Smallwood is falling

[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??

 

[Srqhusky]

Poor decision to leave early??

I don't know what these agents tell these kids but if your not going to get drafted. In the first two rounds then
You don't leave early. unless there are other issues I am surprised he chose to leave early

 

[Chin Diesel]

I don't know what these agents tell these kids but if your not going to get drafted. In the first two rounds then
You don't leave early. unless there are other issues I am surprised he chose to leave early

This is where a good football staff and athletic dept needs to look back on the phone conversations and emails and find out who it was that gave Smallwood bum information.

Part of this falls on Smallwood's shoulders for not being in peak condition, part of it is bad luck with nagging injuries preventing him from having a better pro day/combine/team work outs and part of it was outside sources giving poor information.

 

[jbdphi]

I don't know what these agents tell these kids but if your not going to get drafted. In the first two rounds then
You don't leave early. unless there are other issues I am surprised he chose to leave early

Was listening to the draft briefly and there was a kid who was a business management major (Northwestern?) and basically came to the conclusion that if you were going in the Top 5 rounds it was worth it. I could be misquoting but did anyone else hear that?

 

[Srqhusky]

Was listening to the draft briefly and there was a kid who was a business management major (Northwestern?) and basically came to the conclusion that if you were going in the Top 5 rounds it was worth it. I could be misquoting but did anyone else hear that?

I was thinking the first two because if u are a jr that is a fifth round candidate one more year can really polish your resume. This should be small woods polishing year.

 

[SubbaBub]

You guys are over thinking this. YS had nothing left to prove in college unless it would help him run faster. His 40 time left him behind 20 other guys at his ILB position, a low demand one at that. If he doesn't get hurt and runs a 4.6 and does more than 18 reps (no excuse for this) he's not a 7th round pick. The reason he was picked at all was because of his game film. Slow, weak, ILB are not exactly in demand.

 

[BNich]

You guys are over thinking this. YS had nothing left to prove in college unless it would help him run faster. His 40 time left him behind 20 other guys at his ILB position, a low demand one at that. If he doesn't get hurt and runs a 4.6 and does more than 18 reps (no excuse for this) he's not a 7th round pick. The reason he was picked at all was because of his game film. Slow, weak, ILB are not exactly in demand.

Hate to say it but he played for a team that went 3-9 in the AAC. Who's going to come watch that? Doesn't stand out physically. Had solid production in college, but (amid other things) the SEC DPOY was drafted in the 7th round as well. So who knows what caused his "fall".

 

[dsturdy5]

Hate to say it but he played for a team that went 3-9 in the AAC. Who's going to come watch that? Doesn't stand out physically. Had solid production in college, but (amid other things) the SEC DPOY was drafted in the 7th round as well. So who knows what caused his "fall".

You'd be amazed at how many scouts come out to random teams. Besides, scouts will flock to intersectional games like UConn-Maryland, UConn-Michigan which allows them to get a look at players from a team they normally wouldn't see. If a player flashes in that game, he gets added to their watch list and it determines how many more times they may visit that team/player.

A scout for the Giants was on Sirius last week and said that technology allows them to see players from all over and get a better handle on things ahead of the season. If you have a player with the numbers of Smallwood over the past few years, he's going to be seen, especially when the school just produced several draft picks in the previous few years.

 

[sportsart]

UConn has had, including this year, 22 draft picks since 2005. If your talented, and play for UConn, people will know about you.

 

[BlueDogs]

He could have improved his strength, been in a better system, and learned more. Time in the saddle matters. One more year and maybe he goes 1st or second round. Look at Mack from Buffalo. This not an AAC thing. The concern about getting hurt is real, but somebody filled his mind with a lot of rainbows and unicorns.

 

[HartfordHank]

Article from local paper: http://www.telegram.com/article/20140510/NEWS/305109580/1009/SPORTS

 

[HuskyHawk]

You guys are over thinking this. YS had nothing left to prove in college unless it would help him run faster. His 40 time left him behind 20 other guys at his ILB position, a low demand one at that. If he doesn't get hurt and runs a 4.6 and does more than 18 reps (no excuse for this) he's not a 7th round pick. The reason he was picked at all was because of his game film. Slow, weak, ILB are not exactly in demand.

Then wouldn't it make even more sense to graduate and have a degree to fall back on?

 

[Carl Spackler]

I haven't seen the numbers yet, but I'm curious to see what the breakdown of underclassmen vs. graduates and all that stuff as it relates to the draft. The way the CBA was restructured around contracts and rookie pay scales related to the draft not too long ago, is going to have major impact in very short order on college football with new record numbers of underclassmen declaring for the draft yearly, and foregoing their scholarships and diplomas, but that's not on topic. Where these players are getting their info from is a problem.

What NFL talent evaluators think of Smallwood - in reality - is evidenced by the draft itself.

My opinion: Mistake to have declared early, and lucky to have been selected at all. My opinion hasn't changes since he announced it.

 

[Carl Spackler]

UConn has had, including this year, 22 draft picks since 2005. If your talented, and play for UConn, people will know about you.

Absolutely. UCONN stopped being just a "basketball school" a decade ago, when it comes to professional football. Mike Zimmer was evaluating Alfred Fincher at the time when he actually said, quote: "it's not just a basketball school anymore." Bill Parcells had a personal scouting report on Fincher in 2004.

The rep UCONN has in the NFL, doesn't happen though, because people are watching on TV during the football season. It happens, because coaches talk to each other, and they hide a lot more stuff from each other, than they talk about, and are paranoid as hell about what other coaches are doing, and if they're doing something better, than what they are doing, or have got something better than what they themselves have got.

 

[dsturdy5]

I haven't seen the numbers yet, but I'm curious to see what the breakdown of underclassmen vs. graduates and all that stuff as it relates to the draft. The way the CBA was restructured around contracts and rookie pay scales related to the draft not too long ago, is going to have major impact in very short order on college football with new record numbers of underclassmen declaring for the draft yearly, and foregoing their scholarships and diplomas, but that's not on topic. Where these players are getting their info from is a problem.

What NFL talent evaluators think of Smallwood - in reality - is evidenced by the draft itself.

My opinion: Mistake to have declared early, and lucky to have been selected at all. My opinion hasn't changes since he announced it.

From Todd McShay:

‏

@McShay13 May 11
For those agents/media members selling "2nd contract" to these young men, what say you to the 36 of 98 underclassmen not drafted?

@McShay13 May 11
...and FYI: 44% of 194 underclassmen that declared early from last 3 drafts were not on NFL rosters at end of 2013 season.

 

[Carl Spackler]

From Todd McShay:

‏

The second tweet is what's really alarming, and entirely 100% predictable.