Smallwood is falling

[UConnDan97]

It's mind boggling, what Huskymedic posted in another thread, that Texas' 2010 class was ranked 3rd in recruiting and they had 0 drafted this year.

How is that even possible?

Well, there's a couple of ways that could happen. I'm guessing one of them is a faulty ranking system that gives players an extra bonus for being from Florida or Texas. They're playing the percentages, I guess...

 

[Rocktheworld]

Smallwood is incredibly lucky and should be calling Paul Pasqualoni to thank him right now. Without PP's NFL connections, Smallwood doesn't get drafted.

 

[rw005]

Smallwood is incredibly lucky and should be calling Paul Pasqualoni to thank him right now. Without PP's NFL connections, Smallwood doesn't get drafted.

It's unfortunate where most of these guys get there info from these days. Smallwood should have stayed in school.

 

[Durks07]

Smallwood is incredibly lucky and should be calling Paul Pasqualoni to thank him right now. Without PP's NFL connections, Smallwood doesn't get drafted.

It's unfortunate where most of these guys get there info from these days. Smallwood should have stayed in school.

 

[Rocktheworld]

obligatorybillymadisonclip

 

[BlueDogs]

Light'em up in Atlanta, Yawin. Have a great training camp and show them what you got in pre-season.

 

[sportsart]

McClain was a 7th round pick for Atlanta. Just sayin'....

 

[ZooCougar]

Smallwood is incredibly lucky and should be calling Paul Pasqualoni to thank him right now. Without PP's NFL connections, Smallwood doesn't get drafted.

It's unfortunate where most of these guys get there info from these days. Smallwood should have stayed in school.

Go ban yourself for about 12 weeks. Seriously, Smallwood doesn't need Dr. Death to help him.

 

[ZooCougar]

Everybody thought I was nuts when I said Todman would be lucky to be a 3rd day pick too. Without PP's NFL connections, Smallwood doesnt' get drafted. Period.

That means nothing about his ability to make an NFL game day roster. It's the business of the NFL. Smallwood's stock was crap.

The worst thing about the internet and college football, is the info out there about NFL prospects. Early entry in the NFL draft is a problem that's going to escalate and get worse before it gets better.

What evidence do you have to prove that Pasqualoni, a position coach in Chicago influenced a bunch of Atlanta Execs.

You are bat shrt crazy.

 

[uconnflyer88]

McClain was a 7th round pick for Atlanta. Just sayin'....

I believe it was Carolina, but tomato / tomahto

 

[B1GEast]

Here's Smallwoods page, hope he sticks around for a while

http://draft.atlantafalcons.com/lb-yawin-smallwood-biography/

 

[B1GEast]

The Falcons took 3 OLB's in this draft, he's got his work cut out for him

 

[sportsart]

The leading tackler for Atlanta last year was an undrafted free agent....

 

[huskysupporter]

The Falcons took 3 OLB's in this draft, he's got his work cut out for him

They run a 3-4 so they need a lot of linebackers, and if you look at their linebacker depth chart, there is not much talent there. If Yawin plays the way we know he can, he makes the team. But the margin for error for a 7th rounder is low. One little nagging injury and he can fall behind and get cut.

 

[Nostical]

Smallwood will become a very good barometer of the NFL evaluation system. Either he overcomes the disappointing combine numbers via a dedicated conditioning effort and becomes the surprise (to them) steal of the ILB draft, or his lackluster measurables get magnified and he fails to impress and is cut. Interestingly, some early draft articles by a few GM's compared him favorably to several outstanding ILB's.
After our win at MD in 2012 I sat in the airport next to a guy who happened to be a scout from the Falcons and asked who it was he'd been observing and who stood out. He was looking at Trevardo, Gratz, Blidi, etc.but made special mention of being impressed with our young linebacker, saying Smallwood was a guy who "had an SEC look". That was two years ago. Funny how it's the Falcons who now chose him---and word is they think they got "great value" with the pick. We'll see soon enough.

 

[Excalibur]

Yawin's pathetic showing at the combine in the bench press is a direct indictment of how Jerry Martin had slipped as a strength coach. It woul have been interesting to see what Yawin's numbers would have been on the field and at the combine after working with Matt Balis.

Martin had been removed from responsibility for football by P.

 

[Doggie Style]

Martin had been removed from responsibility for football by P.

Why?

 

[SubbaBub]

I think Yawin is probably the best all around LB to play at UCONN. But, his performance at the combine was someone who was either banged up, not fully prepared or a combination of the two. The 40 may very well have been the hammy, but then he put up only 18 reps on the bench.

The more I hear and read about this program under P the more and more convinced I am that he was completely inept and top of the list may have been neglect of S&C.

No one will ever convince me that the PP/GDL era can't be completely and indisputably explained by this photo.

 

[Kgun7]

Smallwood is incredibly lucky and should be calling Paul Pasqualoni to thank him right now. Without PP's NFL connections, Smallwood doesn't get drafted.

It's unfortunate where most of these guys get there info from these days. Smallwood should have stayed in school.

Wait ... you think P's NFL connections got Smallwood drafted? If P had that much respect from NFL talent evaluators ... don't you think he could have convinced Phil Emery to take a kid that P personally coached over the last 3 years with the Bear's 7th round pick???????

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Spackler gonna Spackler.

 

[huskymedic]

Wait ... you think P's NFL connections got Smallwood drafted?

No - but he may have had a role w/ Jesse Joseph getting invited to a mini-camp w/ da Bears

“@DuaneFordeTSN: DE Jesse Joseph, a 2013 Alouettes draft pick out of UConn has been invited to mini camp with the Bears, no contract.”

 

[FAIRTIDES]

We went through this when Todman declared. What questions would Smallwood have answered by coming back? 3 years of game tape was not sufficient for scouts?

I suspect his failure to run the 40 doomed him.

Does that bother anyone else but me? Aren't NFL talent evaluators too smart to let an aberrational 40-time override three years of game performance, information from coaches he's played for and other reasonably solid evidence that he could run a 5-second forty backwards with a slow sack race partner. After the combine, there was enough reputable "high 4.5's to high 4.6's" type info to counteract a combine forty during which he blew a hammy or quad. For C-Sake. He ran a 5.0 with a blown hammy or quad. Hell, that sounds good, doesn't it? Group-think gone nuts.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Whether or not him leaving a year early was a "mistake" or not, I'm guessing that if he knew he was going to be a 7th round pick, he'd have stayed for his final season.

 

[huskysupporter]

Whether or not him leaving a year early was a "mistake" or not, I'm guessing that if he knew he was going to be a 7th round pick, he'd have stayed for his final season.

Don't disagree.

 

[BNich]

Poor decision to leave early??