Read the debate intro, and Sports Geek’s argument that college football athletes should be evaluated by college success.
Football fans often compare and contrast college and professional football. You can argue all day about the passion of each fan base for each school/team. You can argue about the style of football for each level. And, like we are today, you can argue what is the better criterion for evaluating a college player. Is it by the success he experiences while in college, or is it his pro potential?
Does college success guarantee pro success? It most certainly does not. There are many examples to back this up. Quarterback’s Charlie Ward, Danny Wuerffel, Colt Brennan, and any Texas Tech quarterback (sorry Mike Leach, don’t get mad at me) are examples that immediately come to mind. There have been guys who have been successful on a smaller level in college but have starred in the NFL. Brett Favre and Jerry Rice come to mind, as they starred at Southern Miss and Mississippi Valley State, respectively. There have even been guys like former Georgia running back Terrell Davis who did very little in college yet thrived in the NFL for a period of time. I am guessing very few non-UGA fans even remember him playing in Athens.
Bleacher Fan has asked what the best criteria are when evaluating college football players. It is easy to answer that question. You evaluate based on pro potential. The ultimate goal is to get to the next level in anything you do, and that is no different in football. When you are interviewing for a job straight out of college, you are not only presenting your resume but you are also presenting yourself. You are hired not only for your GPA but also by the way you conduct yourself in the interview. Chances are you are hired because the employer sees POTENTIAL in you. They are not going to hire you if they think you will not grow in the position.
It is hard to evaluate players like Brennan and former Red Raider QB Graham Harrell. Brennan passed for over 14,000 yards and 131 touchdowns in three years at Hawaii, but he fell to the sixth round in the 2008 draft mainly because scouts were concerned (and rightly so) that his stats were heavily inflated by a gimmicky pass happy offense that would not work in the NFL. Harrell had a similar problem. He threw for nearly 16,000 yards and 134 touchdowns in his career at Texas Tech. Yet, he also played in a gimmicky offense that lets the quarterback throw the ball 60 times a game. He was not drafted at all. He currently plays for Saskatchewan Roughriders in the CFL. Red Raider coach Mike Leach did not understand why Harrell was not drafted, and someone like Texas A&M quarterback Stephen McGee was, which set off a mini-controversy between Leach and Aggie coach Mike Sherman.
Florida quarterback Tim Tebow has taken a lot of criticism regarding his pro potential due to the fact that he plays in a very unique spread offense at Florida. Time will tell whether or not he can succeed in the NFL. The main difference between him and Brennan and Harrell is that Tebow possesses a physical nature to his game while the other two were somewhat finesse. Contrarily, you have someone like quarterback Mark Sanchez, who played in a pro-style offense at USC and who played under a coach with NFL experience in Pete Carroll.
If the ultimate goal is to see who can put up the best numbers on the field and on Playstation 3, then yes, you evaluate by the stats and what kind of numbers he has in college. If the ultimate goal is to make it to the NFL, then you look at the entire repertoire and decide if the guy is ready for the NFL. That determines true success.
