I've been cobbling together some interesting stuff from the recent Manning Camp Passing Academy in which top college quarterbacks get together to learn, compete, and show off their wares for the NFL scouts and media.
Some names you may recognize:
Stanford's Andrew Luck, Florida State's Christian Ponder, TCU's Andy Dalton, Tennessee's Matt Simms (yep, Chris' brother, transfer from Louisville via JUCO), Houston's Case Keenum, Boise State's Kellen Moore, Texas A&M's Jerrod Johnson, LSU's Jordan Jefferson, Alabama's Greg McElroy, and T.J. Yates of North Carolina, Nevada's Colin Kaepernick.
Ryan Mallet, Jacory Harris, Jake Locker, and Terrelle Pryor were all invited but didn't attend.
I also saw a breakdown of the camp on College Football Live from Jesse Palmer, the poor man's Herbstreit.
Some observations that were made by multiple folks:
- Luck was the #1 NFL prospect in attendance. He's pretty much the NFL prototype. 6-4 235, good arm, quick release, very mobile. A NFL scout in attendance called him "a bigger Drew Brees" which means what, exactly? He's freakishly accurate and mobile, but 4 inches taller and 25 pounds heavier?
- Nevada's Colin Kaepernick had the strongest arm in camp. Interesting.
- Matt Simms had the second best arm.
- Andy Dalton received nice reviews. Would you entrust your franchise to a ginger?
- Virginia Tech's Tyrod Taylor received raves for...his basketball dunks. Which sums up all you need to know about Tyrod Taylor.
- Jerrod Johnson is really well put together and athletic, but his arm strength was apparently underwhelming. Jesse Palmer made specific mention of this on College Football Live. Johnson won last year's Air It Out competition, though.
- Very little said about Greg McElroy beyond his aura of winningness and other assorted stupidity.
- Taylor Potts won the 2010 Air It Out competition, beating out Matt Simms. If Texas Tech starts any golf carts with targets on them at wideout this year, Potts will hit them with unerring accuracy. He can also get you a deal on some dry wall work.
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I'm intrigued by Colin Kaepernick. He is a 2,000/1,000 pass/rush guy in the Nevada pistol offense and though you'll hear the inevitable Vince Young comparisons, Randall Cunningham is the better comparator. Like Randall, he has a huge arm, plays at an off-the-map school in Nevada (Nevada-Reno instead of UNLV), has a 6-5 skinny frame, and he glides all over the field. I've watched him play a few times and always liked him, but he has never had quality wide receivers and his OL is always outmatched against the big boys.
Jerrod Johnson is apparently a really good kid:
Truth be told, [Jerrod] Johnson speaks better than almost every college guy I've ever covered; he is a better speaker than most of the coaches and most of us who cover them, too. Listening to him talk about how he had to mature after his father, a former Aggies' receiver-turned-school principal, died, you find yourself thinking about how proud his family must be about how he's turned out. He walked back to his seat to applause. I felt bad for the guys who had to speak after him.
It's more enjoyable when the QB at OU or A&M is a turd, but I'll be pulling for Jerrod Johnson on any day he's not playing Texas.
Kellen Moore will finish this year his career as the winningest QB in college football history. And won't play a down in the NFL.