Draft hangover
posted by LW, Monday, April 26, 2010
The sports world basically stops for three days as everyone breathlessly analyzes seven rounds worth of draft picks. Now we begin the months-long wait to see if these guys can actually play.
The NFL's process for talent acquisition isn't nearly as inexact a science as college football's process, but it's still a crap shoot in a lot of ways.
But just like the obsession with recruiting, the obsession with the draft is merely an illustration of the year-round consumption with the NFL. Fans simply cannot get enough, and the wall-to-wall draft coverage merely meets that demand.
Bart Wright writes about the NFL's immense popularity while getting in another vague dig at what he calls "fan sites."
If you’re a baseball, basketball or hockey fan, or a serious follower of any college sport, you know what it’s like a few months after the season is over. You start thinking ahead, but there’s nothing to grab onto, no tangible chunk of reality that begins to set things in motion for the next season. That explains the existence of the fan sites on the Internet where people make vacant claims and predictions just to nudge somebody into a conversation.
You've really got to be living in a hole -- or maybe another planet -- if you seriously think "fan sites" are the only entities that make "vacant claims and predictions" to stir up offseason conversation.
Why, there's an army of conference bloggers at ESPN that are dedicated to doing precisely what Bart derides. To ignore their existence is pretty ... vacant.
On to some draft stuff ...
Had fun last week crunching some numbers from the previous 10 years' worth of drafts. Incorporating this year's numbers into the mix, you really wonder why the ACC hasn't had more success in the BCS.
Here's the first two paragraphs of the release from the ACC offices:
For the sixth straight year, the Atlantic Coast Conference had over 30 of its players selected in the annual National Football league Draft which concluded Saturday afternoon, as 31 former ACC standouts were chosen by NFL teams.
Since 2005, the ACC and the Southeastern Conference are the only two leagues in the nation to have had 30 selections in the NFL Draft in each of the past six years.
But still no at-large team in the BCS. Nine straight years without a representative in the BCS title game. Since the format's inception in 1998, a grand total of two victories in BCS games (Florida State in 2000; Virginia Tech in 2008).
No one is expecting the ACC to win four consecutive BCS titles. And there are some solid explanations for the BCS futility, as we pointed out last week in examining the ACC's glaring lack of offensive skill players relative to the SEC.
But still, the draft numbers suggest the ACC should be much better. And that suggests the conference has suffered from substandard coaching.
Now for some numbers:
Entering this year's draft, Clemson ranked eighth in the ACC in total draft picks over the previous 10 drafts. The Tigers had totaled 24 draft picks, falling behind Miami (63), Florida State (56), Virginia Tech (47), Virginia (32), North Carolina (27), Maryland (26) and N.C. State (26).
Five Clemson players were drafted this year, tying with Virginia Tech for the most in the ACC. That vaulted the Tigers from eighth to fifth in the last 11 drafts:
1. Miami 67
2. Florida State 59
3. Virginia Tech 52
4. Virginia 33
5. Clemson 29
6. North Carolina 29
7. Maryland 28
8. Georgia Tech 27
9. N.C. State 27
10. Boston College 22
11. Wake Forest 19
12. Duke 2
Florida State, by the way, has had seven players taken over the past three drafts.
How much has the Seminoles' talent dropped off in recent years? From 1992 to 2007, they averaged 6.5 players taken per draft.
Here are the numbers over that stretch:
1992: 6
1993: 6
1994: 6
1995: 10
1996: 4
1997: 7
1998: 9
1999: 4
2000: 7
2001: 9
2002: 3
2003: 6
2004: 5
2005: 9
2006: 8
2007: 5
2008: 3
2009: 1
2010: 3
Mike Huguenin of Rivals says the first round was filled with former high school stars.
Five former five-star recruits went in the first round of the 2010 NFL draft Thursday night.
There were 13 former four-star prospects selected, along with seven three-star guys and six two-star players. One player was unranked out of high school.
So now Ricky Sapp tells us his knee was only 60 percent last season.
"I really should have sat out a couple of games, until I got that right, but I really wanted to play so it kind of hurt me a little bit."
Wasn't it last July and August when Sapp was basically laughing at questions about the knee he blew out in November of 2008, saying it was 100 percent?
Just the latest in a long line of reasons to take it with a grain of salt when a player tells you he's fully recovered from that knee/toe/shoulder injury.
I can see why players aren't always 100 percent truthful about their injuries. But I also don't blame people for being skeptical upon hearing of rapid recoveries.
More on Sapp's long weekend in his hometown paper.
In the Newport News Daily Press, David Teel gives his pecking order for the ACC's Atlantic and Coastal divisions.
Looks suspiciously like he's making vacant claims and predictions to nudge somebody into a conversation. And he's -- gasp! -- a newspaper guy!
Clemson's baseball team has suffered some tough, tough blows this season. The latest evidence of that is demonstrated in these game stories (Independent-Mail and Greenville News) from Sunday's numbing ending.
An extraordinary dose of tough luck for these Tigers this season? No doubt.
But you can't tell me that bad luck overrides the fact that this team is not particularly smart, and not particularly interested in playing full speed at all times. The examples have grown too numerous to count, and that's the biggest reason this team is stunningly not even a sure thing to make the NCAA Tournament.
Now that we know who's headed for the NBA Draft, Jim Young of The ACC Sports Journal gives his 2010-11 pre-season power rankings (Clemson is 8th).
Nothing to see here. Just more vacant claims and predictions to nudge somebody into a conversation...
LW
Click here for the "Eye On The Tigers" blog archive.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
The sports world basically stops for three days as everyone breathlessly analyzes seven rounds worth of draft picks. Now we begin the months-long wait to see if these guys can actually play.
The NFL's process for talent acquisition isn't nearly as inexact a science as college football's process, but it's still a crap shoot in a lot of ways.
But just like the obsession with recruiting, the obsession with the draft is merely an illustration of the year-round consumption with the NFL. Fans simply cannot get enough, and the wall-to-wall draft coverage merely meets that demand.
Bart Wright writes about the NFL's immense popularity while getting in another vague dig at what he calls "fan sites."
If you’re a baseball, basketball or hockey fan, or a serious follower of any college sport, you know what it’s like a few months after the season is over. You start thinking ahead, but there’s nothing to grab onto, no tangible chunk of reality that begins to set things in motion for the next season. That explains the existence of the fan sites on the Internet where people make vacant claims and predictions just to nudge somebody into a conversation.
You've really got to be living in a hole -- or maybe another planet -- if you seriously think "fan sites" are the only entities that make "vacant claims and predictions" to stir up offseason conversation.
Why, there's an army of conference bloggers at ESPN that are dedicated to doing precisely what Bart derides. To ignore their existence is pretty ... vacant.
On to some draft stuff ...
Had fun last week crunching some numbers from the previous 10 years' worth of drafts. Incorporating this year's numbers into the mix, you really wonder why the ACC hasn't had more success in the BCS.
Here's the first two paragraphs of the release from the ACC offices:
For the sixth straight year, the Atlantic Coast Conference had over 30 of its players selected in the annual National Football league Draft which concluded Saturday afternoon, as 31 former ACC standouts were chosen by NFL teams.
Since 2005, the ACC and the Southeastern Conference are the only two leagues in the nation to have had 30 selections in the NFL Draft in each of the past six years.
But still no at-large team in the BCS. Nine straight years without a representative in the BCS title game. Since the format's inception in 1998, a grand total of two victories in BCS games (Florida State in 2000; Virginia Tech in 2008).
No one is expecting the ACC to win four consecutive BCS titles. And there are some solid explanations for the BCS futility, as we pointed out last week in examining the ACC's glaring lack of offensive skill players relative to the SEC.
But still, the draft numbers suggest the ACC should be much better. And that suggests the conference has suffered from substandard coaching.
Now for some numbers:
Entering this year's draft, Clemson ranked eighth in the ACC in total draft picks over the previous 10 drafts. The Tigers had totaled 24 draft picks, falling behind Miami (63), Florida State (56), Virginia Tech (47), Virginia (32), North Carolina (27), Maryland (26) and N.C. State (26).
Five Clemson players were drafted this year, tying with Virginia Tech for the most in the ACC. That vaulted the Tigers from eighth to fifth in the last 11 drafts:
1. Miami 67
2. Florida State 59
3. Virginia Tech 52
4. Virginia 33
5. Clemson 29
6. North Carolina 29
7. Maryland 28
8. Georgia Tech 27
9. N.C. State 27
10. Boston College 22
11. Wake Forest 19
12. Duke 2
Florida State, by the way, has had seven players taken over the past three drafts.
How much has the Seminoles' talent dropped off in recent years? From 1992 to 2007, they averaged 6.5 players taken per draft.
Here are the numbers over that stretch:
1992: 6
1993: 6
1994: 6
1995: 10
1996: 4
1997: 7
1998: 9
1999: 4
2000: 7
2001: 9
2002: 3
2003: 6
2004: 5
2005: 9
2006: 8
2007: 5
2008: 3
2009: 1
2010: 3
Mike Huguenin of Rivals says the first round was filled with former high school stars.
Five former five-star recruits went in the first round of the 2010 NFL draft Thursday night.
There were 13 former four-star prospects selected, along with seven three-star guys and six two-star players. One player was unranked out of high school.
So now Ricky Sapp tells us his knee was only 60 percent last season.
"I really should have sat out a couple of games, until I got that right, but I really wanted to play so it kind of hurt me a little bit."
Wasn't it last July and August when Sapp was basically laughing at questions about the knee he blew out in November of 2008, saying it was 100 percent?
Just the latest in a long line of reasons to take it with a grain of salt when a player tells you he's fully recovered from that knee/toe/shoulder injury.
I can see why players aren't always 100 percent truthful about their injuries. But I also don't blame people for being skeptical upon hearing of rapid recoveries.
More on Sapp's long weekend in his hometown paper.
In the Newport News Daily Press, David Teel gives his pecking order for the ACC's Atlantic and Coastal divisions.
Looks suspiciously like he's making vacant claims and predictions to nudge somebody into a conversation. And he's -- gasp! -- a newspaper guy!
Clemson's baseball team has suffered some tough, tough blows this season. The latest evidence of that is demonstrated in these game stories (Independent-Mail and Greenville News) from Sunday's numbing ending.
An extraordinary dose of tough luck for these Tigers this season? No doubt.
But you can't tell me that bad luck overrides the fact that this team is not particularly smart, and not particularly interested in playing full speed at all times. The examples have grown too numerous to count, and that's the biggest reason this team is stunningly not even a sure thing to make the NCAA Tournament.
Now that we know who's headed for the NBA Draft, Jim Young of The ACC Sports Journal gives his 2010-11 pre-season power rankings (Clemson is 8th).
Nothing to see here. Just more vacant claims and predictions to nudge somebody into a conversation...
LW
Click here for the "Eye On The Tigers" blog archive.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
Donnie Patterson. Donnie Patterson is the founder of Patterson Tax Service, located in Easley, S.C. He has been active in tax preparation since 1970, and offers a full range of tax and bookkeeping services.
Larry Williams. Larry has covered the daily beat at Clemson since 2004. Williams, who worked for the Charleston Post & Courier from 2004-08, joined Tigerillustrated.com in November of 2008. He may be reached by email at ldubya08(at)gmail.com. Replace (at) with @.