It’s NFL Draft season, and instead I’m writing about Eastern Illinois (Jimmy Garappolo will probably go in the first round) and Northern Illinois (Jimmie Ward will be a second round pick, he could sneak into the first). Before today I’ve never written about EIU. Before 2011, I had never written about NIU. For obvious reasons. And before you start the Jordan Lynch talk, he’s a 7th round pick at best, at the Safety position, not QB.
We’re talking Directional Illinois in the NFL Draft this “spring” because the mid-major and low-major college football teams in the Land of Lincoln are giving us pro prospects that you would expect to find at a high major program. And Directional Illinois is filling the void left by Illinois’ two Big Ten teams.
Don’t expect anything at all from the Illini and Northwestern this NFL Draft. Jonathan Brown of Illinois could go in the sixth round. Kain Colter of NU in the 7th, maybe. And that would be fortunate. I still think, although I’m the only one who thinks this way, that Illini receiver Ryan Lankford will get picked somewhere, just because he ran a 4.36 40-yard dash at his Pro Day.
Here’s more on the total no-show we’ll see from UI and NU in this draft.
Let’s move on to NIU and EIU. Jimmy Garoppolo comes from the “quarterback factory” in Eastern Illinois. Well, it did produce Tony Romo.
Said ESPN Analyst and Proprietor of QB Camp Jon Gruden:
“He doesn’t really remind me a lot of Tony Romo because of the offense he’s coming from. He’s running the same offense that Robert Griffin ran at Baylor. Dino Babers, Eastern Illinois head coach, came from Baylor. It’s an up-tempo, no-huddle spread.”
“Where Jimmy Garoppolo jumped most at me was in the East West practices and the Senior Bowl. I think he looked like he belonged,” continued Gruden.
“When I met Jimmy, I met a very sharp, eager young prospect that has size. But Garoppolo has improved tremendously over his last two seasons. He’s not a finished product. He’s going to have some growing to do because of the system he comes from.”
Jimmy Garoppolo would fit well into a west coast system, because he is so great with his feet. He doesn’t have a huge arm though and that will keep from going first round. He’ll probably be mid second. He had a huge pro day up at Northwestern. NU hosted prospects from all over the region. Texans Coach Bill O’Brien was there and he was really impressed.
Here’s where I have Ward mocked in my most recent NFL mock draft.
21. Green Bay Packers, Jimmie Ward, S, Northern Illinois
You haven’t heard of him, but you’ve heard of two high profile quarterbacks that he’s played with: AJ McCarron (in youth Pop Warner football) and Jordan Lynch, the NIU Heisman finalist. However Ward is the only guy out of these three players that has a chance of being picked before Saturday. Placing Ward here might have been a stretch, but did you hear about his Pro Day? it was astronomical. Ted Thompson is a “value GM,” so he usually picks value-based, but this is also fills a need.
Ward’s stock has risen because he can play both safety and corner, and he plays the game like someone who’s bat sh#$ crazy. And that’s a good thing. I mean that in the good way.
“He can play in the slot and cover man to man, great ball skills, had 11 interceptions in his career,” said ESPN NFL Draft Analyst Todd McShay on conference call yesterday.
“He’ll come up and hit ya, for a smaller corner.”
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also a frequent guest on national talk radio. Banks is a former contributor to NBC Chicago and the Washington Times, who’s been featured on the History Channel. President Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)