Hot Routes

With all the love given to Mo Purify and Nunn/Swift, I thought the man gracing today's hot routes should be the one who made the most noise in the spring game, Mr. Todd Petersen. He appeared to have a good rapport with Keller in the game, something that hopefully has some repeat appearances this fall. I had the pleasure of meeting Todd's parents at the USC game this past year, and they are some of the most gracious and patient people I've ever encountered. I call them patient because they showed a lot of that virtue when my brother and I repeatedly offered them some of our beer (we had been hitting it hard that day).

That said, onto the links.

For those of you who read my draft preview yesterday, here's a little more information on Adam Carriker. Me and draft "expert" Mel Kiper both have Carriker penciled in to St. Louis at 13..........which makes me wonder, how does one become a draft expert? Is there a school for this? Or do you just have to have bad hair and practically no actual football experience?


Over on CSTV.com, Brian Jones picks his top prospects on the offensive side of the ball heading into this season. His QB choice for the upcoming season? Pat White of West Virginia. Now, with all due respect to White, who is an incredible player, if I can choose any guy to run my team, it's not going to be him. Sure, he completed 65% of his passes. But his TD to INT ratio was a pedestrian 13-7. He only attempted 179 passes last year, which doesnt quite cut it when compared to the likes of Colt McCoy (318) or Brian Brohm (313). Jones picking White would be like someone picking Eric Crouch after his 1999 season, where he attempted 160 passes for 7 touchdowns and 4 picks. What I'm getting at is that while the White can run, he ain't my choice for a QB this year. I think that breaking that 200 attempts barrier is important. But Jones' article made me wonder, if I could pick any QB, RB, and WR from any team in the country this year, who would they be? I am imposing a no-Huskers rule to make sure I'm not biased and playing favorites. My three:

QB: Andre Woodson, Kentucky
Some of you might be scratching your head wondering who the hell Andre Woodson is. Those of you that already know might wonder why I'd pick him over other candidates like the aforementioned McCoy or Brohm, or USC's John David Booty. My reasoning is that Woodson led the SEC in TD's and passing offense with considerably less talent around him than his counterparts. Perfect is example is Booty. Now, I'm not saying Booty isn't a good QB. But there are a lot of guys who could look good throwing to Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith, and he's going to have just as many weapons this year with four former High School All Americans playing reciever for the Trojans. Look at McCoy, who had Limas Sweed to throw to and Jamaal Charles behind him. Woodson completed 63% of his passes for 31 TDs against just 7 picks, in the toughest conference in the country. He gets the nod.

RB: Darren McFadden, Arkansas
I almost gave this one to Johnathan Stewart out of Oregon, who doesn't get near the pubicity he deserves (he rushed for 981 yards with 100 less carries than McFadden). But ultimately, the heisman runner-up with 1,600 yards and 14 TDs gets the nod. My only problem with McFadden is his lack of production in big games (failed to break the 90 yard mark against Southern Cal, Florida in the SEC title game, and Wisconsin in the bowl game). It probably doesnt help that their passing game was so bad that he had to be the quarterback 20% of the time.

WR: Mo Purify
I couldn't resist.

Meanwhile, over at Iowa State, Gene Chizik continues to lay down the law, suspending three players and booting another completely off the team. All of this may be a huge shock to the Iowa State players, who had become accustomed to Dan McCarney's way of doing things. I think Chizik is a great hire for that program, but with the short grace period usually allowed coaches in these days, he better start ensuring he doesn't alienate his players. He's going to need all of them to compete this season.

I think I agree with the coaches in the debate over text messaging recruits. I don't think these kids need to be constantly harassed, but at the same time completely doing away with texting is a bad move. There are a lot of times where a simple text can be beneficial in answering a question and save the time of a phone call. Hell, I hate talking to people on my phone. There are times I'll ignore it when somebody is calling me just so I can text them back and avoid the conversation. This is usually the case when it's a girl that I really have no interest in. It's probly similar to recruits getting calls from Dan Hawkins. They don't want to talk to him, but they'll text him just to see what he wants. I think the NCAA should limit it to certain time frames of the day or week, just to make sure that it's not taking up too much of the recruit's time. That said, how would they go about policing that kind of policy?

The last link I'll pass along is a story over on ESPN about Wisconsin's efforts to replace tackle Joe Thomas and QB John Stocco. I hate the Big 10, but I like to support Wisconsin just because it is always fun to watch Gophers fans suffer. Plus, when I went to a Badgers-Purdue game, I found their fans to be passionate and knowledgeable, although their sportsmanship was a little lacking. Either way, a nice quick read.

New to Hot Routes: The Family Guy clip of the Day!