Winwin

Vince Young


Stock will never be higher for nation's best QB prospect
By Eric Edholm (eedholm@pfwmedia.com)
Jan. 5, 2006





I don't care what Texas QB Vince Young does � stay or go � I love the freakin' guy. Love him. I thought he had a very fine game last night and showed to the four remaining critics out there (not accurate, inconsistent thrower and � my favorite � not a pro-style passer) that he's a whole lot more than legit.

With indications floating around earlier this week that Young was leaning toward staying in school, perhaps because the teams in the top 10 didn't look too appealing as destinations (but when do they?), I felt that Young might have been taking the easy route.

I felt by sending out those signals that he was coming back, Young might have been relieving some of the pressure he had been feeling this week, this month, heck, this season, over the much-anticipated Rose Bowl matchup between Texas and Young and USC and its Heisman duo of Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart.

Forget it. Scratch that from the record. Young is not the type to bail out, to relieve the pressure. He's out there to win games, to play quarterback better than anyone in the country.

Yeah, you read it right. He's better than Leinart now, and he'll be better than Leinart in the pros.

There was talk that Leinart had gotten a little cold to the idea of following Bush in the draft at No. 2 because it would mean his draft rights would be owned by the downtrodden Saints. Somehow I just don't see Young taking that stance on a potential NFL career. He's the better man right now and the better QB prospect.

Wednesday night proved it. You can look at the stat sheet and say that Leinart threw for 100 more yards than Young. You can point out Leinart might have the prettier mechanics as far as a coach or scout might prefer. But all you need to do is look at the final score � 41-38, Longhorns � to see that the player everyone had slotted as second-best in the nation was the difference-maker. Second isn't too shabby, but it isn't for Vince Young.

"He's a fantastic player, and he made the difference," said USC coach Pete Carroll following the game.

I came into the game really believing in Young but not knowing whether he'd go to the pros or exactly where he'd fit in. I believed in him, but I wasn't quite ready to anoint him anything more than the next Randall Cunningham. And hey, that's very, very nice company. The man threw for 207 touchdowns, ran for another 35 and is in the top 30 all-time in attempts, completions, passing yards and TDs. He went to four Pro Bowls, won five playoff games and was labeled as a player who helped pave the way for mobile quarterbacks to succeed in the NFL.

Young has the chance to make Cunningham a footnote in history. He's that good. I don't care if it's this year or next � but don't you just think he'll reconsider his reported inklings? � but I can't wait to see Young play in the NFL.

I think you have a potential leader and someone you can build an offense around. He will not win Rookie of the Year. He won't be an overnight success. But Young has all the skills to be a great, even a transcendent, quarterback. I saw someone last night who never panicked, kept the pulse of the game in his head at all times and helped convince his teammates that all they needed to do was the job and the assignment that was right in front of them, and he'd do the rest. I loved his control of the game.

And didn't it look, just for a second, following Young's game-winning TD run, that he was about to launch the ball in celebration or perhaps rip his helmet off? It certainly did to me, and I felt that his best moment in the game was after the TD run we'll all remember. It was dampening the vibrant spirit that he exudes. Nineteen seconds left. Have to go for the two-point conversion. That other team is too good. Young just walked the ball back to the ref and went back to work.

This lovefest I am putting forward certainly has a rah-rah, collegiate feel to it, doesn't it? It certainly sounds over-the-top enough as I write it.

But with last night's performance fresh in my mind, I am compelled to envision this man's professional future, as he no doubt will in the days to follow (and his awkward postgame response to John Saunders' "Will you be back?" question did little to stoke the talk that he's coming back). And what he must accept is that his pro stock never will be higher.

Let's just get the staggering numbers out of the way.

On 19 carries, he ran for 200 yards. On top of that, he completed 30-of-40 passes for 267 yards. He took the game over when it was up for grabs and seized a national championship.

Which of those characteristics or skills don't you want on your team?

Young is unorthodox, I'll give you that. But wasn't Cunningham not orthodox? What about Steve Young or Bernie Kosar? Weren't they, in their own ways, a bit different? I say Young is a better prospect than Michael Vick has shown so far. Not what he could accomplish, but what Vick has so far.

Will Young come out? Yeah, I think so. I think despite the lack of appealing teams sitting atop the NFL draft, Young will decide that there is nothing more he can do in college to prove his worth or improve his stock in the eyes of the pro scouts. If I am New Orleans at No. 2 and Young is out there, I grab him and turn the franchise keys over to him for the next five years. If he can carry the whole state of Texas on his back for a season, Young certainly can do the same for the good-news-starved Saints fans and Louisiana residents.

And Young would be all the more happy to restart his legacy so close to home. He's the best college quarterback I have seen in a long time, and I hope to see him in the NFL soon. But I am even willing to wait. I like him that freakin' much.

IN THE END THE THIRST ALWAYS WINS-DRACULA