When it comes to actual football players, and who should be loved and who shunned, my Purple Y! Ranch boss and I rarely see eye to eye. On Graham Harrell, however, we are as one, although my version of that post would've had about 160% more profanity, because ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME??
Dig you the most, pretty boy. Come home soon.
IS THIS A JOKE?!?!
Posted by: j at July 18, 2009 08:09 PMMatt's not the type.
Posted by: Holly at July 18, 2009 08:10 PMI honestly don't understand why Matt Stafford was a number one pick and Graham Harrell has been all but deported. Did he eat a live baby panda during his workout or something?
Posted by: j at July 18, 2009 08:12 PMFair or unfair, Harrell gets tarred by NFL scouts/coaches for playing in the Dread Pirate Leach's pass happy, shotgun-oriented offense and by the relative lack of success of other similar QBs in those types of schemes (Kliff Kingsbury, BJ Symons, anyone from Hawaii, etc.). As more H/S and college teams go to a spread or run n shoot/air raid type offense, the odds are that someone will eventually break out and have some success in the pros, but the track record for those guys now isn't that sterling. NFL coaches, with their increasingly short window to show success, probably don't want to take chances hitching their wagon to someone who has never taken a snap under center or handed the ball to a fullback for a few years.
Stafford, on the other hand, has all the requisite combine measurables, played in a pro style offense, scored well on the wonderlic and knew his Xs and Os, and no matter what the 49ers shrink thinks about his parents divorce, can throw the ball the circumference of the globe on a rope.
Maybe Harrell will make a Flutie/Moon/Garcia like trip back south in a few years, but there's still a big disconnect between some of the college schemes and how they translate to the NFL. (That said, you look at the 2nd and 3rd stringers at QB in the NFL and still say WTF? There's no room at the inn?)
And I think it was a "red panda" (Ailurus fulgens), which is sadly on the endangered species list. Though it does go well with a pinot noir.
Posted by: Shan at July 19, 2009 06:32 AM