Where's the Love?

Russ Lande of War Room Scouts recently wrote a piece for The Sporting News in which he goes on to talk about who he considers to be the top ten quarterbacks for the 09 NFL draft, here’s a copy of the list:

1. Tim Tebow, Florida, Jr.
2. Matthew Stafford, Georgia,Jr.
3. Josh Freeman, Kansas State, Jr.
4. Cullen Harper, Clemson, Sr.
5. Colt McCoy, Texas, Jr.
6. Chase Daniel, Missouri, Sr.
7. Nathan Brown, Central Arkansas, Sr.
8. Chase Holbrook, New Mexico State, Sr.
9. Sean Glennon, Virginia Tech, Sr.
10. Rhett Bhomar, Sam Houston State, Sr.

In this list there is one HUGE glaring obvious absence. I’m sure if you know anything about

college football you already know who I’m talking about. So I ask Mr. Lande….where’s the love?? Why the exclusion of Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell?

The only reason I can think of is the label that Harrell has been unfairly given, “System Quarterback” so let’s break it down. Let’s take a look at Harrell’s numbers from last year, 48 touchdowns, 14 interceptions, 512 completions out of 713 attempts with 5705 yards, all I can say is WOW…but still many people think “System QB” so let’s take a look at other “System QB”s and see how they stack up I am going to focus on three other guys, Timmy Chang who tore it up in college but didn’t make it in the NFL, Colt Brennan who rewrote the record books and will look to get a job in the NFL, and finally a player who was included in Russ Lande’s list, Chase Holbrook.

	Completions	Attempts	Yards	TDs	INTs
Graham Harrell(2007 )	512	713	5705	48	14
Timmy Chang(2004)	358	602	4258	38	13
Colt Brennan(2007)	359	510	4343	38	17
Chase Holbrook(2007)	381	543	3866	26	18

There’s a clear difference between Harrell and the rest of these players isn’t there? Holbrook’s numbers would perhaps be a lil’ bit higher if he hadn’t missed one game against Louisiana Tech last year; still Harrell threw a lot more than any of these players, had more touchdowns, fewer interceptions than most(except for Chang), and more completions. Not only that but Harrell plays in the Big XII while all these other players play against WAC defenses which are for the most part not as good as those in the Big XII. So obviously Harrell is a player, anyone who can throw 48 TDs in 12 games is amazing, I don’t care what system you’re playing in, not many other players can match that. I guarantee Chase Daniel, or Matthew Stafford wouldn’t have the same kind of numbers if they played under Mike Leach.

So now that I’ve made my case that Harrell is not simply a “system QB” let’s go on to see other names that were included instead of Graham Harrell. Start at the top, Tim Tebow last year’s Heisman winner and a QB who’s a huge double threat, especially when it comes to those short yardage situations. According to Russ Lande Tim Tebow is the #1 NFL prospect for next year, but let’s weigh the facts. Running QBs simply don’t cut it in the NFL it’s as simple as that, the last mobile QB to make it to a Super Bowl was Donovan McNabb with the Eagles, and he didn’t win, five years before it was Air McNair with the Titans, and they lost. Before that it was John Elway when he won with the Broncos. That’s it, mobile QBs are simply not successful in the NFL. Let’s take a look at the top QBs in the league, Tom Brady(not mobile), Peyton Manning(not Mobile), Carson Palmer(not mobile)….starting to get the picture?

The last great Mobile QB to play college football was Vince Young, now he’s still a rookie but so far he’s been having a hard time in the NFL. Let’s compare his last year with Texas to Tebow’s performance last year.

	Pass attempts	Completions	Yards	TDs	INTs	Rush attemps	Rush Yards	Rush TDs	Avg
Vince Young(2005)	325	212	3036	26	10	147	993	12	6.8
Tim Tebow(2007)	350	234	3286	32	6	210	895	23	4.3

Tebow’s numbers show that he has thrown and rushed more than Vince Young did, because of that he had more passing and rushing TDs, his rushing TDs however mostly came at the goal line when his 6’3 240lb frame came in handy. Which lead to Tebow getting hit quite a lot to the point that his hand got injured, How many coaches in the NFL would be willing to risk their running QB to get hit that much? None. The point is Young was faster, and bigger than Tebow but that still hasn’t made a difference in the NFL so I highly doubt Tebow would have that edge in the NFL. Which leads of course to say that Tebow is a better passer than Vince Young, and yes he is…but is he a better passer than Harrell? Or even Matthew Stafford? Or Chase Daniel?...doubt it.

Which leads me to my next point, Matthew Stafford. Now don’t get me wrong, he’s a good player but is he really the #2 QB? Matt Stafford last year had 348 attempts for 194 completions for 2523 yards 19 TDs and 10 INTs…..that’s right 19 TDs and 10 INTs that’s more than half of his total TD count. When compared to Harrell we can see that second year starter Stafford threw almost half as many passes but only 4 less interceptions than Harrell. While Stafford’s completion percentage was 55.7 while Harrell’s was 71.8. Overall Stafford just doesn’t overshadow Harrell in any way, not even physically while Stafford stands at 6’3 and 237lbs, Harrell is just as impressive at 6’3 and 205lbs. I really don’t see how anyone would take Stafford over Harrell.

As for the rest of the players, they’re not really worth analyzing, the only player which deserves to be as high as he is ranked is Chase Daniel, I’d even rank him higher. The point is if Harrell’s numbers are a product of the system, then so are Tim Tebow’s. So Where’s the Love Russ Lande?? Where's the love NFL Scouts? Where’ the Love Heisman voters??

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