fact is his numbers aren't that good & his receivers were running wide open most of the time against the competition they played for a lot of his career. When the competition stiffened up some at the end of the season this year, he went in the tank. Ole Miss stoned him. Then UL owned him, then Army disowned him. He makes way too many mistakes & misreads. IMO he will only become a major waste of someone's time & a waste of a high draft choice.

Coral is a project player at best. Pickett & Ridder are the only two that have any shot of playing in their rookie season & being effective to any degree IMO. I'm weary of UNC QBs period & Howell just reminds me of a distant cousin of Trubisky. Those guys might be right. But it's just a guarantee of more misery & wasted time for fans of more NFL teams. Personally I hope they're just pimping these guys. If there is any accuracy to what they are saying the league needs at least a 2-1 ratio of guys at the combine to help these teams make a better analysis of these people. To get to that number they need to call guys like Levi out & say come participate. Help us not screw this thing up.

Look I am just telling you what two of the top NFL Draft Analyst are saying. I know you know more than them, but both of these guys are almost identical on who and what they expect to happen and while I don't love Mel Kiper, he is usually correct. Willis has been pretty much on everyone's radar for 2 years. You are right in the fact that allot of people don't trust him and he struggled vs tougher competition, but what they love about him is that he is a guy who has something you can not coach and that is athleticism. Allot of what they are looking at with Willis is what he did when Liberty was better in 2020 than what he did with less talent in 2021. Liberty was 9-1 with Willis in 2020 and his numbers were astounding. Completed 65% of his passes with 20 TD's and 6 Int's. He also rushed for almost 1000 yards and 14 TD's rushing. He accounted for 34 TD's that year and 3194 yards, in cluding a 6.7 ypc average.

Here is what made him special that year vs Syracuse he was 16-20 182 1 TD and 0 INT's while rushing for 58 yards on 12 carries and another TD. VS Virginia Tech he was 20-30 217 3 TD's and no INT's while rushing for 108 yards on 19 carries vs NC State he was 13-32 fo 172 yards 2 TD's 3 INT's and rushed for 44 yards (worst game of that year). and vs Coastal he was 19-29 for 220 yards and rushed for 137 yards and 4 TD's in that game.

He struggled a little bit vs NC State and Coastal throwing the ball, but his running ability is special. Does he make mistakes, yes but you can't coach speed and talent or size. I think many draft analyst and scouts are giving him a pass on 2021 and here is the main reason why. In 2020 he was sacked 19 times in 10 games, that is a special number that is less than 2 a game, in 2021 he was sacked 51 times in 13 games or almost 4 per game. He had a game where he was sacked 5 times twice, another 7, another 9, 6 times twice as well as 4 times twice. Those number mean that his OL was terrible this year, even with that he had a great game vs ODU who played in a bowl game where he threw for 242 yards 4 TDs and 0 INT's as well as rushing for 77 yards in 2 TD's. He had a very good game vs Syracuse this year where he was 14-19 for 205 and 3 TD's and 0 INTs. UAB he played well, and in his bowl game vs EMU he was very good as well. The problem is he spent most of his time on his back in 2021 vs 2020. A QB does not just all of a sudden get sacked that much unless the OL is terrible. You can't blame that on him, he was running for his life in those games.

One of the better gauges of what people think is Pro Football Focus, they consider him the best QB in the nation as far as big time throws and 3rd in the nation on throws of 20+ yards. Deep Left his grade was 95.1, Deep Center his grade was 86.4 and Deep Right his grade was 95. Couple that with his incredible running ability that they grade in the top 10. His weaknesses are his intermediate throws and his struggles under pressure. I think teams feel that Willis is a guy that with the right OL in the NFL could succeed. PFF has a passing grade of 55.9 on throws between 10-19 yards. But when you really look at this it is really only his passing on intermediate throws to the right side. That is where his grade is 29.4, if they can improve his intermediate throws to the right and give him a better OL than he had last year Willis upside is so much better than allot of QB's in this draft. Again, many are comparing him to guys like Trey Lance and Lamar Jackson, not me, but plenty of NFL scouts.

[RaginDave]

Here is the last thing I will say on Willis. Again, I am not stating my opinion, I am stating what scouts and NFL Analyst are saying. They think he has 2 main weaknesses, the intermediate pass to the right and what happens when the play breaks down. That means his strengths are his deep ball (first), his athleticism (second) then his ability to throw the short and intermediate passes to the left and center.

The fact is that Willis is not going to be picked in the top 10 picks, he will probably be picked in the middle to late first round, meaning he is going to go to a team that is already middle of the road or good. If that is the case, they probably have a pretty good Offensive Line and if that is the case than one of his weaknesses will be covered up by the fact that he will be playing on a team with a good OL. So if all that is said and the only weakness that most scouts and analyst see is his problem throwing the ball intermediate routes to the right, that is something they can work on.

Basically most people think he has fewer problems than some of the guys that will be picked around him. And brings the ability to run more than any of them, including Pickett who is really good. If that is the case, many teams will take a flyer on a kid like that, because his upside could be similar (not the same as) Lamar Jackson. While if you look at a Sam Howell or Desmond Ridder they see many more flaws, with not the ability to do the things that Willis can do. You can't teach a guy to be a strong armed QB if he is not, you can't teach him to run a 4.5 if he can't, you can't teach him to elude pressure if he is not athletic. But you can teach a guy with all of those attributes how to throw a 14 yard pass to the right if that is his only weakness.

Ridder is a ? to me and many others. Ridder has a lot of the issues that Josh Allen did coming into the league. He is not very accurate and his WR covered allot of his mistakes. Now today look at Josh Allen he might be one of the top 5 QB's in the league, but many people had the same issues with him that they have with Ridder. But it is harder to teach a QB how to be accurate then it is to teach him how to be a 100 yard rusher from the QB position.