Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Rank Ordering the Big Ten NFL Draft Prospects



Following the combine, NFL.com assigned each participant a number grade (20-100), which corresponds to projections like so:

20 - 49: Free Agent (UDFA)
50 - 69: Draftable Player (4th-7th)
70 - 84: Eventual Starter (2nd-3rd)
85 - 95: Immediate Starter (1st)
96 - 100: Future Hall of Famer (top pick)

Here's how the top two-thirds of Big Ten players who attended the combine stack up to one another. Coincidentally, Martin, Hemingway and Molk are listed consecutively at numbers 21, 22 and 23, respectively.

1. 89.7 - DT Jared Crick, Nebraska
2. 89.o - DT Devon Still, Penn State
3. 87.7 - LB Lavonte David, Nebraska
4. 86.0 -OT Riley Reiff, Iowa
5. 85.7 - CB Alfonzo Dennard, Nebraska
6. 85.0 - OL Peter Konz, Iowa
7. 83.0 - WR Nick Toon, Wisconsin
8. 82.7 - OL Marcel Jones, Nebraska
9. 79.5 - OL Kevin Zeitler, Wisconsin
10. 79.5 - DT Jerel Worthy, Michigan State
11. 76.5 - WR Devier Posey, Ohio State
12. 73.5 - WR B.J. Cunningham, Michigan State
13. 72.5 - DE Whitney Mercilus, Illinois
14. 69.7 - WR Keshawn Martin, Michigan State
15. 69.7 - RB Dan Herron, Ohio State
16. 68.5 - QB Russell Wilson, Wisconsin
17. 68.2 - FS Trent Robinson, Michigan State
18. 68.2 - DT Mike Daniels, Iowa
19. 64.5 - WR A.J. Jenkins, Illinois
20. 64.0 - DB Antonio Fenelus, Wisconsin
21. 59.7 - DT Mike Martin, Michigan
22. 59.5 - WR Junior Hemingway, Michigan
23. 59.2 - OL David Molk, Michigan
24. 58.0 - OL Michael Brewster, Ohio State
25. 57.5 - OL Jeff Allen, Illinois
26. 57.0 - CB D' Anton Lynn, Penn State
27. 56.0 - QB Kirk Cousins, Michigan State
28. 54.5 - OL Johnnie Toutman, Penn State
29. 54.0 - OL Mike Adams, Ohio State
30. 53.7 - DL Jack Crawford, Penn State

5 comments:

  1. LOL at Mike Adams. That is quite the drop.

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  2. TTB, any new thoughts on the prospects of the Michigan trio? Martin seems like far less of a reach than Molk/Hemingway (no offense to either intended), but his number is about the same.

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    1. Not really. Hemingway surprised a lot of people at the Combine (including me). I still think teams might look at his lack of production and be scared off a little bit, but we'll see. Molk can be good, but I think he needs the right team/system. I wouldn't be surprised to see a team like the Redskins or Texans take a shot at him.

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  3. According to the NFL "experts" Nebraska was loaded with top-shelf talent, yet they finished in 3rd place in our division.

    So...did Nebraska just underachieve this season? Was the difficult schedule to blame for their (relative) lack of success? The unfamiliarity with B1G teams?

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    1. I think it's a little of everything. The Big Ten is a difference conference than the Big 12, so there's bound to be some adjustment. The defenses were a little stouter this season than they had faced in the past. But I also think Nebraska underachieved a bit, especially Taylor Martinez. They need to be a more physical football team, because they got their asses kicked (physically) by several teams, including Michigan.

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