Buckeyes in the draft/NFL Combine

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

5/7/06

OHIO STATE FOOTBALL

OSU’s wrecking crew back on the job

Hard work pays off for drafted linebackers, but it doesn’t end there

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

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</IMG> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=credit width=200>NEAL C . LAURON DISPATCH </TD></TR><TR><TD class=cutline width=200>Former OSU linebackers Bobby Carpenter, A.J. Hawk and Anthony Schlegel were back in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center for workouts days after the NFL draft. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


The old linebacker gang was back together in the Ohio State weight room early one morning last week. They pumped iron while a boombox blared, going about their business as if last weekend had never happened.
But the NFL had come calling on the first day of its draft. Green Bay took A.J. Hawk with the fifth pick in the first round, Dallas took Bobby Carpenter 18 th and the New York Jets grabbed Anthony Schlegel in the third round with the 76 th overall pick.
It was the fastest that three linebackers from the same school had been taken in the same draft since 1999, when Florida had Jevon Kearse, Mike Peterson and Johnny Rutledge selected among the first 20 picks.
Hawk, Carpenter and Schlegel took little time, however, to bask in their glory. All three were back working out Tuesday, just after 6 a.m., as if the draft were still a few weeks away and they still had teams they wanted to impress.
"It’s all about the work ethic," Schlegel said. "These two guys are as competitive and as hard-working as you’re ever going to see, and I think I’m that way, too. To get somewhere in this game, to chase your dream, it’s all about getting up and working out in the morning, even when you don’t have to. It’s about watching film and studying the opponent, and then playing the game together the way it’s supposed to be played, and having fun doing it."
Carpenter said part of the fun the past three years, ever since Schlegel transferred from Air Force, was the way the three linebackers showed up for work at about the same time. There was an instant bond.
"I think the thing that makes us such good friends is, even though we’re different in some ways, we all have the same set of values," Carpenter said. "We’re all extremely hard workers and want to be successful."
Ohio State coaches, including defensive coordinator Jim Heacock, took notice.
"They are all three self-motivated," Heacock said. "Those three know what they want and are willing to work for what they want. That’s the way they practice. That’s the way they do everything."
It’s the way they’ve gone about their schoolwork, too. Schlegel graduated in March, and Carpenter and Hawk are each taking a class apiece so they can graduate at the end of this quarter. Soon thereafter, the three will scatter across the NFL.
"That’s tough to think about, because we’ve had so much fun together," Carpenter said. "But hopefully we can come back in the off-season sometimes and work out together again."
Then again, Schlegel said, their presence might still be felt even when they’re gone.
"Now you see those talented young linebackers coming up behind us, they’re all in there in the morning working hard, too, because they know that’s what is expected of a linebacker at Ohio State," he said. "That’s probably the best tribute you can be paid. The other guys see what it means and they do it now."
[email protected]

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

5/7/06

COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Classes leaving Buckeyes left out


Sunday, May 07, 2006

Doug Lesmerises
Plain Dealer Reporter

Columbus- Ohio State is a football factory. For the last 16 years, an NFL rule has forced Buckeyes bound for the pros to show up late for work.

An agreement originally intended to prevent pro teams from forcing players to drop out of school after the NFL draft serves now to set back rookies from nine Division I universities that don't hold graduation until June.

The rule, enforced by the NFL and created with the encouragement of the American Football Coaches Association in 1990, limits players to one minicamp with his NFL team while school is still in session. Most colleges, which hold commencement by the middle of May, aren't affected because school's out by the second round of minicamps.

Not so for colleges on the quarter system that don't hold spring exams until June. No school has more players affected than Ohio State, which had 35 players in the NFL at the start of last season and is sending 14 more to pro camps this year, nine as drafted players and five more as free agents.

While players like first-round picks A.J. Hawk of Green Bay and Santonio Holmes with Pittsburgh may fall a bit behind, the players hurt most by missing 10 to 15 early practices are the free agents hoping to catch a coach's eye.

"Santonio Holmes is going to be a Pittsburgh Steeler no matter what," said agent Jeff Chilcoat. "For guys more on the fringe, you're several weeks behind someone else at that same position. I believe if you have two guys even up, and one guy has an extra three or four weeks in the system, that's an advantage."

Chilcoat was talking about the effect on one of his clients, defensive tackle Marcus Green, who signed with the New York Giants. Defensive end/linebacker Mike Kudla, who signed as a free agent with the Steelers, faces the same battle.

"I'll have my playbook and I'll have a chance to learn things, but I won't be able to work on a one-on-one basis," said Kudla, who is allowed to attend the Steelers' first camp next weekend, then nothing else until OSU exams end on June 8.

Kudla, who spends the time working out on campus, isn't complaining. It's a Buckeye fact of life. "Every guy goes through it," Kudla said. "It's part of the process."

Fifth-year players are exempt from the rule since their class already graduated. So, OSU free agents Ryan Hamby with the Cincinnati Bengals and Josh Huston with the Chicago Bears won't miss anything.

Though sometimes assumed to be an NCAA mandate, the NCAA has no connection to the agreement. It came about through the powerful AFCA when college football coaches grew tired of NFL teams prying players away for sometimes monthlong camps the moment they were drafted.

"It was a horrible amount of lost time in the classroom," said AFCA Executive Director Grant Teaff. "The youngsters would go to four or five minicamps, and they were flunking out left and right."

The limit on minicamps was the best way to change that. Now, the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate penalizes colleges for players who don't graduate while in bad academic standing.

"The truth of the matter is, the AFCA was concerned about this long before the NCAA stepped into it in any way with the APR concept," Teaff said.

But now that there's a different incentive for staying in school, maybe it's time for this 16-year-old rule to fade away. The few players and colleges affected could use their own judgment to work out missed class time.

The NFL's not inclined to abolish the rule. And neither is Teaff.

"We're very comfortable with the rule," he said. "But if Ohio State and 10 other institutions said we need to look at this, I'm sure we would."

Bucknote:
Speedy Piqua running back Brandon Saine, the Division I state track champ in the 100 and 400 meters, gave an oral commitment to Ohio State this week for the 2007 recruiting class. He's the second member of the class, joining St. Edward defensive back Nate Oliver.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
[email protected], 216-999-4479

 

[osugrad21]

Link
1. Ohio St.
Everybody likes to brag about which teams and which conferences have the best players. We spend countless hours following high school recruiting to determine who has the best players. However, this is based too much on the potential of high school seniors and not on how talented they actually become in college. It is much more realistic to look at which players ultimately get drafted into the NFL. Most coaches will tell you that you win with talent ?€“ more specifically, veteran talent. Well, because the NFL only drafts only juniors and seniors, the draft should tell us which teams had the most talented and experienced players.
Now, we can make some interesting observations about the most talented teams in college football and what that means ?€“ or should mean.
First of all, when you look at the championship game between USC and Texas and you compare the NFL talent on both sides of the ball, the Trojans should have been able to win that game. They had 11 players drafted by the NFL compared to six for Texas, and more importantly they outscored Texas 52 to 29 in power points. Throw in the fact that they have not one but two Heisman Trophy winners in their backfield, and Mack Brown and his Longhorns deserve even more credit.
Ohio State, USC, Texas, LSU, Virginia Tech and Georgia all had the kind of years that you would expect with the veteran talent that they had. They all had top-10 finishes in the NFL draft and top-10 finishes in the final AP college football poll.
However, what happened to Miami, Florida State and Oklahoma? It appears that each of these teams greatly underachieved last year. I have heard people say that FSU and Miami aren't getting the great players like they used to, but this obviously isn't true. Regardless, most fans will agree that all three powerhouses had disappointing years.
Then there is the enigma that is North Carolina State. The Wolfpack had the fifth-best year in the NFL draft and didn't even end the season in the AP top 25. I have studied the draft for the past several years, and let me say that it is quite unusual for NC State to be in the NFL draft top 10. If you look at every other team that made it you will see that they are all perennially top-10 football teams, and year in and year out have the most players drafted in the NFL.
So as good as Chuck Amato is at recruiting, and yes, the old defensive line coach did have three defensive linemen drafted in the first round, I don't think this will be an every-year occurrence for the Wolfpack. If State is going to continue to have such great days in the draft, it needs to win more than seven games.
Other interesting observations from the NFL draft:
Penn State and Alabama finished in the AP top 10 and just barely failed to make the NFL draft top 10, finishing No. 12 and No. 11, respectively.
Notre Dame finished the season ranked No. 9 but failed to make the top 25 in the draft, with only three players drafted. Charlie Weis has proved he can coach 'em up, now he has to prove he can recruit 'em up.
Is there any doubt Rich Rodriquez of West by God' Virginia did the best job of coaching in the country last year? He went 11-1, beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl and had only one player taken in the NFL draft (in the sixth round).
Not to alarm anyone, but shouldn't it concern someone that Michigan had no players drafted on the first day of the NFL draft and Ohio State had five taken in the first round? Incidentally, which Michigan team did have the best day in the NFL draft? That would be Western Michigan with two second-round picks and 12 power points.

Man, have things changed in the talent department at Washington. Only one Husky player was drafted, in the fifth round. I bet Rick Neuheisel would not have let that happen if he was still there. Did I say bet? Never mind.
The state of Mississippi has some of the best football players in the country. However, only two players were drafted from the three state universities, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Southern Miss. Where are Billy Brewer and Jackie Sherrill when you need them?
Finally, special recognition goes out to Division I-AA Hofstra, which had two players drafted into the NFL. Stay tuned, as we next take a look at which conferences did the best in the NFL draft.
Terry Bowden is Yahoo! Sports' college football analyst. Send him a question or comment for potential use in a future column.
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[Catfish Biff's]

Man, there was a thought in my head that I wanted to share with everyone after having read through this thread, and I just can't think of it.

Oh yeah, it was a quote from the Terry Bowden article above...

Not to alarm anyone, but shouldn't it concern someone that Michigan had no players drafted on the first day of the NFL draft and Ohio State had five taken in the first round? Incidentally, which Michigan team did have the best day in the NFL draft? That would be Western Michigan with two second-round picks and 12 power points.

 

[osugrad21]

Dispatch

COMBINE NOTEBOOK
Draft stock not bullish for Patterson, Pitcock
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Bill Rabinowitz and James Walker
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

INDIANAPOLIS ? Defensive tackles David Patterson and Quinn Pitcock were continually hailed as the foundation for Ohio State?s surprisingly stingy defense this season.
Pitcock in particular was regarded as a potentially high draft pick. Now it appears both players may be second-day picks. Pitcock?s stock has slipped and he is ranked about 10 th among defensive tackles. Patterson is regarded as a late-rounder.

Cont'd...

 

[23Skidoo]

I'm not sure what exactly is going on for Pitcock to drop so far even before his workout at the combine... but wtf? 10th? Sounds like another case of the media looking at just 1 game and claiming the Buckeyes suck.
I was also under the impression he did very well at the Sr Bowl.

 

[sandgk]

Just a collection of the Combine reporting sites.

I have changed my mind on one thing. The best of the lot, thus far seems to be the FFLiveWire site. Tables are correctly collated, sortable, and all in all well done. Player profiles though are non-existent.

NFLDraftCountdown does a decent job, though the regularity with which they update data seems to lag FFLiveWire by a great deal. Where NFLDaftcountdown excels is in having a slew of player profiles.

Footballs Future has a lot of articles, though the depth of raw numbers is lacking, it does provide player bios and sketches.

Last of the independents would be Draft Daddy.

The official NFL network reporting and SI's coverage is good in terms of context, and in the latter instance journalism. But, these two sites seem to lack the breadth and depth of FFLiveWire's raw numbers.

All in all I give a huge thumbs up to FFLivewire for it's reporting and updating of the raw data, and tip of the hat to NFLDraftcountdown.

 

[exhawg]

I'm not sure what exactly is going on for Pitcock to drop so far even before his workout at the combine... but wtf? 10th? Sounds like another case of the media looking at just 1 game and claiming the Buckeyes suck.
I was also under the impression he did very well at the Sr Bowl.

I would be ecstatic if the Brown's could get him in the 3rd or 4th. Pitcock would do a great job of filling one of the holes at DE and he is probably big enough that he could move down to NT on the passing downs.

 

[23Skidoo]

I would be ecstatic if the Brown's could get him in the 3rd or 4th. Pitcock would do a great job of filling one of the holes at DE and he is probably big enough that he could move down to NT on the passing downs.

Me too. I think where we're at in the 3rd is just a little low for my estimation -- but a good spot for him nonetheless. He'd be a good pick there, and an absolute steal in the 4th.

 

[BGriffBuckeye]

Footballs Future has a lot of articles, though the depth of raw numbers is lacking, it does provide player bios and sketches.

Funny, but Footballs Future has a picture of Maurice Wells by their combine results. It is a bit fuzzy, but I am sure they just assumed it was Pittman. I got a laugh out of it.

 

[osugrad21]

ABJ

Combine notes
OSU All-American defensive tackle Quinn Pitcock, 6-2 ? and 299 pounds, ran the 40-yard dash Monday in 4.93 seconds. He also tied for second in his group in the vertical jump (34 inches) and tied for seventh in the broad jump (9-4).
Defensive tackle David Patterson recorded 9-10 in the broad jump (tied for third), 4.43 seconds in the 20-yard shuttle (tied for fourth with Purdue standout Anthony Spencer), 7.47 seconds in the three-cone (eighth) and bench-pressed 225 pounds 21 times. Defensive end Jay Richardson had a 33-inch vertical jump (tied for fifth) and a 10-4 broad jump (tied for seventh) and did 20 reps on the bench press.

 

[osugrad21]

Canton


Stock is rising for Pittman, Ohioans
Friday, April 27, 2007
By RUSTY MILLER
AP Sports Writer

COLUMBUS Antonio Pittman wavered at first: Return to Ohio State for his senior year or jump to the pros and support his family?

"My mind was going through a lot of things: Stay. Go. Stay. Go," the tailback said. "And then once I finally made it 100 percent sure that I was going to leave, I had to dedicate myself to the weight room, studying film and the long hours that it took to prepare for this."

"This" is the NFL draft, which gets under way on Saturday in New York.


Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

Dispatch

Saints end Pittman's wait in fourth round

Monday, April 30, 2007 3:30 AM
By Tim May


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Doug Datish, sixth round, Atlanta

Roy Hall, fifth round, Indianapolis

Antonio Pittman, fourth round, New Orleans

Jay Richardson, fifth round, Oakland


It's tough to understand the vagaries of the NFL draft, as several former Ohio State football players learned this weekend.

Cont...

 

[PlanetFrnd]

Kiper

Mel Kiper has been getting on my nerves. I'm tired of him beating up the Dolphins for taking Teddy. I'm just getting tired of him in general - hopefully we'll all get a few months before we start having to listen to him talk about the '08 draft...

Anyways, he doesn't rate anyone's draft higher than a B+ this year. Did Mel go to college? Hasn't he ever heard of a curve?

Kiper's Draft Grades (ESPN Insider)

 

[osugrad21]

ABJ

The Indianapolis Colts grabbed their fourth Ohio State rookie, cornerback Antonio Smith, who will join draftees Anthony Gonzalez, Quinn Pitcock and Roy Hall.
``He fits their system and with (coach) Tony Dungy's obsession with Ohio State this year,'' said Smith's agent, Bradley Cicala. ``They have a lot of cornerbacks, but some are between safeties and corners. I think he'll be a good nickel.''
Buckeyes free safety Brandon Mitchell said he had a choice of ``seven or eight teams'' and signed with the Houston Texans. He'll head there May 14.
OSU defensive tackle David Patterson might have come out the best of the undrafted bunch as he joined the Atlanta Falcons.
``It was a feeding frenzy,'' said Patterson's agent, Jonathan Feinsod. ``He ended up being the highest-paid (undrafted) free agent this year.''
Feinsod said Patterson fared better by getting to choose from multiple offers rather than being the 240th player taken.
``Neither one is making the headlines as a strong possibility for rookie of the year and each has the same opportunity of making the team,'' Feinsod said. ``We got the best of both worlds.''