NFL Draft 2010

What a shocking draft this has been. I like that they put the first day in prime time, but it did create an interesting situation. Having only the first round on Thursday night meant that Jimmy Clausen had to wait overnight before he was selected. Any other year, a player like him who was predicted to go high in the first round would have just had to wait later in the day to be selected in the second round. Instead, he had to stress out all Thursday night and most of the day Friday before being selected.

Another surprise was Tim Tebow being selected so high in the draft by Denver. I think he is totally over rated for the NFL. He was a great college player, but will not be a star quarterback in the NFL. I like the fact that Denver said that if he does not make it at quarterback he will be a good H back. Why do you spend that much money on a guy you have a feeling might not make it at his natural position? That makes no sense to me.

The biggest surprise of all was the selections that Pete Carroll made for the Seattle Seahawks. I think his selections speak about the job he did the last few years at USC. All three of the players he selected in the first two rounds were from positions that there were players available to select from USC. He started out with an offensive tackle and passed on Charles Brown. He next selected a safety from Texas instead of taking Taylor Mays from USC who was rated a higher prospect by many analysts. His only pick today was selecting Golden Tate from Notre Dame while Damian Williams was still sitting there.

I think the one pick he is going to regret is not taking Taylor Mays. Taylor could have played for his former college coach in his home town. Instead he will be playing for San Francisco. Taylor will now have a chip on his shoulder while playing in the bay area. Pete will have to play against him, since they are in the same division. I know this is a business and you have to take the best player available, but Pete was Taylor's college coach and Taylor did everything that Pete asked him to do. I never heard Pete say anything negative about him and then he passes him over. All I can say is wow!

Taylor is obviously upset by not being selected by Pete and I can understand why. You trust your coach and believe everything he tells you. Taylor even returned to school for his senior year because he felt he needed to learn more. I really feel bad for him.

I think Pete is telling the entire football world that he and his coaching staff did not do a very good job of developing players that last few years. He also did not do a very good job of recruiting if there are players that are better at every position than the players he brought to USC. If I were in his position, I would be a little embarrassed about the statement I just made in the NFL draft as a criticism of my own work in my previous job.

I wish Pete and the Seahawks success, but I really feel like he might have stayed too long at USC. He lost his passion for the school the last few years and it was visible as he was entertaining NFL offers each year. I will not be a fan of the Seattle Seahawks, but will continue to follow the careers of USC Trojans in the NFL. After all, we are all a part of the Trojan family.

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A Whirlwind Weekend Comes to an End

Wow! After the Seattle Seahawks fired their coach on Friday, rumors started to spread that Pete Carroll had accepted a deal to be their new coach. I took everything with a grain of salt since the media and Internet posters are all trying to break news. Their was no word from Pete or USC. The NFL has the Rooney Rule that requires all teams to interview minority candidates for jobs and at that point it appeared that rule had not been satisfied.

The one minority candidate they had targeted told them he would not waste his time to interview if a deal was in place. The Seahawks convinced him to interview on Saturday morning. On Sunday, Pete called the group who enforces the Rooney Rule and told them that he had not done anything to be out of compliance with the rule.

Monday morning it was officially announced that Pete was leaving USC. It was later made official that Pete had accepted the job with the Seattle Seahawks. I was glued to the Internet all day Monday. There were rumors about who would be the next coach at USC. There were rumors about who had been offered the job and who had turned it down. It appeared that the front runner, Jack Del Rio might make a decision on Today.

After meeting with the Jacksonville Jaguars owner earlier today, Jack told the media that he was staying put. Another mini meltdown happened on all of the USC message boards. Who was next in line? Nobody knew. I certainly didn't know.

At about 6:15 today an announcement came out of left field. Lane Kiffin was named the new head coach of the USC Trojans. Lane was a backup quarterback at Fresno State. After a few coaching stops he was hired by Pete Carroll at USC. He started as a wide receivers coach and quickly worked his way to offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator.

Kiffin was hired as the Oakland Raiders head coach in 2007 and fired by Al Davis in 2008. Two months later he was hired by the University of Tennessee as their head football coach. He started making waves in the SEC immediately. He was calling out other coaches and just generally being mouthy. He also had some recruiting and player issues while head coach at Tennessee. He had assembled a pretty good coaching staff with his dad, Monte Kiffin, ad defensive coordinator and Ed Orgeron as recruiting coordinator, associate head coach and defensive line coach.

Kiffin is bringing both his dad and Ed Orgeron with him to USC. Ed coached at USC and was the recruiting coordinator prior to being hired as the head coach at the University of Mississippi. Kiffin was Ed's replacement as the USC recruiting coordinator. It is great to see coach Orgeron coming back to USC. He has a fiery personality and is a great recruiter.

The rumor is that USC is in negotiations to hire Norm Chow back as the offensive coordinator. That would go a long way for recruiting. He was a great quarterback coach while at USC. He has struggled in his more recent stops, but maybe he can bring that magic back with him. We will have to wait and see.

I don't know how I feel about Lane yet. I will have to wait to see how the team does before I pass judgement. I guess I am excited about change right now. Fight On!

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Michael Vick is Back!?

So, Michael Vick played QB for the Atlanta Falcons until he was charged with a felony for operating an unlawful six-year long interstate dog fighting venture known as "Bad Newz Kennels" at a house he owned in Virginia. He was sentenced to 23 months in prison. He served 18 months of his sentence before being released from prison.

On August 13, Vick signed a 1-year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles that will pay him $1.6 million this year with an option for the 2010 season worth $5 million. This past Sunday, sportscaster James Brown interviewed Vick for 60 Minutes. In the interview Vick stated that he was sorry that he did not step up as a leader and put a stop to the dog fighting, torture and killing. He said he was sorry for how it impacted his family, friends and team. He seemed very concerned with how it affected his life, but not really genuinely remorseful for what he did to the animals and for breaking the law. The excuse is that this was the life he was surrounded by growing up, so we need to give him a break.

If I was the one who was convicted of a felony charge and served time in prison, I would not be able to come back and get the same or similar job that I had before serving prison time. Does he deserve to make $1.6 million this year just because he is talented on the football field? Why then should I not be able to get a similar paying job after serving time for a felony conviction? Does this mean that he is better or more valuable than me, or any other regular working person? I don't think so and am ashamed that the NFL let him back into the league so soon.

Everybody has a right to resume their life after serving the required time for their crime. The problem is that regular people do not get that luxury. Only celebrities and wealthy people do. This is just not right!

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Football Season is Upon Us.

As the oft quoted Hank Williams Jr. might ask, "are you ready for some football?" I sure am. It has been a long off season. I even watched parts of the Hall of Fame Game on Sunday even though I had just a little interest in the teams playing. I had no interest in watching T.O. play for his new team, Buffalo. When it comes the NFL, I follow players rather than teams. I must confess that I do have some interest in the Tennessee Titans because both Jeff Fisher and LenDale White are Trojans. It was great to see a slimmed down LenDale and the Titans pick up where they left off last season and I loved the fake punt run for a touchdown.

I really want to make it to a few USC games this year if I can. I have not been to a game in over 10 years and I am really starting to miss the game day atmosphere. I have been to both college and pro games and I just love the college game and fans much more than the No Fun League. The Coliseum also got a cardinal and gold update to the exterior rim and some other updates this summer that were long overdue.

I made it to a spring practice last year and cannot believe the size of the players that Pete Carroll is getting to play for USC now. The players were big when I was there in 1989-1993, but now safeties and receivers like Taylor Mays and David Ausberry are as big as some of the linemen back then. It is just amazing!

FIGHT ON!

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