Singleton to Portal

[RonJohn]

Why are more 5 stars going to Alabama? Money is definitely one part of it, but so is the perception that playing in the tougher conference and getting Alabama coaching will help them go to the pros. Like I said, perception has a lot to do with the whole draft process.

SOS over the last 10 years (based on sports-reference.com)

GT - 23, 19, 38, 18, 52, 48, 58, 26, 27, 50, 19
Bama - 5, 1, 1, 22, 3, 39, 3, 7, 26, 3, 24

"Perception" has very little to do with the NFL draft process, unless you are someone like Al Davis. The NFL spends more money on scouting than colleges spend on recruiting. If you are a good player, NFL scouts will find you. They don't limit their viewing to the 8:00PM ABC game of the week. NFL scouts are constantly watching games and talking to college coaches. FCS players get drafted. If NFL scouts only watched SEC games and nothing else, then FCS players would never get drafted.

Getting to the NFL has a lot more to do with the athlete than the school. A 6'6" receiver with 4.15 speed, a 60 inch vertical, and ability to catch a football from a machine at 80mph will get drafted if he is playing for a local semi-pro team. Having good coaching that can improve an athlete's ability helps. The logo on the jersey won't help.

 

[gtee91]

I suspect AU

Local sports talk radio which is ugag focused says UGA...done deal

 

[UgaBlows]

Local sports talk radio which is ugag focused says UGA...done deal

No

 

[jojatk]

Denzel says something similar in Training Day, but no chalkboard involved.

That’s a great movie, too!!!

The answer is “And the Band Played On”. It’s about the early days of HIV. Originally was produced by HBO but eventually got out to all the streaming platforms.

 

[bke1984]

On3 says 95% to Auburn...

 

[jgtengineer]

We are a farm team unless we find more NIL $$. I knew this when the NIL and portals were created.

Kennard and Ivey are great examples - if we had the $$, we would keep the players, but we do not.

That is why it will take LIGHTNING in a bottle and a miracle for us to truly compete for NC's going forward.

Kennedy was a graduate transfer. Not much we could do there until things change on the hill or we completely remove the student requirement.

 

[AlabamaBuzz]

Kennedy was a graduate transfer. Not much we could do there until things change on the hill or we completely remove the student requirement.

Yes, you are correct. I did not realize he had played 4 seasons with us.

But, with that said, my original point doesn't really change, but Kennard is NOT an example.

 

[bke1984]

Any chance we can just make this thread about Eric Singleton?

 

[bke1984]

I’ll bring it back.

So here’s my thinking. The most risky players are not the NFL bound studs. Those guys are going to get paid now and later. But the guys that are borderline…or the really good college players that are very unlikely to EVER play in the NFL are the ones that will be chasing the money.

I think Singleton falls into the borderline category. He could go to the league. He’s fast enough for sure. But he struggles the create separation and struggles to catch the ball sometimes. If he feels he can get a boatload of money now then maybe he should just go do it. But I honestly don’t think he’s an irreplaceable asset.

 

[Richland County]

I smell the terrible scent of tampering.

 

[gtee91]

I smell the terrible scent of tampering.

The cologne of the SEC

 

[4shotB]

The cologne of the SEC

 

[forensicbuzz]

I completely agree. I firmly believe if Jahmyr Gibbs had stayed at Tech he still would have been drafted in the NFL. I just don’t think he would have been the #12 pick. I think playing (and starring) at Bama helped him.

Don’t agree. He would have been drafted in the same spot, maybe higher. He was not showcased at Alabama.

 

[bobongo]

I’ll bring it back.

So here’s my thinking. The most risky players are not the NFL bound studs. Those guys are going to get paid now and later. But the guys that are borderline…or the really good college players that are very unlikely to EVER play in the NFL are the ones that will be chasing the money.

I think Singleton falls into the borderline category. He could go to the league. He’s fast enough for sure. But he struggles the create separation and struggles to catch the ball sometimes. If he feels he can get a boatload of money now then maybe he should just go do it. But I honestly don’t think he’s an irreplaceable asset.

The risk he runs is that he could transfer to a school that has a lot more competition and he could end up on the bench, whereas he could stay here where he's ensconced in his starting job. He might have a much better shot at the NFL from where he is than from where he's going. But if somebody's offering him mega bucks now, I can see why he'd take it.

 

[Blue&Gold1034]

"Perception" has very little to do with the NFL draft process, unless you are someone like Al Davis. The NFL spends more money on scouting than colleges spend on recruiting. If you are a good player, NFL scouts will find you. They don't limit their viewing to the 8:00PM ABC game of the week. NFL scouts are constantly watching games and talking to college coaches. FCS players get drafted. If NFL scouts only watched SEC games and nothing else, then FCS players would never get drafted.

Getting to the NFL has a lot more to do with the athlete than the school. A 6'6" receiver with 4.15 speed, a 60 inch vertical, and ability to catch a football from a machine at 80mph will get drafted if he is playing for a local semi-pro team. Having good coaching that can improve an athlete's ability helps. The logo on the jersey won't help.

No one said they ONLY watch SEC games, but they do put more emphasis on watching games from the P4 and the best of those conferences. If you're a good player, the scouts will find you. If you're a good player at a brand name school, the scouts will spend more time watching your film and more likely to draft you higher which will make you more money. Your example about the FCS proves the point.

It's a combination, but the school helps tremendously. You talk about good coaching, where do a lot of these good coaches coach? It's the places that are gonna pay them the most and those are the brand name schools. If there are two WR with comparable measurable and one is playing NFL caliber DBs week in and week out and the other is not, who will get drafted higher?

 

[gorcone]

Local sports talk radio which is ugag focused says UGA...done deal

And I say that establishes the price of a NIL deal.

 

[forensicbuzz]

I disagree with the reason they got more looks. The kids at uga were bigger, faster, stronger, on average. While we had 1-3 kids in the category to attract NFL attention, they had 10-12 kids. When it comes to the NFL, it really is about the Jimmy’s and the Joe’s.

If we swapped rosters and stayed in the same conferences, the results would have flip-flopped. The same kids would have been drafted in the same spot, regardless of which school and which conference they played in.

 

[RonJohn]

No one said they ONLY watch SEC games, but they do put more emphasis on watching games from the P4 and the best of those conferences. If you're a good player, the scouts will find you. If you're a good player at a brand name school, the scouts will spend more time watching your film and more likely to draft you higher which will make you more money. Your example about the FCS proves the point.

It's a combination, but the school helps tremendously. You talk about good coaching, where do a lot of these good coaches coach? It's the places that are gonna pay them the most and those are the brand name schools. If there are two WR with comparable measurable and one is playing NFL caliber DBs week in and week out and the other is not, who will get drafted higher?

NFL scouts watch much-much-much more football than fans do. They probably watch games, but they definitely watch cut-ups of games looking for players. They are not like fans who want to watch a "good" game. They are working. They are looking at hours of film on guys trying to see how they run/block/etc. They try to find strengths. They try to find weaknesses. The logo on the jersey does not matter at that point. The scouts are not looking for something interesting to do on a Saturday afternoon while scouting. They are viewing one play at a time, then rewinding and viewing that play again, then viewing that play again from a different angle, then at slow motion, then.... It is like the difference between someone who flies a couple of times a year for vacation and someone who travels several times a week for business. Flying is interesting for the first group, but it is mundane for the second.

 

[forensicbuzz]

No one said they ONLY watch SEC games, but they do put more emphasis on watching games from the P4 and the best of those conferences. If you're a good player, the scouts will find you. If you're a good player at a brand name school, the scouts will spend more time watching your film and more likely to draft you higher which will make you more money. Your example about the FCS proves the point.

It's a combination, but the school helps tremendously. You talk about good coaching, where do a lot of these good coaches coach? It's the places that are gonna pay them the most and those are the brand name schools. If there are two WR with comparable measurable and one is playing NFL caliber DBs week in and week out and the other is not, who will get drafted higher?

This is an ignorant comment (no offense intended. Ignorance is just a lack of knowledge).

NFL scouts watch everything, equally. They know all the coaches. ALL the coaches. When they’re working, they watch film on players not games. Whether a kid is P4, SEC, SUN, A10, whatever, they know how to evaluate talent by watching players play, regardless of the competition. They get the film from the schools. Schools have every play for each player isolated, so scouts can get very specific with players.

I know one scout that refuses to watch games live. He learns more about a kid from film and he’s not biased by the hype of the game.

 

[78pike]

What percentage of 4 * players that PJ recruited made it to the NFL vs. what percentage of 4* players Richt recruited made it to the NFL? This is a genuine question that Id love to see the numbers on.

The thing is that defensive backs that Marvin Harrison played week to week were seen as better since they were in the Big 10. Him dominating against that competition helped his draft stock tremendously. Not to mention the fact that Ohio State is now considered a WR factory by many scouts. Had he done it against ACC corners, he would have definitely still been drafted, but probably not as high as he was. Look at Tee Higgins who had comparable stats, and won a National Championship, yet was drafted in the second round.

Tee Higgins getting drafted in the second round probably had more to do with the fact he was in the same draft as Jerry Jeudy, Ceedee Lamb, Justin Jefferson and Brandon Aiyuk than the fact he played for Clemson.