College Programs with Best Late Round Value

[JonDMiller]

Was reading an ESPN item today that talked about how most NFL teams are assembled from players taken in rounds 3-7...and how Iowa is poised to become one of the biggest feeders for NFL teams for players taken in that range:

this is when NFL teams are really being assembled. The bulk of a typical roster comes from Rounds 3 through 7 of the draft, and even though the occasional diamond in the rough can be found here, most coaches and general managers are simply looking for the less-celebrated gems.

They (Iowa) have produced four solid late-round picks in the last five years, led by Panthers safety Charles Godfrey, who has started 57 games in the last four seasons. A total of 13 Iowa players have been picked in Rounds 3 through 7 of the last three NFL Drafts, and Scouts Inc. predicts as many as six to go in that range this year, inlcuding Mike Daniels, Adam Gettis, Marvin McNutt and Shaun Prater. And if the recent Iowa trend continues, one of those guys is likely to become a regular starter within the next two years.

http://insider.espn.go.com/college-...ols-produced-lot-talent-recent-nfl-drafts-cfb

Kirk mentioned yesterday that Iowa has had 23 players invited to the last three NFL combines, more than any other Big Ten team. You would have to think that at some point, that sort of NFL success and exposure is going to really cause an uptick in recruiting...perhaps we are seeing that in the DL and OL classes as of late.

 

[pmchawk]

oh noes, posting insider information.

 

[Ronco]

I would like to see us have two players just about every year talked about for rounds 1 and/or 2. Those are the rounds that catch people's attention and would help us make a bigger splash on the road recruiting. On top of that it probably means we're more successful on the field.

 

[JonDMiller]

oh noes, posting insider information.

We have a policy against copying and pasting complete premium articles. I never had a problem with folks using a paragraph or two with the stuff we had back when it was premium, as long as they also posted a link, as it helped promote the value in the content. Outright copying and pasting of a complete item is frowned upon and will remain so.

 

[ajones1996]

So the question then becomes with that talent wd seem to make....does Iowa not get as many wins on Saturday's as it should be?

 

[pmchawk]

I guess I always misunderstood that policy.

 

[JonDMiller]

So the question then becomes with that talent wd seem to make....does Iowa not get as many wins on Saturday's as it should be?

IMO, everything comes back to 2010 and not closing out those games. IIRC, in those 5 losses, Iowa either led or tied in 4th Q with chance to win after fell behind. That, and the offense just faltered big time over the last four or five games after Robinson, Gettis, McMillan got hurt, and losing Nielsen at LB was a killer in that portion of schedule, too. Injuries were a huge factor in 2010. That team still winning 8 games, even though it stinks they didn't win more, is pretty remarkable given the injury aspects and how thin an Iowa program is, traditionally

 

[FML]

that 2010 team was good enough to win every game on it's schedule. No way they should have lost more than 2 games that year. Somehow they ended up losing 5 games. Lot of talent on that team.

 

[SpiderRico]

IMO, everything comes back to 2010 and not closing out those games. IIRC, in those 5 losses, Iowa either led or tied in 4th Q with chance to win after fell behind. That, and the offense just faltered big time over the last four or five games after Robinson, Gettis, McMillan got hurt, and losing Nielsen at LB was a killer in that portion of schedule, too. Injuries were a huge factor in 2010. That team still winning 8 games, even though it stinks they didn't win more, is pretty remarkable given the injury aspects and how thin an Iowa program is, traditionally

KF lost more games when tied/leading in the 4th quarter that year than all other years combined.

And I still put the onus on the defense. I know in the 2nd half of the year we couldn't move the ball worth a crap and couldn't convert 3rd downs to save our life. But we couldn't do that in 2003 or 2004 either and it didn't stop our defense from punching the other team in the mouth and keeping them out of the endzone. Remember the Big 10 title game in 2004? Drew Tate threw 2 int's in like his first 3 passes and the D didn't give an inch.

Fast forward to 2010 and this defense just didn't have that "killer" instinct needed to impose it's will on the opposing offense. Does anyone think that the 2003 or 2004 defense would have let Wisky march down the field on us after that fake field goal? Or let Foles complete that bomb? Or let NW march down the field on us? No way.

 

[JonDMiller]

KF lost more games when tied/leading in the 4th quarter that year than all other years combined.

And I still put the onus on the defense. I know in the 2nd half of the year we couldn't move the ball worth a crap and couldn't convert 3rd downs to save our life. But we couldn't do that in 2003 or 2004 either and it didn't stop our defense from punching the other team in the mouth and keeping them out of the endzone. Remember the Big 10 title game in 2004? Drew Tate threw 2 int's in like his first 3 passes and the D didn't give an inch.

Fast forward to 2010 and this defense just didn't have that "killer" instinct needed to impose it's will on the opposing offense. Does anyone think that the 2003 or 2004 defense would have let Wisky march down the field on us after that fake field goal? Or let Foles complete that bomb? Or let NW march down the field on us? No way.

College football is different now than it was then. There are so many more spread offenses and mobile quarterbacks. Wisconsin didn't have that in 2004. Few teams in the Big Ten had that in 2003 and 2004. It was more of a power game, may the bully win.

Now, the spread game creates wildcards...like a mobile QB extending more drives with his legs...a Terrell Pryor getting 13 yards on 4th and 11 and ballgame on the line...a Dan Persa buying time. It's different now.

No way can you put things on the 2010 defense. Through 8 games that year, the offense was converting over 50% of its third downs and averaging over 30 points per game & D was getting off the field 69% of time on third down. The last four reg season games, the offense converted around 32% of third and the defense's third down % went up to around 50 as they were on the field all of the time...and they also faced more mobile QB's those last four games.

In the NW game, Iowa's offense was like 1 of 7 on third downs in each half. NW ran 50 plays in the second half.

 

[SpiderRico]

College football is different now than it was then. There are so many more spread offenses and mobile quarterbacks. Wisconsin didn't have that in 2004. Few teams in the Big Ten had that in 2003 and 2004. It was more of a power game, may the bully win.

Now, the spread game creates wildcards...like a mobile QB extending more drives with his legs...a Terrell Pryor getting 13 yards on 4th and 11 and ballgame on the line...a Dan Persa buying time. It's different now.

No way can you put things on the 2010 defense. Through 8 games that year, the offense was converting over 50% of its third downs and averaging over 30 points per game & D was getting off the field 69% of time on third down. The last four reg season games, the offense converted around 32% of third and the defense's third down % went up to around 50 as they were on the field all of the time...and they also faced more mobile QB's those last four games.

In the NW game, Iowa's offense was like 1 of 7 on third downs in each half. NW ran 50 plays in the second half.

In the immortal words of Ron Burgandy..."Agree to disagree."

In the 11 years prior to that, we had never depended on our offense to win games for us (save 2002). Why would we all of a sudden do that in 2010? As Hayden Fry said, "You dance with the one that brung ya!"

 

[JonDMiller]

In the immortal words of Ron Burgandy..."Agree to disagree."

I can absolutely do that

 

[DP5555]

I think Jon's point regarding injuries was certainly the biggest single contributor to the collapse at the end of the regular season in 2010. It's hard to argue with that. Some key parts of that team went down at the same time.

However, I do agree with you Spider in regards to your comment about the defenses of late having really lacked that killer instinct we saw in 2003 and 2004. It definitely seems like that intensity has been missing. A defense with a killer instinct will rise to the occasion in big moments. It can't just be one or two players giving everything they have. It has to be everyone. I watched Clayborn very closely in 2010. That kid worked his *** off trying to make as many plays as he could because I think he felt like he had to. At times it hurt his play because his aggressive approach took himself out of position and gassed him out too early. You have to give him credit for trying though. Bottom line is the defenses the last few years haven't been able to make a stop when they need it most. That needs to change.

I like what I've heard about this year's defense playing at a different energy level during the spring. I think Phil Parker has a more in your face approach than Norm did. He's gonna be more apt to turning some of his athletes loose and letting them try to make plays. It will be nice to have a headhunter back in the defensive backfield (Nico). It's always an intensity boost to the team when your defense has someone who can come up and knock the snot of the opponent.