Small School Draft Philosophy - what do you think?

[Fritz]

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-onlin...12396011.shtml

Thinking small

Jaguars vice president of player personnel James Harris, who played quarterback at Grambling, stuck to his small-school roots in this year's draft.

Three of the Jaguars' nine picks were from Division I-AA programs: DB Rashean Mathis (Bethune-Cookman), S David Young (Georgia Southern) and OL Marques Ogden (Howard).

Harris said taking small-school players was by design in the later rounds.

"At the back end of the draft, players from big schools have been evaluated and maxed out with that evaluation," Harris said. "Players from the smaller schools might have more upside because they haven't been maxed out [in scouting]."

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well, what do you think?

[Franklinnoble]

That's fairly common... maybe not drafting them, but I know the Redskins signed an undrafted WR from Bowie State that was probably WAAAAYYY under the radar of most other pro scouts. I actually think it's kinda cool when NFL teams give regional small-school talent a shot... Wasn't Todd Bouman (sp?) from a small school in MN?

[SunDancer]

I think that small-school prospects are more boom-or-bust type. Steve McNair was small school, as were many others. I don't feel they can contribute right away like a player from a major university, but they can develop just as much.

[clintl]

I went to a D-II school that has had a number of players get drafted and reach the NFL. The only ones I can remember making a significant impact (and by that, I mean becoming starters, not superstars) were drafted early, though. The late-round picks generally turned out to be career backups or didn't even make it out of training camp. My guess is that the really good ones get noticed.

[QuikSand]

Originally said by some Jags scouting guy:
"At the back end of the draft, players from big schools have been evaluated and maxed out with that evaluation," Harris said. "Players from the smaller schools might have more upside because they haven't been maxed out [in scouting]."

I honestly cannot understand what the man is saying here. What exactly does "maxed out in scouting" mean?

From context, I assume that he means that the better players for smaller schools may not have been fully uncovered... and if you find them, they might be better than anyone out there really knows.

But the sentence he used doesn't really seem to say this. It seems to say that a player who has not yet been scouted has more potential than one who has been scouted. WTF?

Jebus, the guys sounds like he's playing FOF and trying to work all the backdoor angles with red bars, green bars, and the like. Total metagame stuff.

[Butter]

"In scouting" was in parentheses, so perhaps he was trying to say maxed out in ability, because they went to a school where the coaching wouldn't have been top notch, but the reporter mistakently translated it as maxed out in scouting.

[Abe Sargent]

Originally posted by Butter_of_69
"In scouting" was in parentheses, so perhaps he was trying to say maxed out in ability, because they went to a school where the coaching wouldn't have been top notch, but the reporter mistakently translated it as maxed out in scouting.

This is exactly what he says. I've watched the 10 minute video of him recapping the draft and press conference and he talks about how the players are more raw, and less polished - how you get big school prospects in the late rounds that are at their level of ability and won't get better - but small school prospects with worse coaching, poor facilities, and such, when at the same skill level, are more likely to develop. THe skill level part was an important aspect of the point, I think.

-Anxiety