[FarmBoy]

If you need an OT, TE, or many of the other position players, it's a very specific set of characteristics you're looking for. I read "The Blind Side", which chronicles Michael Oher's raise from homelessness to being a top OT prospect, and it recounts how the scout only needed a few minutes of grainy high school game film to take an unknown quantity and put him in his top prospects lists. He could just tell be looking at MO's body that he would make a good OT. But intuitively I'd think that being a good QB prospect would be harder to predict, especially if you didn't see the prospect play in the type of offense they would be asked to run in college. I wouldn't think the QB position is one where you can look at the body type, athletic measurables and even the throwing motion on tape and say, "that's our man." Accuracy, timing, making reads, etc seem so inherent to the quality of the QB, that I would think not having a large sample of plays to draw from would make prediction more difficult. I'm not arguing that it can't be done, just that I'm surprised it is.

I was also struck in the article by the fact that this guy is a top QB prospect and he's choosing to stay in a system that doesn't show off his skills. I've read other stories of QB's and players leaving schools when there's turnover at the HC position. That kid who "committed" to the T.rojans when he was 13, changed schools recently because the school decided to "deemphasize" football's role in the school. It speaks well of Burns' character that he sticks with his team despite the fact that it may limit his exposure. It doesn't seem to have hurt him, as he's still considered a top prospect, but in this day and age, it shows some character that he's not just trying to maximize his situation.

[FarmBoy]

If you need an OT, TE, or many of the other position players, it's a very specific set of characteristics you're looking for. I read "The Blind Side", which chronicles Michael Oher's raise from homelessness to being a top OT prospect, and it recounts how the scout only needed a few minutes of grainy high school game film to take an unknown quantity and put him in his top prospects lists. He could just tell be looking at MO's body that he would make a good OT. But intuitively I'd think that being a good QB prospect would be harder to predict, especially if you didn't see the prospect play in the type of offense they would be asked to run in college. I wouldn't think the QB position is one where you can look at the body type, athletic measurables and even the throwing motion on tape and say, "that's our man." Accuracy, timing, making reads, etc seem so inherent to the quality of the QB, that I would think not having a large sample of plays to draw from would make prediction more difficult. I'm not arguing that it can't be done, just that I'm surprised it is.

I was also struck in the article by the fact that this guy is a top QB prospect and he's choosing to stay in a system that doesn't show off his skills. I've read other stories of QB's and players leaving schools when there's turnover at the HC position. That kid who "committed" to the T.rojans when he was 13, changed schools recently because the school decided to "deemphasize" football's role in the school. It speaks well of Burns' character that he sticks with his team despite the fact that it may limit his exposure. It doesn't seem to have hurt him, as he's still considered a top prospect, but in this day and age, it shows some character that he's not just trying to maximize his situation.