bigK14094 Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 Despite his troubles at Oakland, I wish the Bills had McClain.
K-9 Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 (edited) Teo in 2012: Heisman Trophy Runner-Up (2012) Lott Trophy (2012) Maxwell Award (2012) Chuck Bednarik Award (2012) Walter Camp Award (2012) Bronko Nagurski Trophy (2012) Butkus Award (2012) Lombardi Award (2012) ARA Sportsmanship Award (2012)[1] Unanimous First Team All-American (2012) Capital One First Team Academic All-American (2012) If this guy is a bust, then either it was a REALLY weak year for LB's in college, or the award system is a complete joke. My personal take on NFL LB's is that they need to have a knack for shedding blocks. I rank this as a distinct #1 characteristic over sideline to sideline stuff, speed, hitting--even instincts. The NFL differs from college in that you ALWAYS have a body on you. A professional blocker whose only job is to slow you down enough to keep you from making the play. In a lot of cases its a 300 pounder with the same athletic ability as you but arms that are a foot longer and 30% stronger than yours. (see the Bama game for example) Shedding blocks is what inhibits guys like Shep from being good NFL linebackers, and from what I saw of Teo, he needs a lot of work in that area. Not sure if you can teach it though. Some dudes never get past it and are out of the league or relegated to special teams and backups their entire careers because of it. Time will tell. I don't want the guy on our team, that's for sure. Great point about shedding blocks. But I would add that speed to the hole is just as important. Te'o seems a bit slow in that department. Oh, and Gino Toretta once won the Heisman. That's all we need to know about college players and the awards they win. GO BILLS!!! Edited February 19, 2013 by K-9
Nanker Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 Maybe NFL teams won't try to block him. Not sure how that will help him with what appeared to be a lack of serious wheels and instincts, but the Bills have had good luck with Notre Dame players in the past. And let's not forget Greg Bell. On the other hand, to be fair, Jeff Burris played some pretty good ball for us in the 90's. Here are the players from Notre Dame that The Bills have drafted in the team's 53 year history to date: 1961 23rd Round (not a typo - that's twenty third round) Red Mack - TE 1963 16th Round Ed Hoerster - LB 1965 15th Round John Meyer - LB 1967 3rd Round Tom Rhoads - DE 2001 6th Round Tony Driver - DB, 6th Round Dan O'Leary - TE 1970 3rd Round Jim Reilly - G 1972 1st - Walt Patulski DE, 3rd Fred Swendsen DE, and 7th Ralph Stepaniak DB 1974 9th Round Brian Doherty - Puntah 1975 16th Round Tom Fine - TE 1983 1st Round Tony Hunter - TE 1984 1st Round Tinker Bell - Walking Back 1986 8th Round Tony Furjanic - LB 1994 1st Round Jeff Burris - DB 1996 6th Round Dusty Zeigler - C And, saving the best for last... 1963 24th Round Daryle Lamonica - QB But to be fair, Green Bay also picked him in their 12th Round.
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