Scout Sightings: Louisville-Rutgers

[SoCalBronco]

Scout Sightings: Louisville-Rutgers

By TFY Draft Preview

Posted Nov 12, 2006

It was a game for the ages for northeast college football as Rutgers pulled the upset. It was also a contest which had scouts from ten different NFL teams on hand to inspect the talent. Here's a breakdown of the players they were watching as well as major news on the draft status for Michael Bush and several Louisville underclassmen.


NY Jets: Former general manager Terry Bradway was on hand to scout the game. He took a lot of notes on three separate players from Louisville. The first was running back Kolby Smith, the Cardinal's athletic ball carrier. The next was quarterback Brian Brohm. And finally he closely inspected defensive tackle Amobi Okoye. Interestingly he did not seem to have much interest in either receiver Mario Urrutia or linebacker Nate Harris, both also from Louisville.

Arizona Cardinals: The Cardinals scout on hand was very active throughout the evening. He watched both of Louisville's senior blockers, Kurt Quarterman and Renardo Foster. Rutgers guard Cameron Stephenson was also on the Cards list. The team also had an interest in fullback Brian Leonard of Rutgers. Finally they watched a pair of Louisville defenders, linebacker Nate Harris and cornerback William Gay.

Indianapolis Colts: To their credit the Colts have been very active this year. Just about every game we've scouted live the Colts have been in attendance. As was the case with the West Virginia-UConn game several weeks ago the team concentrated on one-gap linebackers, specifically Devraun Thompson of Rutgers. Flying around the field all evening making plays, there is a bit of irony in the Colts interest in Thompson considering the story of Gary Brackett, one of the team's top linebackers today. They also focused on Rutgers defensive tackle Rameel Meekins, an explosive one-gap lineman.

Baltimore Ravens: The focus was underclassman Mario Urrutia from Louisville, who would add size at receiver. Cardinal corner William Gay was also focused on as was his teammate, guard Kurt Quartermann. Surprisingly the team also liked Brian Leonard.

Chicago Bears: With needs at guard the team focused on Quartermann and Stephenson. Linebacker Nate Harris was also targeted as was Rutgers tight end/long snapper Clark Harris.

New York Giants: The team liked William Gay a bunch as the UL corner is tough and feisty. Rutgers receiver/return specialist Willie Foster was also targeted by the team. And just as their New York counterparts, the Giants focused on running back Kolby Smith.

San Francisco 49ers: The 'Niners really focused on the offensive side of the ball. Rutgers receiver/return specialist Willie Foster and both of Louisville's junior wide outs, Mario Urrutia and Harry Douglas were targeted. Fullback Brian Leonard was heavily watched as was Louisville cornerback William Gay.

Miami Dolphins: Miami almost singularly concentrated on the lines of scrimmage. UL defensive tackle Amobi Okoye, guard Kurt Quarterman and Cameron Stephenson (Rutgers) as well as Renardo Foster (Louisville) a college tackle who many project to guard, were focused on.


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While the scouts on hand provided us with plenty of information there was just as much news from the Louisville locker room after the game.

We spoke with several people involved with the program about the status of the Louisville juniors and got some very frank answers.

Michael Bush is not expected back with the program and everyone we spoke with told us he will enter the draft. Bush, who broke his leg during the first game of the season, was on hand and looked okay walking around.

The story is not as clear with quarterback Brian Brohm. Sources told us they cannot get a good read on what the signal callers next move will be. The feeling is he's slightly leaning towards entering the draft after seeing what happened to his teammate Michael Bush then sustaining a thumb injury himself which put him on the sidelines for a few weeks.

Amongst scouts the belief is Brohm is not NFL-ready and may not even be the top junior quarterback prospect. That title could be held by Jamarcus Russell of LSU.

Brohm looked terrible during the second half of the game showing little poise and even less patience in the face of pressure.

After the game we spoke with Louisville coach Bobby Petrino who admitted extra protections and protection packages were put in place during the last two quarters. Petrino also said it was obvious Brohm was not looking downfield and ran the ball too much.

The Cardinals coach looked visibly upset to the point of being perturbed about the situation. It was a nice way of saying Brohm had cabin fever in the second half and was watching out for pass rushers more than he was looking for pass catchers. His draft stock took a big hit.

Surprisingly the most definitive answer we received was about the draft status of receiver Mario Urrutia. When asked if he would leave for the NFL after this season the answer was a resounding, "he is gone" from sources in the UL locker room.

We asked about Urrutia's 40-time and no one seemed to know the answer for sure

http://nfldraft.scout.com/2/589800.html

[SoCalBronco]

I really like Urrutia. Ive focused on him a few times and I have definitely been impressed. He's tall but he isn't gumby or anything, he's got some muscle on him and can break tackles. He would be a very good addition for us, perhaps in Round 2, if he is still there. I think a great deal of him. I was disappointed in Brohm's performance. Ive been high on him for several years now....he looked really lost in that second half against the Rutgers blitzes. I hope he gets back to his 2004 form.

Nate Harris is also one of my top ranked LB prospects, he actually was set to go to Miami but had some serious criminal trouble as a senior in HS and ofcourse no one would let him in at the time, so he had to take the JC route. He can close real fast and is built well.

That Okoye prospect is impressive, as Big Guy has noted a few times before, really must be an intelligent person to be a senior at 19. He appears to be physically developed well too even though he is extremely young.

There's a DT from Rutgers that I havent seen for awhile, I don't know if he is still on the roster, his name is Nate Robinson, he flashed some serious skill a few years ago...I wonder what happened to him.

[WABronco]

...I wonder why Urrutia is in such a hurry to leave?

[Billy Clyde Puckett]

I have not had a chance to look it up, but I wondered how the draft rules on age would impact Okoye. I thought they had to be two years removed from their normal high school graduating class or something like that.

I don't know what happened to Brohm, but I think it is a bad situation with his brother being his coach. Had my brother screamed at me like that I would have cold cocked him

[Requiem]

Originally Posted by SoCalBronco

I really like Urrutia. Ive focused on him a few times and I have definitely been impressed.

Urrutia is a very interesting prospect, but I don't see how with only two true years of experience, he breaks it out of the third-round. Based on potential, maybe. . . but his decision to go early (which seems pretty much set in stone) is probably a mistake he's going to regret as falls down the board on draft day.

I'm currently working on a new draft, in which I actually set up a site for, which has our first three picks down.

First-round, it's a running back. . . but you'll have to hold your breath on who.

Second-round, it's an offensive tackle. Only seemed logical due to the recent events. (Lepsis going down, Foster being benched, what depth do we have there, who will protect Cutler?)

Third-round, we finally go defensive line. However, it's a tackle. When doing my mocks, I am seriously taking in past draft trends which teams also analyze and take seriously as well.

As for our original pick in the third-round. I'm really not sure.

A part of me wants to address the DL again, but I also want to take a logical approach to the selection as well.

I'm seriously considering a wide receiver there too, but a guy like Hicks from Texas Tech could make serious sense on Day 2.

I wanted to incorporate trades into this one, such as the possibility of waving one of our talent youngsters (as you and I have talked in private about) or a veteran such as Plummer and seeing what he can get us, but it's too early to gauge what we could get.

I'm just under the belief if Tatum can't be healthy, Shanahan isn't going to pay him the money when his contract comes up and it'd best to be gettin' value out of him while he would still have it. (I finally came around to your point made.)

We'll see though, and I hope it's a site you guys will enjoy. It's not going to be my "official broncos" site, but it's set up on Blogger with a pretty nifty template and a little bit of editing I did to it. I'll post it by the end of the week hopefully.

[Requiem]

If you guys could give me input on the rest of selections, it'd really help.

I think adding a day one receiver would be logical if we want to help out Cutler, but I'll never get the bias of adding another lineman to our draft.

I just see adding a receiver being more logical and probable than us double-dippin' on the line back-to-back.

THOUGHTS?

[Billy Clyde Puckett]

As much as I want a dominate DL, the first day selections appear to mandate a RB, a speed WR, an OT and ?? unless in practice they have discovered that Cutler is not what they expected. In that case all bets are off.

[Requiem]

Originally Posted by Big Guy

As much as I want a dominate DL, the first day selections appear to mandate a RB, a speed WR, an OT and ?? unless in practice they have discovered that Cutler is not what they expected. In that case all bets are off.

I added a speedy wide receiver who has really had a breakout year, but has been consistent over the past two seasons at his respective school and is a lethal threat in the returning game.

He's a third-round guy, but probably a riser come draft time. Make your guess.

I'm working on Day 2 right now.

[Billy Clyde Puckett]

Originally Posted by Requiem

I added a speedy wide receiver who has really had a breakout year, but has been consistent over the past two seasons at his respective school and is a lethal threat in the returning game.

He's a third-round guy, but probably a riser come draft time. Make your guess.

I'm working on Day 2 right now.

You have talked about Breaston before. This WR class seems to be mostly larger guys. Has Stuckey down at Clemson been returning punts?

[Requiem]

It's neither of those guys. . .

[youcandoit1687]

johnnie lee higgins, WR, UTEP

i saw him against somebody, tulsa maybe? looked impressive against weak competition. very very fast, i think i saw that he is a 4.3/4.25 guy. that gets my vote with big guys like marshall and walker on the roster.

[youcandoit1687]

higgins or i totally overlooked my guy...craig davis. just started returning punts, had a 77 yarder agaisnst fresno st in his second game returning. good downfield blocker, good size speed blend with good hips. can run slip screens and screens, good downfield speed, runs end arounds. im pretty sure its one of my two guesses. id be happy with either one