The NFL draft commences on Saturday in New York City and runs through Sunday. Running back and defensive back offer the conference the best chance of making a splash. The Big Ten has three players ranked in the top ten amongst backs. Chris Wells trails only Georgia’s Knowshon Moreno. Not far behind is Shonn Greene, who won the Big Ten MVP award for Iowa. And Michigan State’s Javon Ringer is ranked seventh. All three will make productive pros, but I think Wells is on the path to being a player who will break some team’s heart. His extraordinary talent will tantalize, his fragile health always cutting him short. Greene and Ringer don’t have the same raw talent, but are more likely to settle into a consistent role somewhere. Also on the radar screen are Kory Sheets from Purdue, who can fit in somewhere as a third-down back. Marcus Thigpen from Indiana is a longer shot at a similar job. And it will be interesting to see if there’s any action on Wisconsin’s P.J. Hill. He ran well for Wisconsin, but that was in a system that always produces good backs, and Hill had problems with both injuries and fumbling. Quite frankly, I don’t think Hill has any shot at a good NFL career.
In the secondary, Malcolm Jenkins from Ohio State is the top-rated corner on the board. Sitting at #4 as Vontae Davis from Illinois. The latter has a temperament as explosive as his play, and could go either in the first round or fall hard. Also with good shots at getting their names called include Jenkins’ partner in crime at Columbus, Donald Washington, and Michigan’s Morgan Trent.
Linebacker is a weak field, but the story of James Laurinatius from Ohio State is going to join that of Wells as the most intriguing drama involving Big Ten players. Laurinatius has had an outstanding career in Columbus, but his workout at the pre-draft combine was a disaster. In the strange world of NFL scouts, a couple days of workouts trump 40+ games on a football field. We’ll see how far the linebacker falls. We can also wait to see on the fate of Buckeye outside man Marcus Freeman, as well as Wisconsin’s pair, DeAndre Levy and Jonathan Casillas.
The rest of the prospects are below, with their positional ranking on College Football News listed in parentheses
Quarterback
Curtis Painter (#7, Purdue)
Brian Hoyer (#16, Michigan State)
Receivers
Derrick Williams (#7, Penn State)
Brian Robiskie (#8, Ohio State)
Brian Hartline (#22, Ohio State)
Greg Matthews (#24, Michigan)
Deon Butler (#25, Penn State)
Tight Ends
Travis Beckum (#3, Wisconsin)
Tony Moeaki (#16, Iowa)
Jeff Cumberland (#17, Illinois)
Rory Nicol (#19, Ohio State)
Offensive Line
Tackles
Alex Boone (#4, Ohio State)
Sean Sester (#15, Purdue)
Xavier Fulton (#16, Illinois)
Eric VandenHeuvel (#22, Wisconsin)
Guards
Kraig Urbik (#3, Wisconsin)
Andy Kemp (#11, Wisconsin)
Steve Rehringer (#16, Ohio State)
Defensive Line
Ends
Aaron Maybin (#2, Penn State)
Matt Shaughnessy (#11, Wisconsin)
Mitch King (#14, Iowa)
Will Davis (#15, Illinois)
Derrick Walker (#17, Illinois)
Tim Jamison (#20, Michigan)
Maurice Evans (#25, Penn State)
Tackles
Terrance Taylor (#8, Michigan)
Alex Magee (#10, Purdue)
John Gill (#21, Northwestern)
Secondary
Corners listed above
Safeties
Otis Wiley (#5, Michigan State)
Bradley Fletcher (#19, Iowa)
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Posted by: Rosalba | April 22, 2009 at 09:49 AM