Mel Kiper on Kevin Boothe

[jaybert]

is kevin boothe ever going to get drafted?  So much for 2nd round..

[jaybert]

finally..

 7th in the 6th round, 176th overall, oakland raiders

[Hillel Hoffmann]

[quote Jason L]finally..

 7th in the 6th round, 176th overall, oakland raiders[/quote]

I hate the Raiders, but if I was an offensive lineman, it would would be pretty cool to be coached by Art Shell.

[djk26]

Congratulations, Kevin!  Good luck in the NFL.

[ugarte]

[quote Jason L]7th in the 6th round, 176th overall, oakland raiders[/quote]I hope that his time with the Raiders is more fruitful than Chad Levitt's was. So far he is the only Ivy player drafted. IIRC, the only other Ivy players on the ESPN draft board were Nick Hartigan (RB-Brown) and Jay McCareins (S-Princeton).

[David Harding]

[quote Ronald '09]Tulloch is actually mislabled, he is a linebacker from NC State.  I saw that too on a site, and when I clicked on his profile, it said he goes to NC State.  I looked at it further to see which was right.  He does not go to Cornell.  I'm not sure how they made a mistake like that, but they did.[/quote]Ah, thanks.  I should have noticed the text in the box, but I jumped straight to the commentary.

[djk26]

Just out of curiousity, how does one get on the draft board?  Do you have to declare yourself eligible?  To me, in theory, the NFL teams should be able to draft any player they want.  I take it that is not the case.

[jaybert]

[quote djk26]Just out of curiousity, how does one get on the draft board?  Do you have to declare yourself eligible?  To me, in theory, the NFL teams should be able to draft any player they want.  I take it that is not the case.[/quote]

its not like hockey where you can be drafted and still play college hockey.  you have to actively declare yourself (at which point you lose your elgibility to play in the NCAAs).

[ugarte]

[quote Jason L][quote djk26]Just out of curiousity, how does one get on the draft board?  Do you have to declare yourself eligible?  To me, in theory, the NFL teams should be able to draft any player they want.  I take it that is not the case.[/quote]

its not like hockey where you can be drafted and still play college hockey.  you have to actively declare yourself (at which point you lose your elgibility to play in the NCAAs).[/quote]A player is eligible for the NFL draft if he has (a) exhausted his college eligibility or (b) declared himself eligible for the NFL draft, thereby forfeiting his remaining college eligibility. Unlike basketball (unless the rules changed again), there are no "takebacks" in football. If you declare, you are done, whether on not you hire an agent.


The "NFL draft board" is simply a list of players that experts think might get drafted. Sometimes teams will take players in the later rounds that aren't on any public draft board; nobodies rarely get taken in the early rounds*. The different public boards areThe NFL.com board isn't the same as the ESPN.com board (for example, I think McCareins and Hartigan only appeared on ESPN's list.) These draft boards are like the Central Scouting Bureau lists, not lists of players that have opted in.


*This is mostly a question of strategy. If nobody else knows about your hidden gem there is no point in drafting him high. You use up a high pick and you have to pay the hidden gem a high-round signing bonus. For example, I think the Seahawks signed John Kitna as a free agent after the draft. He had a relatively undistinguished college career at Central Washington, so Seattle was the only team that really knew anything about him. As soon as they signed him, Holmgren suggested that he could be an NFL starter within a year. It doesn't happen often, but Kitna was a huge bargain (even if he isn't exactly a Hall of Famer.)

[atb9]

Mel Kiper has repeatedly said today that Kevin Boothe was a steal for Oakland in the sixth round.

[Chris \'03]

[quote atb9]Mel Kiper has repeatedly said today that Kevin Boothe was a steal for Oakland in the sixth round.[/quote]

Michael Smith of Fox Sports disagrees:
"WORST PICK [of the 6th round]
Oakland Raiders: Kevin Boothe, OT, Cornell — Boothe was inconsistent in college, and if he couldn't consistently beat the man across from him at Cornell, the quality of defensive lineman he'll see in the NFL will eat him for lunch. If there's any coach who can teach a lineman how to become an NFL star it's Art Shell, but making Boothe a star would require a miracle worker. Note: Boothe was a hotel administration major. Ivy League schools have hotel administration majors?"

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5558834

Adam Schein (who I think is a Syracuse guy) says:
"And I liked the pick of Cornell offensive linemen Kevin Boothe. He will shift to guard in the NFL and get coached up by Jackie Slater and Art Shell. This added depth and talent to the offensive line in the 6th round."
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5561544

Finally, an amusing note:
"176. Oakland: Kevin Boothe, G, Cornell. The Raiders drafted an ivy leaguer, and it just seems like there should be something in the United States Constitution that makes that illegal. How is he supposed to fit in? He can't teach everyone on the team how to read. What are they going to start drafting next, guys who don't carry guns? Guys who volunteer in the community? I am disappointed, Raiders."

http://www.deadspin.com/sports/nfl-draft/before-mel-kiper-is-hermetically-sealed-and-put-back-in-the-freezer-170546.php

[ugarte]

[quote Chris '03]"WORST PICK [of the 6th round]
Oakland Raiders: Kevin Boothe, OT, Cornell — Boothe was inconsistent in college, and if he couldn't consistently beat the man across from him at Cornell, the quality of defensive lineman he'll see in the NFL will eat him for lunch. If there's any coach who can teach a lineman how to become an NFL star it's Art Shell, but making Boothe a star would require a miracle worker. Note: Boothe was a hotel administration major. Ivy League schools have hotel administration majors?"[/quote]This appears to mimic some of the commentary from the nfl.com scouting report. Everyone likes Boothe's athleticism, size and potential, but the knock on him at nfl.com was that (for an NFL lineman) he, well, sucks.

If his problem is technique, Schein probably has the right idea. If you are going to be a raw rookie OL in the NFL, a team with Slater and Shell on the coaching staff is where you want to be.

[CUlater 89]

Dr. Z at SI.com:

RAIDERS: Don't start resurrecting the Robert Gallery pick and telling me, "Look at all the great guys they could have had who were drafted after him; this club doesn't know what it's doing." It was hats in the air all around when they made that selection. I think their top choice, CB-S combination Michael Huff, is just fine, and I salute the gambling instinct that led them to such guys as LB Thomas Howard and T Paul McQuistan and G Kevin Boothe, all of whom are on the rise and could pay off big some day. Doesn't it seem like about a year ago that all us draftniks were projecting Vince Young to the Raiders?

[David Harding]

From the San Francisco Chronicle on the August 6 Oakland-Philadelphia game http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/08/08/SPG9CKD0LO1.DTL&hw=boothe&sn=003&sc=526 [q]Another draft pick, sixth-rounder Kevin Boothe, played right guard the whole second half.[/q]

[Scott Kominkiewicz]

> Also, as we all know, the league had a legitimate Heisman candidate in 1971. <

What about Yale's Rich Diana in 1981?  Consequently, that was the last year that Ivy League football was Div. 1-A.  When Yale came to Schoellkopf that year to play us on homecoming, they were 8-0, and I believe ranked in the top 20. A loss to Princeton at the end of the season took them out of the rankings.

Shoot, Dick Kazmaier from Princeton actually won the Heisman in 1951.  Hey, that's only 55 years ago.

I have to tell you though, it was a real kick in the stomach when the NCAA demoted the Ivy League to Div. 1-AA status in 1982.