Monday, February 27, 2012

Kuechly huge day at the Combine and how it benefits his teammates

Since you couldn't question his productivity, NFL doubters have wondered about Luke Kuechly's athleticism. Monday at the NFL Combine he put the doubters to rest. Like he did during his entire BC career, Kuechly dominated. He set some of the best marks among LBs and most importantly ran a 4.5 40 yard dash.


With the head turning show, the question now is how far up the draft boards Kuechly might go. Most predicted him to fall to the Eagles at 15. The Combine performance put him in play for a top ten spot or might entice a team to move up to take him before Philadelphia gets the chance.


Luke's BC teammates are the other big beneficiaries of rising stock. BC's Pro Day will now have a better turnout as teams try to get a better feel for Kuechly. That means that borderline guys like Momah or Holloway will get a chance to show their stuff. I don't think they are suddenly draft picks, but the extra face time could lead to free agent opportunities.

9 comments:

Scott said...

Assuming Holloway can attract some attention with his athleticism, tithe NFL scouts will naturally focus on whether he has the passion, commitment, and savvy to push through inspire of long odds. F so, how can explain away not going back for his 5th year to develop skills far from proven or polished? I get it if he was assured being 3rd-4th round pick ... Or if he wanted to move on its his life and pd get a real job. But if he's dying o play in the NFL, how does he pin it?

Unknown said...

Scott, I'm glad you took some time off from pretending you are Chris Kreider in your dorm room, but you should have taken the hockey gloves off before you started typing

Jeff said...

I'm so happy for Luke. He kicked some serious ass at the combine! No other linebacker was as consistent as a top-finisher in all drills as he was. Combine that with his personality and his college production, and he has no holes as a draft prospect.

I wouldn't hate to see the Eagles land him, but now I'm really hoping to see him go higher than 15th!

ObserverCollege said...

This is actually really problematic. If Kuechly had performed as expected, people would rightly conclude that Coach Spaziani had created a Lombardi and Butkus Award winner out of whole cloth--outcoaching Nick Saban in the process. But now, people will start thinking Kuechly's success was about Kuechly rather than about the amazing coaching he received.

Very sad to give the critics what they perceive to be "more ammo". Luckily, GDF knows better.

JBQ said...

The guy has bulked up and looks like "Popeye".

mod10aeagle said...

I was really surprised at how big Kuechly looked compared to the other LBs at the combine. He has appeared to me as quite undersized on the field, but standing in a group of peers he was one of the biggest guys there and clearly a stud.

The commentators, Mayock especially, were just cruel towards Berfict (Ariz. State).

Scott said...

I agree Harry, that was piss poor typing. The dangers of posting by iPhone.

Legal Eagle said...

Despite the fact that we rarely ever land recruits in the top 100, we have had great success landing players in the first round of the draft. Over the last 10 years we have had:

2012 Kuechly
2011 Castonzo (22)
2009 Raji (9)
2008 Ryan (3) and Cherilus (17)
2006 Kiwanuka (32)
2004 Snee just missed the 1st round (34)
2002 Green (16) and Columbo (29)

Additionally Herzlich was a virtual lock to be a first round pick before his battle with cancer.

It is hard for all but a handful of universities to consistently produce one of the top 32 college players year in and year out. Surprisingly, we have been pretty good at this.

Jeff said...

@LegalEagle - That is pretty good evidence that the recruting rankings aren't definitive by any meanns. BC attracts a lot of great kids who happen to also be great football players. Our recent decline isn't their fault, rather it lies squarely at the feet of Spaz and GDF.

Spaz was a great D-coord, but he is not a head coach.