Low total, two early surprises in NFL Draft
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
It had everything to do with how coveted a couple of prospects were.
Alabama State quarterback Tarvaris
Jackson and Grambling State defensive end
Jason Hatcher went off the boards Saturday as
the league conducted the first three rounds. While that development wasn't as great a shock
as Houston passing on Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush at the top of the draft, it certainly
was a surprise.
Jackson, the strong-armed signal caller that quarterbacked ASU to elite status in the Southwestern Athletic Conference over the last three years, was plucked by Minnesota as the last pick (32nd) of the second round, the 64th player picked overall. He had been projected to last until the fourth or fifth round.
Hatcher, a physical specimen at 6-6, 283, who many feel can play end, tackle or linebacker at the pro level, was also thought to be fourth or fifth round material but was snatched up by Dallas with the 28th pick of the third round, 92nd overall.
So much for the draft experts.
Hard-hitting Howard safety Antoine
Bethea was the last black college player to go off
the boards when he was taken by Indianapolis with the 38th pick of the sixth round, the 207th overall.
The two first-day selections match the output from last year when defensive backs Ron Bartell of Howard and Nick Collins of Bethune-Cookman were both taken in the second round. But the total of three is half last year's output of six and the second lowest since the NFL first started drafting black college players in the late 1950s. The two taken in the 2004 draft is the lowest.
Though Jackson's selection was out of the highly publicized first round, it still generated a lot of speculation and second-guessing. One of the reasons is because the Vikings gave up two third round selections to the Pittsburgh Steelers to move up in the draft and select him. The surprising move prompted Peter King of Sports Illustrated to say, "Nobody but his mother had him going in the first two rounds." King labelled the choice a "silly, silly move."
But new Minnesota head coach Brad Childress, the former offensive coordinator with Philadelphia who helped mold Donavan McNabb into an all-pro QB, thinks differently.
"When you see what you want at a quarterback position, you need to go get it," said Childress. "That is exactly what I see with Tarvaris Jackson. A guy who is a piece of clay and has all the skills . . He has all the things that we are looking for, and he is wired right. That is important for a quarterback." Childress said Jackson has a "great throwing motion" and has a "flat-line" personality.
"You are talking about a guy that never had a quarterbacks coach [at Division I-AA Alabama State]," he said. "He's got the skills. What can he do with coaching?"
No one was more shocked at the selection than Jackson, the first NCAA Div. I-AA player to go off the boards this year who was expecting to go in the fourth or fifth round. But Alabama State head coach Charlie Coe was not surprised.
"I've talked to enough general managers and player-personnel directors to know they wanted him," said Coe. "At first they were saying the fourth round or maybe the third round, but when they started working him out individually, his stock rose."
Jackson will likely get a chance to compete for the back-up job behind 38-year old starter Brad Johnson and could be the Vikings quarterback of the future. He's not lacking in confidence.
"I feel I can adjust to any offense," Jackson said Sunday after arriving in Minnesota. "Just put me in and tell me what to do. I feel I'll learn it and be OK."
Hatcher, who blossomed into a dominant player in his final year at Grambling, said he was so shocked at his third-round selection that he hung up the phone when Dallas owner Jerry Jones called.
"When I received the phone call, it was Jerry Jones and I just broke down in tears," he said. "And I hit the button and hung up in his face." It appears the Jena, La. native, who played wide receiver in high school, will have plenty of opportunities to make up for that faux pas with the Cowboys under coaching legend Bill Parcells.
"When I spoke to him (Parcells) he was like, 'If you do the things I tell you to do, you're going to be a great player,'" Hatcher said. "I'm going to get up under his wing and I'm going to learn everything he has to teach me and what the D-line coach has to teach me."
Despite lasting until the sixth round, Indianapolis thinks Bethea, who had an outstanding four-year career at Howard, can fit right in with the Colts' new physical defense.
"He played free safety [in college] in a
three-deep alignment," said Colts GM Bill Polian.
"He's a very, very aggressive young guy. A
real good hitter and a real good tackler. He's a 4.4
guy, so he fits the mold of what we need in terms
of speed at that position. In fact, it's actually
an upgrade in speed. It's quite comparable with
[safety] Bob [Sanders]. And he's got a little of the same
kind of 'knock you down' type of attitude."
© 2006 Azeez Communications, Inc.