Scouting Combine 2009

It's been a while since I've posted anything... It's a mixture of sadness now that football has gone, craziness in school, and lastly trying to get involved in watching basketball which seems much boring this year except for what the Jazz has been doing... The Scouting Combine is next best thing to watching football because a person is able to see the next future superstars in the NFL... I wasn't invited because I'm already a superstar in the NFL :) (I wish...) Anyways I watched all of the combines twice especially the only two Utah Ute players Sean Smith and Paul Kruger... I wanted to see how they did and if they would help themselves raise their stock in the draft... I still am saddened to think that these two talented players could be playing next year for the Utah Utes... But I think that they are ready for the next step in the their career... Here is how they did...

Sean Smith

He came in at 6'3 and a half weighing at 214 pounds... There was something about him at the combine... He came in with a chip on his shoulder ready to prove something... He was ripped from when I saw him in the Sugar bowl... That told me that he took the preparing to the next level... If you knew Sean, Dude is already confident... But he came as a different person...Quiet (in a confident way) yet he proved his presence there because you can see it in his eyes... Prior to the combine a lot of people thought because of his size that he would be a better fit to play safety...

Sean came back with, "shoot I'm here to play whatever position...whether it be RB, DB or even Safety...I'm here to prove that I can play with the big dawgs." What a perfect answer...

I was impressed with the way Sean Smith came out and did what he did in the combine... I give him a "A-"... He ended up running his fastest 40 at 4.47 seconds... (which is way faster than what I thought he would run...) He surprised a ton of people who didn't know who he was... I've read many articles on draft experts picking Sean Smith to go in the first round... For example one ESPN analyst had 2 paragraphs on Sean saying that he was impressed with the "fluidity" movements he makes with his hips... Obviously this is probably the most important asset as a DB to be able to move your hips and Sean showed that... I'm excited to see where he ends up because the Eagles have two first round picks but I don't see the Eagles picking up another DB unless they switch him to Safety... (Sorry I ramble on sometimes but just thinking here) Any who... Sean was talked up by everyone you can think of... It went from the NFL network crew to SPORTS ILLUSTRATED TO ESPN ANALYSTS TO NFL TEAM DRAFT ANALYSTS... Sean did what he needed to do to be noticed...

Paul Kruger

He came in at 6'5 weighing at 263 pounds... I gave Paul a "B-" grade for his combine because he didn't do anything to raise his stock and he ended up dropping his stock in my opinion... He ended up running his fastest 40 at 4.85 which was a middle of the pack number... Nothing stood out... He also only did 24 reps of 225 which is pretty low for a DE... Again nothing stood out... One thing that went positive was that he showed he can do the practice, cone, bag drills with ease... I've looked at many opinions on Paul Kruger and one NFL analyst predicts that Paul goes late 2ND round... Which before the combine, he was projected late first round to early second round... So I think that he will go either mid or end of 2ND round... Who knows if he would've stayed for one more year??? He would've potentially became an early 1rst round pick...

I know that any NFL team that ends up picking Sean Smith or Paul Kruger will happy with the choice... Both are mature guys and are ready to make an impact... Can't wait to see where they end up and how they do for their NFL careers...