Originally Posted by jeanpierre
(Post 797108)
Let me first say this, born & raised in Lafourche/Terrebonne Parishes, I was raised a SEC fan, not just LSU...
In fact my Mom, from MS, had me pull for Ole Miss and she worked for Tulane Docs so I also pulled for the Green Wave...
More an Ole SEC house - a team that has the best shot to make the most national noise is who our house pulled for late in the season...
So growing up in the 70s and 80s - we pulled for a lot of Bama teams in December and January...
That said, Alabama players, especially under Saban, have always made me nervous...
Many are not overly impressive individually, often because they have such great teams year in, year out...
Many of the individual flaws, whether mental or physical are masked in their Bama film because of their surrounding superior level of talent...
Now I'm not saying Bama doesn't produce any elite players - it's just that it's not every prospect from Bama deserves the draft cache the Bama propaganda generates...
That said - I get what some of you say this year about getting a DT, LB or S at a high level of physical talent, and Bama has guys graded well at those positions...
Several of the Bama guys coming out, specifically Evans, Payne and Harrison, will be good solid pros, I just don't think they're first or early second round guys if they came from a Purdue or Syracuse or Virginia...
In contrast, take Vander Esch who wasn't surrounded with talent; he started out as a walk-on as a slot receiver or tight end; then moved to linebacker; his game progressed, made errors, rarely repeated the same errors; he worked his butt off physically to become an elite prospect...
When you look at players that come out of these, well, factories - Bama, Ohio St, Virginia Tech, LSU, you've got to factor how that player is going to perform when everyone in the NFL is just as fast and strong...
How fast they learn, how fast they react, how fast they adjust...
Not running at your second pro day may not seem like that big of a deal, but go back to just last year when Foster played the "do you know who I am card" in the middle of one of the biggest processes of his career - now we know it was symptomatic of someone hiding something...
Anyways, that's why I've pushed back on some of the Bama guys and why I'm hesistant to jump on board with taking anyone other than Minkah in the first round...
With this year's group, I like the idea of taking CB Levi Wallace or C Brad Bozeman in the latter rounds where their floors are a given and the investment is not quite as high...
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