As I'm sure all of you know, the NFL Draft is slowly approaching. All the buzz is about the two top Quarterbacks entering the draft, Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III. Now everyone is assuming that Luck will be the first pick in the draft by the Colts, with Griffin coming in closely behind him. Now all the hype is about how the draft and how both players will live up to the big stage of the NFL. Both players are strangely similar; Both are 22, exactly five months apart, both were recruited by Stanford. Now most didn't know this but the offensive coordinator tried really hard for Griffin, while Luck was already in house. Though Griffin preferred Baylor because he knew he would have a better chance to play early and often. The next similarity between Luck and Griffin is that both were high school football stars in Texas, Luck was at Houston Stratford, Griffin at Copperas Cove. Both declared for the draft with a year of college eligibility left. Both were academic stars as well. Griffin had a 3.67 GPA in political science. Luck was a academic All-American in architectural design and engineering. Now the most obvious similarity is that they both are athletic. Even though it's clear that Griffin is more of an athlete.
ESPN's Peter King spoke with both coaches on how they will far in the NFL. Shaw, on Luck: "You saw the USC game this year. Andrew threw an interception in the fourth quarter that they returned for a touchdown to put them up, and then we had to respond. He went to everybody on the offense on the sideline. His message was the same up and down the sideline: 'We have no choice here. We're going to take the ball downfield and score, and we're gonna win.' He drove them to the tying touchdown, and we won in overtime. That's who he is. He will not accept failure, in anything. Wherever he goes, he will have a drive to succeed. And when he gets picked, all the extraneous stuff, he'll do what he has to do.But all the stuff he can't control, I guarantee you he won't worry about it. He's a guy who will have faith in his coaches. I can't tell you how smart he is. I used to tell him, 'OK, take the stuff you don't want out of this game plan. Kill the plays you don't like.' He hated that. HATED it. The way he knows football, the coach coaches, and he plays. So wherever he goes, he's going to master what is in his control, and he's going to forget everything else. It's not his job.
"One other thing: I remember early on at Stanford, I told him one time, 'Andrew, this is your huddle, take charge of the huddle.' He looked at me and said, 'Coach, before that can be my huddle, I have to earn it. I don't want it handed to me.' That is how he will approach the NFL -- like whatever he gets, he'll earn. The position is about finding completions, about moving the offense. You watch how he played, how he checked down, how he always found the open receiver. He will have no ego about throwing the ball deep or throwing it short. He'll be throwing for completions.''
Briles, on Griffin: "The thing about Robert is he's a football player. Some of his happiest times are not when he's done something great himself, but when he's done something for a teammate. You ask him about our bowl game against Washington this year, and he'll tell you the play he loved was making a block downfield to spring our ballcarrier. That's what his new team will realize about him. It's not about the stats, or the fame. It's about elevating the team any way he can.
"I believe with Robert that going to a team that isn't very good will be inspiring to him. Because he'll realize he has to elevate that team any way possible. If you allow people responsibility, you'll soon find out if they have the capacity to handle it. Robert always could handle as much as you gave him. And I don't mean to keep coming back to this but a leader on a team is one who cares for everyone else before he cares for himself. And the excitement and gratitude he has for others on his team ... it's something I saw every game he ever played. That's going to translate to the NFL. This is a great team player.''
If you would like to know more, please be sure to check out the full report by ESPN's Peter King by the link below
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I'm sorry for the whited out parts... I don't know what happened. But if you want to see what the coaches said on their players just click the link at the bottom of the page. Thanks
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