Jermaine Gresham
Tight End | Oklahoma
6’6’’ | 260 lbs.
Gresham is going to be off the draft board by the mid-second round at the tight end position, but his value might force a team to spring on him early. Gresham’s nothing short of a phenomenal athlete and will provide a receiving threat from the tight end position. His very skill set is prototypical to the offenses run in the NFL today – your tight end needs to be able to chip a defender and catch the ball.

He has absolutely excellent size and his reach is incredibly long, making him a deadly red zone threat that’s going to pull in the big reception when you need it on the goal line.
He’s got the strength to be an elite blocker from the position at the next level, but doesn’t seem to care much about his blocking technique, as he is consistently allowing his pad level to get high during run blocking. But this has and will be coached out of him by the right NFL team.

As a pass catcher, he’s exactly what you look for in a tight end, and even in a wide receiver. He’ll catch the ball at the highest point, concentrate while making the catch and use his hands and not

Demaryius Thomas Player Profile
As a 6 foot 3, 235 pound wide receiver coming out of Georgia Tech, it’s difficult not to draw comparisons to Calvin Johnson, but for now the name won’t be mentioned as Thomas may have what it takes to emerge from behind the consummate pro’s shadow.

In a relatively simple run oriented scheme Thomas hasn’t recorded stellar numbers over his career although we can shoulder some of that load on the system. Through his past two seasons Thomas is the only player on Georgia Tech to record more than 10 receptions in a season (46,39 receptions) everyone else was lucky to have 5-6 catches. Thankfully for him, this past year the team opted to take more advantage of his talent; Thomas hauled in 46 passes for 1,154 yards and 8 touchdowns.

The system he played in college required that Thomas blocked on most downs, naturally due to this he’s well ahead of the competition in the blocking department than most WR’s in the nation. On the other hand

Everson Griffen

Defensive End | University Of Southern California

6’3’’ | 278 lbs.

Everson Griffen has the athletic tools to be a great player in the NFL. The question is whether or not his passion for the game will hold up long enough for him to accomplish that.

He has the ability to play both a 4-3 scheme defensive and a 3-4 scheme outside linebacker, which is something that we’re seeing more and more in recent years of prospects coming out of college. You’ve got to be able to excel at one position, but have the talent to play the other if called upon to.

This opens up his “draftability” exponentially. Being able to play a position in both schemes allows any team with a need to draft him, thus making it more likely that he comes off the board in the first two rounds.

He’s got the size to play both positions and is very comfortable in coverage because of his speed and his ability to make plays from sideline to sideline.

He keeps his pads low to the great, which equates to him winning the battle at the line of scrimmage

Toby Gerhart

Running back | Stanford University

6’1’’ | 235 lbs.

Toby Gerhart’s got talent, there’s no doubt about that. A lot of people had him as last year’s Heisman winner, including me. Well, let me re-phrase that, I continuously said that he SHOULD have won last year’s Heisman Trophy, not necessarily the one who WOULD win it. It was like that for a lot of people that I talk to.

Gerhart isn’t going to amaze you with his speed or athleticism. But his toughness and love for contact is certainly refreshing in a day and age in the NFL where speed runners are getting all of the credit for a team’s running success.

He’s a very smart runner, always on the lookout for his blockers and possible cutback zones. Unfortunately he doesn’t exactly have excellent change of direction ability.

He does however have a competitive spirit and a motor. Coupled with no off the field issues and you’ve got a class act all around that just enjoys the game of football. Oh, and hitting people’s one of the man’s best features.

His lack of running back ‘moves’ isn’t necessarily a downfall when you consider that his workload in the NFL is going to consist of mainly short yardage situations. His skill set of not moving laterally and his ability to keep his feet churning upon contact is going to come in handy at the next level.

The problem with running him consistently at the next level is that in college he was playing against smaller linebackers with bad technique. In

NFL Scouts Taking Notice of Big East Draft Talent

Jason Pierre-Paul will be signing an NFL contract this summer. The Junior DE from South Florida is projected to be a late first round selection and should be a millionaire after he signs his deal and reports to training camp.  This should provide quite a change of lifestyle from living in junior college dorms and  USF apartments.  Pierre-Paul will be one of 256 college players joining the NFL from schools all across the country.  Many will come from the usual BCS conferences that seem to dominate NFL rosters year in and year out, the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC and Pac 10.  However several talented players, like Pierre-Paul, will be coming out of the NCAA’s red-headed step child conference of the BCS, the Big East.  And many NFL general managers are starting to take notice.

The amount of Big East players finding their way on NFL rosters is definitely on the rise.  Since 2006, the number of draft picks has steadily risen while the powerhouse SEC has remained relatively constant.  This should show the rising parity in college football even though many experts insist on declaring the SEC as the only dominant conference.

Big East
27 draft picks in 2009
19 draft picks in 2008
16 draft picks in 2007
11 draft picks in 2006

SEC
37 draft picks in 2009
35 draft picks in 2008
41 draft picks in 2007
37 draft picks in 2006

Since losing Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College to the ACC, the Big East has been rebuilding.  Programs like Cincinnati, UConn, USF are quickly improving and joining established programs like Pitt and West Virginia.  And while the Big East does not have the big name coaches of the SEC nor the national television exposure of the Big Ten, it does have quite a fair share of NFL level talent.  Players like Dwight Freeney, Donovan