Chiefs Checking out Michigan, Wisconsin and Others This Weekend

by Chris Thorman on Nov 12, 2009 7:16 AM CST in 2009 Kansas City Chiefs Campaign

Believe it not, the college football season is winding down just as the NFL is really gearing up. Each school will play a couple more games and then it's the December hibernation until Bowl game time.

The Chiefs know this, which is why according to Chris Steuber of Scout KC will send scouts to the Michigan v. Wisconsin game and Washington v. Oregon State this weekend.

In order to keep everyone up to date on what's going on the scouting end, I've listed some of the more notable players at each school and a few bits of info on them.

The information and rankings comes from the best draft site out there - NFL Draft Scout. I think it's like $25 for a year-long subscription to the insider info and it's by far worth it.

After the jump, we're talking Michigan, Wisconsin, Washington and Oregon St. Let us know who I missed in the comments.

Michigan

P Zoltan Mesko (Senior)

#1 ranked punter
6'5", 232 pounds
Projected round: 5-6
45-yard a punt average currently
Ray Guy award semi-finalist in 2008 (college football's best punter)
Born in Romania
Father is a former professional bowler. Who knew?

OLB/DE Brandon Graham (Senior)

#1 ranked outside linebacker
6'1", 263 pounds
Projected round: 1
"Scouts will make their way to Ann Arbor to see the next impact short-but-stout defensive end in the mold of Elvis Dumervil, Dwight Freeney, Darryl Tapp and DeWayne White."
"After playing sparingly in 11 games as a true freshman, Graham made his name known among Big Ten quarterbacks by making 8.5 sacks in a part-time starting role in 2006. Given the chance to play every down as a junior, he took his game to a first-team all-conference level in 2008 by making 20 tackles for loss, including 10 sacks."
Graham has 6 sacks and 46 tackles so far this season. He has already tied his tackle total for last season.

OG Steve Schiling (Junior)

#4 ranked outside guard
Projected round: 3
6'5", 304 pounds

Wisconsin

FB Garrett Graham (Senior)

#1 ranked fullback
6'3", 250 pounds
Projected round: 3
"He may not be considered a top 50 selection because he's not overly strong, big or fast, but Graham's solid all-around game puts him in the conversation as a mid-round pick for NFL teams primarily utilizing an H-back or motion tight end in their base offense."

OT Gabe Carimi (Senior)

#4 ranked offensive tackle
6'7", 325 pounds
Projected round: 1-2
2007 accolades: "Earned first letter ... started at left tackle in all 13 games, taking over the position from 2006 Outland Trophy winner and No. 3 overall NFL Draft choice Joe Thomas ... named second-team freshman All-American by Rivals.com and The Sporting News ... honorable mention freshman All-American by collegefootballnews.com ... first-team freshman All-Big Ten honors from The Sporting News ... Academic All-Big Ten ... named UW's co-rookie of the year ... fasted for 24 hours prior to Iowa game on Sept. 22 in observance of Yom Kippur.

C John Moffit (Junior)

#4 ranked center
6'5", 320 pounds
Projected round: 3

Washington

QB Jake Locker (Junior)

#3 ranked quarterback
6'3", 226 pounds
Projected round: 1
2009 stats: 56% completion rate, 2203 yards passing, 14 TDs and 9 INTs

Oregon St.

DT Stephen Paea (Junior)

#5 ranked defensive tackle
6'1", 288 pounds
Projected round: 2

WR James Rodgers (Junior)

#9 ranked wide receiver
5'7", 185 pounds
Projected round: 3
2008: First team All-Pac-10 at kick returner

Okay, AP readers. Those of you with more college football knowledge let us know - Who did miss? Who could the Chiefs be checking out at these schools?

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Oregon State

I’ll go school-by-school, as I have time, starting with Oregon State in this post:

Sean Canfield’s not a bad QB at this point. He’s done a decent job of piloting Oregon State this season. Not sure he’s a draft pick, but he’s worth scouting at least. Good size, okay arm strength, and he’s starting to make smarter decisions.

James Rodgers is tiny, as is his brother, RB Jacquizz. Both are electrifying players, but it’s hard to imagine either would jump early. I’m guessing James, who is a junior, will stay, but I guess KC would watch him as much as anyone else in case he does jump. Seems like a guy who’d go between picks #45 and 60, if I had to guess. ‘Quizz isn’t eligible for the 2010 draft.

Stephen Paea is a compact defensive tackle who came from a fairly good juco program. He plays with good leverage, getting nice and low to really drive interior OL where he wants to go. He could be a first-day pick, but I’d guess third round.

Keaton Kristick is a fairly good linebacker. He’s their leading tackler and has good size (6’3" 235lbs.), but I think he’s been having a few short-term injuries. Ah, looked it up just now, and it sounds like he had stingers in two straight games, but seems to be okay now. No idea where he’d go in the draft.

by burntorangehorn on Nov 12, 2009 9:03 AM CST reply actions 1 recs

Garrett Graham

is a tight end. not a fullback..

by chiefsmlb58 on Nov 12, 2009 4:18 PM CST reply actions

A tight end indeed

And a good one at that. Well, if one likes Winslow/Clark-style tight ends, who are essentially just bigger WRs with minimal blocking skills. I do like Graham though.

Another guy to love for Wisconsin is John Clay. He’s dumb as a rock, but he’s incredibly talented. The kid reminds me more of Jim Brown than any other back in recent history, because he’s just a huge, tough, powerful runner. Think Brandon Jacobs with better resilience and much better pad level. If I had to guess on where he’d measure at the combine, I’d estimate 6’1" 245lbs. and a 4.65 40, but I’d also guess a pretty good vertical. He’s not going to compare favorably with Jahvid Best or Noel Devine when it comes to three-cone drills or the shuttle, but he’s adequate there, and his power is rare. A bonus is that he is a team guy who is dedicated to learning to block, which should be a breath of fresh air to Chiefs fans.

by burntorangehorn on Nov 14, 2009 9:45 AM CST up reply actions

follow-up on Clay:

I couldn’t find much as far as draft site evals on Clay as a college player, because he’s just a redshirt sophomore right now (could enter for the upcoming draft), but here’s what was written about him when he was being recruited:

Clay has a great combination of size and quickness and is a patient runner who sets up his blocks well. He’s strong and his vision allows him to cutback to the right spot although he runs a little bit high. He’s fast enough to break off big runs, but in college he projects as a big back who will wear down a defense. Clay is a student of the game and his willingness to wait on his blockers is impressive at this stage. Clay has straight forward speed and has a head of steam after just a few strides. He can deliver a blow and will do so more often when coaches to run lower. Clay gets better as he gets more carries so he’d best fit in an offense that has a run-first mentality. He is very strong physically with a great work ethic and the frame to play at close to 230 pounds. Level of competition is a question mark but his skill set translates well to the right offense.

Also, a more recent news article about him, talking about how everyone (incl. Ohio State) wanted him:

“When he was a sophomore in high school, he looked like he should be a sophomore in college,” Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema said of his 6-foot-1, 248-pound running back.

Now that Clay is a sophomore in college, everyone expects him to be Ron Dayne reincarnated.

To which Bielema adds some perspective.

“John has completed the fifth game of his second year of playing,” he said. “He’s relatively young in that career. But we want our younger players to act old.”

Clay appears to be aging not like fine wine but rather the press that crushes the grapes. After a curiously blase start to the season, Clay has been stampeding the past two weeks.

Coinciding with the start of Big Ten play, he had 32 carries each in wins over Michigan State (142 yards) and Minnesota (184 yards).

He leads the Big Ten and ranks sixth nationally in rushing (116.4 yards per game). Saturday’s opponent, Ohio State, ranks first in the conference and 10th nationally in rush defense (83.4).

Clay, who rushed for 5,000 yards in high school in Racine, Wis., was wanted by everyone, including Ohio State, where he would have plugged in nicely as Chris “Beanie” Wells’ successor.

“Tried to recruit him like mad,” OSU coach Jim Tressel said. “He stayed home, which I understand.”

The rest of the article can be found here:

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2009/10/08/wisconsin_10-8.ART_ART_10-08-09_C3_GNFAG48.html?sid=101

I should note that while the article mentions Ron Dayne, Clay is different in at least one very critical way: he’s a power runner. Ron Dayne was big, but like ol’ Bam Morris, he was twinkletoes in a defensive end’s body. He didn’t have superior power. Clay is like a slightly faster Ron Dayne with a better ability to use power between the tackles. Dayne was probably a little better as an open-field runner, despite the size.