College Football Guru

The Senior Bowl is tomorrow, and over the past six years, an average of 10 first-round picks have played in the game.

A top-five selection in each of the past five drafts has played in the Senior Bowl, and that may happen again this year. While none of the projected top three picks was here (Reggie Bush and Vince Young were juniors and Matt Leinart did not attend), potential top-five picks, such as D'Brickashaw Ferguson, DeMeco Ryans and Tamba Hali, are here.

A look at the top-five picks from recent Senior Bowls:
2005 - Cadillac Williams - Fifth pick, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2004 - Phillip Rivers - Fourth pick - New York Giants (Traded to San Diego)
2003 - Carson Palmer - First pick, Cincinatti Bengals
2002 - David Carr - First pick, Houston Texans
2001 - LaDainian Tomlinson - Fifth pick, San Diego Chargers

FOX has recently announced that Tom Brennaman will be its lead announcer for the BCS. That means he will work the National Championship game, and likely one other.

I have interacted with Brennaman a few times over the last couple of years, as he called the AT&T Cotton Bowl. He is a great guy, and a true professional. More importantly, he is intelligible.

Interesting article in today's issue of The Dallas Morning News. I didn't know this, but text messaging isn't considered the same thing as a phone call in terms of recruiting. With that, they are unlimited, even in dead periods. So, when a coach is forbidden from calling a recruit, why not just have the recruit call you. How do you get their attention? Send them a text message asking them to call.

The Powers that Be consider a text message the same as an e-mail, saying they are not intrusive since you can choose to ignore them. I don't know about you, but I ignore plenty of phone calls if I don't want to talk to the caller. They can leave a message, and I can choose to call them back. With a text message, that process is even quicker. Someone sends me a message, and if I want to call them back I can. Same with a recruit. How many high school football players are going to ignore a message from JoePa or Bob Stoops?

After a little pause, caused by craziness in the real world, here's hoping we're back to regular blogging. It is Senior Bowl week, so there should be some news coming out of Mobile to keep me busy.

Quarterbacking the Senior Bowl’s North team will be Vanderbilt’s Jay Cutler, Clemson’s Charlie Whitehurst and Penn State’s Michael Robinson, while the South team will feature Alabama’s Brodie Croyle, UAB’s Darrell Hackney and Georgia’s D.J. Shockley.

Full rosters can be found here.

Buried in this story about the American Football Coaches Association meeting in Dallas is an item on coaches being surveyed about a potential early signing period in football. It couldn't hurt. While there are always those who can't make up their mind or are swayed at the last minute (Emmanuel Moody, Mitch Mustain), there are also those who will be enrolling in school next week so they can take part in spring practice (Texas' Sergio Kindle and Georgia's Matt Stafford). What is the harm in allowing those committed to make it official?

It is official.

Now that the Vince Young love-fest is fading, we can get back to the debate over how quickly Reggie Bush will break all of the NFL rushing records. Please. He is a good player. Maybe even very good. But not the next Gayle Sayers. Not even the best running back on his team. Give me LenDale White at the end of the first round over Bush at the top pick.

Bush reminds me of the once-great, can't-miss Peter Warrick. He was so amazing, so unbelievable, that he was taken #4 overall in 2000. He hasn't exactly become the next Jerry Rice.

A person close to LenDale White has said the star running back plans to declare for the NFL Draft today. The announcement is expected to come in an interview with ESPNEWS.

Vince Young, QB, Jr., University of Texas
212-325 (65.2%), 3,036 yards, 26 touchdowns, 10 interceptions
155 carries, 1,050 yards, 12 touchdowns

A.J. Hawk, LB, Sr., The Ohio State University
121 tackles (69 solo), 16.5 tackles for loss
9.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, 1 interception