Sam Acho is a Buddy Nix kind of guy

[1B4IDie]

I really liked Sam Acho, the guy is a captain, played hard on a unusually bad Longhorns team, and is a great student athlete. I was hoping he would be there on the 3rd, now I highly doubt it.

 

He fits an immediate need for the Bills. He can play OLB on a 3-4 and possibly DE in a 4-3.

He would be a great rushbacker.

 

http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/12/longhorns-de-sam-acho-wins-campbell-awar.html

 

http://www.nfldraftbible.com/Players/List/2011-Big-Board/Sam-Acho.html

 

I would be very happy if he was wearing Red, White, and Buffalo Bill in 2011.

[DanInUticaTampa]

He does seem to fit the nix criteria.

[Dennis in NC]

Remember that post recently, where The Bills are known to avoid Longhorn players (due to Mike Williams), and the Redskins knew Orakpo would still be there after the Bills picked.

 

Do you suppose the Bills are still shying away from UTexas players?

 

It's a pretty stupid policy, lumping all Longhorns into the same category just because you are unable to sort the wheat from the chaff.

 

I wonder which braintrust member instituted that policy.

[Johnny Hammersticks]

Remember that post recently, where The Bills are known to avoid Longhorn players (due to Mike Williams), and the Redskins knew Orakpo would still be there after the Bills picked.

 

Do you suppose the Bills are still shying away from UTexas players?

 

It's a pretty stupid policy, lumping all Longhorns into the same category just because you are unable to sort the wheat from the chaff.

 

I wonder which braintrust member instituted that policy.

 

That's all silly speculation. To condemn an entire college program due to one bad draft pick is insanity. Remember where Trent Edwards went to college? Should we avoid drafting Luck (if we had the chance) just because he played at Stanford? Furthermore, should we dismiss all Penn State prospects just because of Aaron Maybin?

 

If the player has talent, and the front office likes him, then they will draft him regardless of where he went to school.

[billsfan89]

That's all silly speculation. To condemn an entire college program due to one bad draft pick is insanity. Remember where Trent Edwards went to college? Should we avoid drafting Luck (if we had the chance) just because he played at Stanford? Furthermore, should we dismiss all Penn State prospects just because of Aaron Maybin?

 

If the player has talent, and the front office likes him, then they will draft him regardless of where he went to school.

 

Fully agreed each player is their own circumstance.

[T master]

Buddy seems like he knows exactly what he's doing and it wouldn't surprise me if he was already on his list !!!

[Dennis in NC]

That's all silly speculation. To condemn an entire college program due to one bad draft pick is insanity. Remember where Trent Edwards went to college? Should we avoid drafting Luck (if we had the chance) just because he played at Stanford? Furthermore, should we dismiss all Penn State prospects just because of Aaron Maybin?

 

If the player has talent, and the front office likes him, then they will draft him regardless of where he went to school.

I finally found the post where I had originally seen this silly speculation.

 

Maybin draft pick

 

Go down to the 6th post in the thread, posted by 2003Contenders

 

Posted 27 October 2010 - 01:52 PM

 

The sad thing is that this mess was brought about by someone in the Bills' organization foolishly thinking in absolute terms. That is, according to Orakpo's agent, they knew that the Bills were not going to draft him because of the team's disdain for Texas players after the Mike Williams fiasco.(Not coincidentally, Derrick Dockery, also a UT product, had recently been cut by the Bills leading up to that draft.) Vinnie Cerato, the Redskins personnel guy at the time, echoes the same sentiment. He said that the Redskins wanted Orakpo so bad that they tried to trade up inside the top 10 and couldn't find any takers. Once Orakpo fell out of the top 10, Cerato knew he would be there at 13 because, even though the Bills needed a DE, he knew they wouldn't take Orakpo thanks to their disdain for Texas players.

 

So the Bills had a front office so inept that they:

 

1. Completely ruled out talented players based on their bias against a top college program

2. Their bias was so well known around NFL circles, that they couldn't even leverage a potential trade down scenario.

 

This was the source I had seen. There was no link for the quote from Orakpo's agent, but it seemed plausible to me, given the way the Bills FO seems to be operated.

 

I agree with the other poster who said each player should stand on his own merit, not be lumped into a blacklist because he played at a certain university.

[1B4IDie]

I finally found the post where I had originally seen this silly speculation.

 

Maybin draft pick

 

Go down to the 6th post in the thread, posted by 2003Contenders

 

 

 

This was the source I had seen. There was no link for the quote from Orakpo's agent, but it seemed plausible to me, given the way the Bills FO seems to be operated.

 

I agree with the other poster who said each player should stand on his own merit, not be lumped into a blacklist because he played at a certain university.

 

If you notice my OP is kind of pointless. I'm glad you all brought up the UT issue, I wanted to add that rumor about the FO not liking UT but I got pulled into a meeting.

 

Also I wanted to add that Sam Acho just won William Campbell award for top Student Athlete, which sounds pretty impressive to me: http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/12/longhorns-de-sam-acho-wins-campbell-awar.html.

 

The "Academic Heisman"

 

 

As far as avoiding UT players my thoughts:

 

Its completely silly to rule out an entire successful DI program.

However if you think about Top UT players in the NFL, there has been a lot of misses.

 

Benson, Ricky Williams were both head cases that didn't work out well for they're original team and definitely didn't live up to the same heights in the NFL as they did in College Football.

 

Mike Williams, Derrick Dockery are both turnstiles.

 

Roy E Williams, and Vince Young never materialized, atleast not yet.

Chris Simms, didn't either.

 

I think Michael Huff started off slow, I think he is having a good year this year but he definitely had some issues as the #7 overall pick.

 

Really not until Orakpo was there a top 20 draft pick from UT in the last 15 years that made an immediate impact or lived up to their billing, unless there is someone I'm forgetting.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/alumni-tracker/school/6882

 

If you've ever been to Austin, or on the UT campus, these guys are gods. Basically the extreme of the stereotypical spoiled athletes. They can do no wrong, and have everything handed to them.

Its a big personal transition to being a rookie in a Blue Color town like Buffalo.

 

In a notional way it kind of make sense but its silly to use this as a criteria not to draft someone. It is a strange coincidence that there are a lot of big name, early flops from 1 school.

 

It seems the FO may be so scared of picking more flops they're ruling out a school that has a reputation for NFL flops. If avoiding UT players is true it shows a lack of confidence in the quality of the Bills' scouting.

 

That being said, this Acho kid seems special to me, I didn't realize all the captain, and academic stuff until now. I wouldn't be surprised if the Bills "reach" on the guy and take him in the second based on Nix drafting style in 2010.

Edited December 9, 2010 by Why So Serious?

[Dennis in NC]

If you've ever been to Austin, or on the UT campus, these guys are gods. Basically the extreme of the stereotypical spoiled athletes. They can do no wrong, and have everything handed to them.

Its a big personal transition to being a rookie in a Blue Color town like Buffalo.

 

...

 

It seems the FO may be so scared of picking more flops they're ruling out a school that has a reputation for NFL flops. If avoiding UT players is true it shows a lack of confidence in the quality of the Bills' scouting.

I remember hearing many years ago about Nebraska players in a similar situation.

 

Not that any team was avoiding them, necessarily, but that because they are such big stars in Lincoln, that they have "maxed out" and subsequently do not make very productive NFL players.

 

Trev Alberts comes to mind here. I'm sure there are many more big time busts from these big time college programs.

 

We all hope Buddy Nix can see past all that.

[Buftex]

If you notice my OP is kind of pointless. I'm glad you all brought up the UT issue, I wanted to add that rumor about the FO not liking UT but I got pulled into a meeting.

 

Also I wanted to add that Sam Acho just won William Campbell award for top Student Athlete, which sounds pretty impressive to me: http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/12/longhorns-de-sam-acho-wins-campbell-awar.html.

 

The "Academic Heisman"

 

youtube.com/watch?v=vOyAHxnn7eU&NR=1

 

As far as avoiding UT players my thoughts:

 

Its completely silly to rule out an entire successful DI program.

However if you think about Top UT players in the NFL, there has been a lot of misses.

 

Benson, Ricky Williams were both head cases that didn't work out well for they're original team and definitely didn't live up to the same heights in the NFL as they did in College Football.

 

Mike Williams, Derrick Dockery are both turnstiles.

 

Roy E Williams, and Vince Young never materialized, atleast not yet.

Chris Simms, didn't either.

 

I think Michael Huff started off slow, I think he is having a good year this year but he definitely had some issues as the #7 overall pick.

 

Really not until Orakpo was there a top 20 draft pick from UT in the last 15 years that made an immediate impact or lived up to their billing, unless there is someone I'm forgetting.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/alumni-tracker/school/6882

 

If you've ever been to Austin, or on the UT campus, these guys are gods. Basically the extreme of the stereotypical spoiled athletes. They can do no wrong, and have everything handed to them.Its a big personal transition to being a rookie in a Blue Color town like Buffalo.

 

In a notional way it kind of make sense but its silly to use this as a criteria not to draft someone. It is a strange coincidence that there are a lot of big name, early flops from 1 school.

 

It seems the FO may be so scared of picking more flops they're ruling out a school that has a reputation for NFL flops. If avoiding UT players is true it shows a lack of confidence in the quality of the Bills' scouting.

 

That being said, this Acho kid seems special to me, I didn't realize all the captain, and academic stuff until now. I wouldn't be surprised if the Bills "reach" on the guy and take him in the second based on Nix drafting style in 2010.

 

I live in Austin, and worked with the UT athletics department often over the years...I know what you are saying, but I don't think it would be any different in Austin than it is in any major college football program. The difference, IMO, is there are a lot more (pleasent) distractions for college football players in Austin, than, say, Lincoln...

[Thoner7]

The big UT names may not have had success, but many others do. Lamar Houston is having a dynamite rookie year with Oakland - When he went after Troup I thought we made another drarft mistake, J. Charles is a great RB from UT, Jordan Shipley and M. Crosby are quality WRs, Colt has had some early success in limited time. S. Kindle fell down some stairs and hasnt played but who knows what is going on with that.

 

Any school could field a bunch of crappy players and a bunch of great ones. Id rather take a bunch of 'horns than nittany lions....

 

And about Acho, Im not so sure he is athletic enough to be a OLB. He is kinda slow of foot and plays like a 5 tech with the size of a LB. His brother is a better prospect.