Draft

[SteveB]

Some articles have hinted at it, but look for the race card to be played more emphatically. You're going to hear how the Wonderlic is "culturally biased" against black players. Get ready it's coming.

 

[Bart]

A couple of interesting articles about Young's Wonderlicscore.


http://www.profootballtalk.com/rumormill.htm
Here's the sequence of events, in the order the info came to us.

1. Word broke on Saturday afternoon of the test score. We heard it from a league source in Indy who was "99 percent" certain that the score was accurate. We later confirmed from another league source at the combine that Young had scored a six.

2. Word of the score spread faster than a blister-causing virus at Ron Mexico's high school reunion. By Saturday night, it was the talk of the town.

3. By Sunday morning, other publications had reported on the score.

4. By early Sunday afternoon, there were rumors that the combine officials were re-checking Young's test in order to determine whether it had been properly graded.

5. By late Sunday afternoon, we heard that the guy responsible for grading the test had screwed the thing up.

6. At about the same time, Texans G.M. Charley Casserly announced to 100 or so reporters that the report of the low score was inaccurate. He offered no other details.

7. By Sunday evening, we heard that some now believe the test was graded properly, and that someone had cobbled together the grading error excuse because Texas coach Mack Brown's head nearly exploded once he learned that the low score had been leaked.

The Monday morning news accounts do little to present a uniform version of the events.

PackersNews.com, a service of Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers, reports that several scouts have confirmed that Young's score was a six.

 

[Don Wassall]

If Matt Leinart or any prominent white player had managed such a low score, he would be an instant national laughingstock. The "stupid" jokes would be coming fast and furious, on message boards, on SportsCenter, from Leno and Letterman. Terry Bradshaw has been the object of dumb jokes for the past 36 years though he's quite intelligent. But stupid jokes about stupid blacks? Nope. Whitey's self-censorship mechanisms immediately kick in for fear of being called racist.

 

[Guest]

If Matt Leinart or any prominent white player had managed such a low score, he would be an instant national laughingstock. The "stupid" jokes would be coming fast and furious, on message boards, on SportsCenter, from Leno and Letterman. Terry Bradshaw has been the object of dumb jokes for the past 36 years though he's quite intelligent. But stupid jokes about stupid blacks? Nope. Whitey's self-censorship mechanisms immediately kick in for fear of being called racist.

Couldn't have said it better myself Don. Bullsh*t double standards for the racially sensitive and bias.

 

[guest301]

Don is right about the jokes about a white player if his score had been that low. Woody Paige on ESPN made the comparison between Bradshaw and Young today and said it didn't matter what your wonderlic score was. Maybe he should take a wonderlic. I heard that qbs average about a twentyfour on that test and so if Young actually scored a Six, that would make him pretty illiterate. Playing NFL qb is probably the most intellectually demanding position in all of sports and so this would give me more than second thoughts about drafting him in the first round. No matter how athletic he is. How did this guy pass his courses at UT?

 

[White Shogun]

Here is a link to the 'sample' test at ESPN.

Hard to believe anybody with four years of college could not pass this test with flying colors. Interestingly, they do not post a means of determining your score.

Wonderlic Sample Questions

Suprisingly, Young's Wonderlic is making headline news, at least at ESPN, although the article is for "Insiders" only, a service for which I am no longer willing to pay.

Young's Wonderlic story

 

[White Shogun]

More of Clayton's comments, this time regarding Kudla's 45 reps of 225:

The funny part about Mike Kudla's 45 reps at 225 pounds on the bench press is that no one told him that he could be approaching a record. Kudla is an Ohio State defensive tackle who kept lifting until he tired. He was told his 45 reps tied a combine record held by Leif Larsen, the defensive tackle from UTEP, who went in the sixth round of the 2000 draft. There are records that indicate Eastern Kentucky defensive tackle Justin Ernest had 51 in 1999. He wasn't drafted.

 

[Bart]

If Matt Leinart or any prominent white player had managed such a low score, he would be an instant national laughingstock. .

So true.It's been reported that Leinart scored a 35 last Friday.

 

[Don Wassall]

According to DraftDaddy, Kudla ran a 4.76 40, an excellent time.

 

[Guest]

Kudla also had a 37 inch vert..courtesy of DD. Defense mode for Vince Young seems to be in high gear on espn now...showing all his highlights as well as reports that the initial test results were erroneous. Give me a break.

 

[Guest]

Courtesy of DraftDaddy.com

Syracuse defensive end Ryan LaCasse made some noise in Indy today, running the 40 yard dash in a sparkling 4.54 seconds.

But just who is this player?

While most draft sites listed LaCasse somewhere slightly above a water boy, we've never allowed this player to slip out of our top 100 rankings, even after he was snubbed from every All-Star game, including the Senior Bowl.

LaCasse is about 6' 3", 250 pounds and is a former high school state champion in the 100 meters from Staughton, MA. His 100 meter time (10.5) in high school, put in perspective, was as good as most top cornerbacks coming out of the prep or college ranks.

For some inexplicable reason, LaCasse didn't really become a fulltime starter for the Orange until 2005, but given the chance he responded with a huge senior season -- registered 52 tackles, 9 sacks and 12 tackles for losses last season for a struggling 1-10 Syracuse team.

Watching film on LaCasse in 2005, we saw an athlete similar to a younger Grant Wistrom who could rush the quarterback, or drop into coverage when needed (zone blitz). Therefore, we've always felt he was a player that could surprise people and be drafted on the first day (3rd round?) and fit in comfortably as a 4-3 DE (if he can add weight) or a speedy 3-4 OLB.

 

[whiteCB]

Draftdaddy is the best and most truth telling draft website there is out there. I've said it before and I'll say it again draftdaddy.com is the only place to get non biased NFL draft info. They treat white and black players equally, meaning they don't put the black athlete on a throne and they give mad props to white guys.

 

[bigunreal]

The Vince Young Wonderlic story is indeed curious. It reminds of what happened with Akili Smith's ridiculously low score a few years back. If I recall correctly, Smith scored just slightly higher than Young (maybe an 8 or 9), but then was allowed to retake it and we were told (and expected to believe) that he miraculously increased his score to 39 or something, thereby tying Steve Young's score. Yeah, I'm sure that happened legitimately. Now, Vince Young's score was "incorrectly" graded and he is allowed to retake the test. At least this time, they didn't insult our intelligence by claiming he scored a 39 or something, like they did with Smith. I also watched some of this being discussed on that typical Caste-friendly ESPN show "Around The Horn" today. Shockingly enough, all the lame wanna-be comedians on the show discounted the significance of the Wonderlic test, and were quick to mention how low Dan Marino had scored on the test. I have read some of the sample Wonderlic questions, and you do indeed have to be an idiot not to get a decent score. Anyone who scores a 6 on a simple test like that is, as Don alluded to, probably in the 75-80 IQ range at best. If someone with that kind of thinking ability can play QB effectively in the NFL, I don't want to hear any more propaganda about how "complex" the playbooks are. For years, I have laughed at the notion that these obviously ignorant athletes were diligently studying and memorizing hundreds of complicated plays and formations. If guys with well below average IQs like Vick, McNair, McNabb, Culpepper and now Young are running these offenses and getting anything done at all, then this is all a huge lie, and the playbooks actually a lot simpler.

 

[sport historian]

Today's Nashville Tennessean had an article saying that Cutler's stock had gone up, and hinted that the Titans might draft him instead of Young. Yes, Young's score of 6 on the Wonderlic was mentioned, but the writer assured us that it must be a mistake.

Don is certainly right that a white athlete would be a national laughingstock. I know this from some 45 years of reading the sports pages. As I posted on the Forum last year, Terry Bradshaw's problem in his early years with the Steelers was not intelligence, but reaction to pressure. In his later career, Bradshaw was more feared in big games than any other QB of his time.

 

[OC football]

Yah I have this friend who transfered to my school from Texas. She said that Young is basically retard. All of the kids at Texas know it, his intelligence is like the joke of the school. One frat put up a poster saying "Vince Young is a great football player. So was Forest Gump". All the students knew exactly what that meant.

 

[Don Wassall]

A big part of the impetus behind the ridicule of Bradshaw's supposed lack of brainpower was and remains bigotry against Southern whites. Americans of all backgrounds outside the South are raised from birth to make fun of Southern accents. It's a staple of comedy routines and of general conversation. Bradshaw was a raw country boy from Louisiana and when he came to Pittsburgh as the number one pick in the draft most people here acted like Opie from Mayberry had arrived. Many equated his accent with stupidity, sad but true. I'm sure the culture shock he went through contributed to Bradshaw's hurt feelings when it comes to Steelers fans.

 

[white tornado]

Thats True Don even in atlanta a souther acent is looked down on. My familys from Atlanta and none of us have a pronounced southern acent. I am a proud southerner, my ancesters fought for the south and I realy can't stand it when a recent imigrant from nyc says something about someone with an acent. It seems now half the people in metro schools are from New York, and the rest are from another country. The sad thing is a black acent is now trendy but a southern acent is looked apon as a mark of stupidity.

 

[Guest]

Chris Cooley has really brought the H-back position back into prominence in the NFL. Before he came around I do not really recall anyone talking about the H-back since I started really getting into football back in 98. I guess the traditional blocking fbs are dying out and the Hback is taking his place now and 3 really good hback prospects put up good numbers today. Tony Sheffler of Western Michigan ran a 4.54, Garret Mills ran in the lower 4.6 range and David Thomas also put up impressive numbers and have a chance to make an impact at the next level. Fasono and Klopenstein really have a good chance to be great players at the next level at the traditional TE spot.

 

[white tornado]

pittbc7 I also started watching football in 98 and Im pretty sure that H-backs were invented some time in the early part of this deacade. All an H-back realy is is a tight end lined up where a traditional full back would be.

 

[Guest]

Well I think in the 80'S Gibbs utilized the Hback and was the originatora and it died out in the 90's but has been making a comeback which bodes well for this great athletes who would have just been used to block 5-6 years ago.Edited by: pittbc7

 

[JGNYC]

Here is a very interesting article about the 40 yard dash run at the NFL combines.
Basically, it says that times are not accurate, and sometimes aren't a good measure of a player's potential.
Please note in this article that Jerry Rice ran a 4.6 at his combine!

 

[JGNYC]

Sorry,
Here it is:
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/sports-story.php?story=dispa tch/2006/02/26/20060226-E1-01.html

 

[white tornado]

pittbc7 I was wondering who invented the h-back thanks.

 

[Guest]

I am almost 100% sure it was Gibbs but i am not really a football historian so if im wrong anyone can feel free to correct me and I apologize in advance if I gave misinformation.

 

[SteveB]

I read somewhere that Emmitt Smith ran a 4.7 at the combine and Tim Dwight ran a 4.6, even though he was the Big 10 100m champ and ran the 100 in 10.35 sec. Some of these 40 times just don't make sense.