Sources tell 5 News Arkansas that Razorbacks officials contacted Carroll about the university’s head coaching vacancy, but were promptly turned down by the Seahawks coach, who addressed the news on Twitter.

I still love the Arkansas fight song… But Mooch is the man… Go Razorbacks!

— Pete Carroll (@PeteCarroll) April 19, 2012

NFL Network analyst Steve Mariucci reportedly inquired about the position, though it’s unclear what his current level of interest is.

If this report is true, it’s no surprise Carroll wants to stay put in Seattle; he’s making good money and is slowly but surely turning the ‘Hawks into a contender. It’s also no surprise he’s choosing to avoid the you-know-what storm at Arkansas, following the recent dismissal of Bobby Petrino.

Unlike his first go ’round, the 60-year-old Carroll appears fully entrenched in the NFL, and is unlikely to re-enter the collegiate ranks anytime soon.

Andrew Luck

The Carolina Panthers know who their quarterback of the future will be; they’re just hoping he’ll be around to accept the honor in April.

According to Pat Yasinskas of ESPN.com, the Panthers will select Stanford’s Andrew Luck with the number one overall pick if he decides to enter the 2011 draft.

Luck, a sophomore, is universally seen as the best prospect in the upcoming draft and many draftniks have him pegged as the next great signal-caller in the NFL. He completed his season last night as the Orange Bowl MVP, and now has until January 15 to make himself draft-eligible.

Panthers owner Jerry Richardson dismissed the notion that the team would trade down if Luck’s on the board.

“I think it would be somewhat unusual for us to trade down in this particular case.”

Luck’s 2010 campaign was a dandy — he threw for 3,338 yards and 32 touchdowns, good for a staggering 170.16 passer rating. This year alone, his on-field play earned him several honors, such as the Pac 10 Offensive Player of the Year, First Team All Pac 10, and the Heisman Trophy Runner Up.

Carolina will first need to hire a head coach before they can start focusing on the draft, but whoever they bring aboard will have no bearing on the decision to select the potential face of the franchise.

Charlie Weis

Here at H2H, we like to keep our content NFL-related 99.9% of the time, meaning you won’t see too many posts that relate to the world of collegiate football. This post, however, falls under that .1% as it’s covering the best of both worlds.

According to ESPN, current Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Charlie Weis has been offered the Florida Gators’ OC job. Weis is expected to take the position, though there has been no official announcement or agreement yet.

Florida, who heads into next season under the tutelage of new coach Will Muschamp, contacted Kansas City this week for permission to speak with Weis, and their intention all along was to bring the former Notre Dame head coach back to the college ranks.

Muschamp reportedly wants to install a pro-style offense at UF; there’s no better way to do that than to go get a long time NFL coordinator who has had continued success at the pro level.

Chiefs’ coach Todd Haley declined to discuss this topic with the media, instead opting to focus on their regular season finale against the Oakland Raiders.

”It would be news to me,” Haley said. ”I have no idea. That’s not something I would talk about right now. Our focus is on the Oakland Raiders. At a later date, if something comes up, I surely will talk about it.

”I’m unaware of anything. Charlie was out there coaching today and we’re getting ready to beat the Oakland Raiders.”

Weis will finish out this season with KC, who will play host on Wild Card weekend. The NFL playoffs start January 8. More on this story as it develops.

ROUND 1

Detroit
Matt Stafford, QB

St. Louis
Eugene Monroe, LT

Kansas City
Brian Orakpo, DE

Seattle
Andre Smith, OL

Cleveland
Everette Brown, OLB

Cincinnati
Jason Smith, LT

Oakland
Micheal Crabtree, WR

Jacksonville
Aaron Curry, LB

Green Bay
Michael Oher, LT

San Francisco
Malcolm Jenkins, CB

Buffalo
Brandon Pettigrew, TE

Denver
Busari Raji, NT

Washington
Aaron Maybin, DE

New Orleans
Alphonso Smith, CB

Houston
Vontae Davis, DB

San Diego
Chris Wells, TB

New York Jets
Tyson Jackson, DE

Chicago
Mark Sanchez, QB

Tampa Bay
Michael Johnson, DE

Detroit
Peria Jerry, DT

Philadelphia
Shawn Nelson, TE

Minnesota
Eben Britton, OT

New England
Brian Cushing, LB

Atlanta
Rey Maualuga, LB

Miami
Sean Smith, DB

Baltimore
Jeremy Maclin, WR

Indianapolis
DJ Moore, CB

Philadelphia
Phil Loadholt, OT

New York Giants
Sen’Derrick Marks, DT

Tennessee
Alex Mack, C

Pittsburgh
Herman Johnson, OL

Arizona
Knowshon Moreno, RB

ROUND 2

Detroit
Robert Ayers, DE

Kansas City
Duke Robinson, OG

St. Louis
Darius Butler, CB

Cleveland
Fili Moala, DE

Seattle
Lesean McCoy, RB

Cincinnati
Chase Coffman, TE

Jacksonville
William Beatty, OT

Oakland
Max Unger, OL

Green Bay
Rashad Johnson, S

Buffalo
Keenan Lewis, CB

San Francisco
Josh Freeman, QB

Miami
Clay Matthews, OLB

New York Giants
Kenny Britt, WR

Houston
Chip Vaughn, S

New England
Clint Sintim, OLB

Denver
Louis Delmas, S

Chicago
Darius Heyward Bey, WR

Tampa Bay
Percy Harvin, WR

Dallas
Patrick Chung, S

New York Jets
Hakeem Nicks, WR

Philadelphia
William Moore, S

Minnesota
Victor Harris, CB

Atlanta
Ron Brace, NT

Miami
Ramses Barden, WR

Baltimore
Larry English, OLB

New England
Jeremiah Johnson, RB

Carolina
Paul Kruger, DE

New York Giants
Emanuel Cook, S

Indianapolis
Terrence Taylor, NT

Tennessee
James Laurinaitis, ILB

Pittsburgh
Evander Hood, DE

Arizona
Kraig Urbik, OG

Round 3

Detroit
Nic Harris, OLB

St. Louis
Andy Levitre, OG

Kansas City
Marcus Freeman, OLB

Seattle
Brian Robiskie, WR

Dallas
Darry Beckwith, ILB

Cincinnati
Mike Mickens, CB

Oakland
Kyle Moore, DE

Jacksonville
Donald Brown, RB

Green Bay
Antoine Caldwell, C

San Francisco
Derrick Williams, WR

Buffalo
Gerald McRath, OLB

NY Jets
Scott McKillop, ILB

Houston
Tyrone McKenzie, OLB

San Diego
Connor Barwin, OLB

Denver
Shonn Greene, RB

Washington
Jamon Meredith, OT

Tampa Bay
Alex Boone, OT

Detroit
Kevin Barnes, CB

Green Bay
Matt Shaughnessy, DE

Chicago
Zack Follett, OLB

Philadelphia
Jairus Byrd, CB

Minnesota
Rhett Bomar, QB

Miami
Micheal Hamlin, S

Baltimore
Jarron Gilbert, DE

New England
Ellis Lankster, CB

Atlanta
Travis Beckum, TE

New York Giants
Andre Brown, RB

Indianapolis
Kaluka Maiava, OLB

Carolina
Jonathan Casillas, OLB

Tennessee
Juaquin Iglesias, WR

Pittsburgh
Jasper Brinkley, ILB

Arizona
Cody Brown, OLB

By Appaloosa

April 2006

For more information on the development of the Comprehensive Bust Rating (CBR), see Bustology 1 – Quarterbacks.

Rating the Universities

It is not fair to draw conclusions about the quality of offensive specialists from a school based on the performance of one or two players selected in the first round.    Any university or college that produced fewer than three first round quarterbacks, running backs, or wide receivers between 1970 and 2002 were not included in the analysis.  For the 39 schools remaining, the adjusted CBR for each offensive specialist was added and averaged to provide information on which universities provide the best first round values and which produce the biggest duds.

In case you were wondering, the University of Miami (The “U”) had the most total offensive specialists (13) drafted in the first round between 1970 and 2002.  Next most, with 12 each, are Florida, Penn State, and Tennessee.  Eight running backs were drafted from Penn State, which is the highest number at that position.  To paraphrase Samuel Johnson, this is another instance of the triumph of hope over experience.  The college team that produced more first round wide receivers was the Tennessee Volunteers with eight of widely varying quality.  Oregon, UNCL, and Washington State each had three quarterbacks selected in the first round.

The lowest total for any university was –276 for Pittsburgh, largely thanks to Tony Dorsett and Dan Marino and the fact that no huge ex-Panther busts have been drafted since 1970.  However, the prize for the lowest average goes Syracuse University, alma mater of Ark Monk, Marvin Harrison, and Donovan McNabb, all of whom have CBRs well into the negatives.

But you aren’t reading this article because you are interested in finding out which colleges have turned out successful NFL offensive talent.  You want to know about the failures.  The award for the highest CBR total is Texas A&M with a score of 310.  Although only Larry Stegent is the only truly epic Aggie dud, the total was helped along by the likes of Bubba Bean and Rodger Vick.  Texas A&M is doing a commendable job in producing so many busts, especially since all of them are running backs.  I guess one conclusion that can be drawn is that you should hope your favorite team never selects a running back from Texas A&M in the first round.

The highest average for any university belongs to Nebraska and Oregon, which tied with a mean of 59.  Nebraska earned this dishonor on the strength of Johnny Rodgers and Jerry Tagge.  The Cornhuskers should be grateful that Irving Fryar was such a success or Nebraska would have beaten Texas A&M for a title no one much wants.  As for the ex-Ducks, who could forget Akili Smith, though I am sure the Bengals would like to?  Joey Harrington has also made his contribution to the cause.

A few universities other than Nebraska and Texas A&M deserve dishonorable mentions for the number of busts they have imposed on the NFL.  Of the seven first round running backs and wide receivers that came from the University of Colorado, not a single one achieved a negative CBR.  Although there were no epic ex-Buffalo busts except possibly Rae Carruth, only a couple of wide receivers even came close to meeting expectations.  The total CBR for all seven Colorado draft picks is 249 with an average of 36.  Another school with more than its share of busts is Houston, the alma mater of such immortals as Elmo Wright, Willis Adams, and David Klinger.  With only five players drafted in the first round, Houston’s total CBR of 248 nearly rivals that of Colorado with eight players.

The only other school with a total CBR greater than 200 is Clemson, which had five first rounders, none of whom was better than slightly below average.  The main contributions to this total came from Terrance Flagler and Perry Tuttle, but even Steve Fuller donated his mote (2) to the pot.

Running Back Schools

Some universities might produce NFL talent at one position, but most of the players of another position might generally be duds.  For example, I have mentioned more than once that Penn State might be Linebacker U, but you do not want your team drafting a running back who played his college ball for the Nitani Lions.  The good schools for first-round running backs are Florida, Ohio State, and Texas.  The not so good schools, other than Penn State are Colorado, Michigan, Nebraska, Richmond, and Wisconsin.

Wide Receiver Schools

As stated above, more wide receivers have been selected in the first round from the University of Tennessee than from any other school.  However, the quality of these receivers has been decidedly mixed.  On one hand are Stanley Morgan (CBR –77), Willie Gault (-35), and Anthony Miller (-49), but on the other are Anthony Hancock (74) and Marcus Nash (128).  The jury is still out on Donte Stallworth who currently has a CBR of 37, but no wide receiver drafted in the 21^st Century has yet achieved a negative CBR, so there is still plenty of time to determine if he will uphold the reputation of “Wide Receiver U.”

A couple of other schools that have consistently produced good first round wide receivers are North Carolina State and the University of Southern California.  Although none of the former Wolfpack players have been spectacular there have been no busts to date either.  The only NC State alumnus not in negative figures is Koren Robinson (43), who is still relatively new to the league.  The Trojans produced four straight successful wide receivers such as Curtis Conway (-42) and Johnnie Morton (-48) until along came RJ Soward (102) who completely destroyed the perfect record.

 There are two schools that you hope your team doesn’t draft a wide receiver from in the first round.  Arizona State has had four wide-outs drafted in the first round since 1970 but only one of these was an even moderate success.  The rest are JD Hill (CBR 39), Steve Holden (79), and Aaron Cox (56).  The University of California, Los Angeles can’t even claim to have produced a moderate success.  All three of the Bruin wide receivers drafted in the first round have positive CBRs with the highest (72) belonging to Freddie Mitchell.  Freddie may have only been drafted in 2001, but he has a higher CBR than any receiver drafted in either 2001 or 2002.

Quarterback Schools

The University of Miami (AKA “The U”) has been called “Quarterback U” with reason.  The best first round draft pick quarterback who played his college ball for the Hurricanes was Jim Kelly (CBR –123), who is now in the Hall of Fame.  But even Vinnie Testaverde, who struggled at times during his long career, ended with a respectable CBR of –69 although it took him nine years in the league before his adjusted score was on the negative side of the scale.  

Stanford is the only other school with more than one quarterback drafted in the first round and a 100% success rate.  Both Jim Plunkett (CBR –34) and John Elway (-83) were selected first overall in their respective drafts and each won at least one Super Bowl before his career was over, though neither of them for the team that drafted him.  Other than Miami and Stanford, the only other schools that have had more than one quarterback selected in the first round and have a negative cumulative score are Tennessee (cumulative CBR –42), UCLA (-30), and Purdue (-1).

As for quarterback bust alma maters, dishonorable mentions should be awarded to Houston and Washington State, which both have cumulative CBRs of 142.  Both Andre Ware (CBR 38) and David Klinger (104) played for the Houston Cougars in their college days.  As for Washington State (also the Cougars), Jack Thompson’s CBR (36) is balanced by that of Drew Bledsoe (-36), but leave it to Ryan Leaf and his CBR of 142 to screw things up.

But currently the worst quarterback school is the University of Oregon, with a cumulative CBR of 256.  Chris Miller (CBR –21) might have been a modest success in his day, but his performance has been overwhelmed by the reek of Akili Smith and the taint of Joey Harrington.  As they say, “If it quacks like a Duck than it will probably be a dud.”

February 2006

Sorting Quarterbacks and Running Backs by Conference

Certain schools and conferences have a reputation for producing high quality NFL players at specific positions. The two positions that have the highest profile are quarterback and running back. It seems that for quite a while the best quarterbacks have come from the PAC 10. On the other side of the coin lately running backs from the Big Ten players have garnered a poor reputation.

After a recent discussion on the relative merits of quarterbacks from the PAC 10 and the SEC, I decided to conduct a little study to determine which conferences have produced the highest quality quarterbacks and running backs since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. To compose my data set, I selected the quarterbacks and running backs (excluding full backs) from each year’s Pro Bowl roster, up to a maximum of six in each position for each year (1970 – 2005). Where there were more than six at the position, I chose those who had been originally elected to the Pro Bowl and deleted injury replacements. In other words, for this year I included Palmer and Brady rather than McNair and Green on the quarterbacks list. This was done because I did not want more recent Pro Bowls with more players to skew the results, and the player originally elected to the position is likely to be considered of higher quality than an injury replacement. Of course there were many players with multiple Pro Bowl appearances, which meant that they tended to count extra for their conference. But as multiple Pro Bowl appearances are an extra measure of quality, I decided to count a player each time he was selected.

Once the full list of Pro Bowl quarterbacks and running backs had been composed, I identified which school the player in question had played for prior to entering the NFL and tied that school to a conference. In order to avoid the complication of the recent shifts in conference composition and the demise of the Southwestern Conference, I used the most recent conference memberships. Therefore, Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College were included in the ACC rather than the Big East even though most of the current and past NFL players from those schools attended them while they were still part of the Big East.

In addition to assessing the total number of Pro Bowl appearances for the entire 36 years from 1970 through 2005, I divided each group by decade to determine if there has been a shift over time in the conferences that have produced the best players at quarterback and running back. Some of my findings were predictable but others were a little surprising.

Best Conferences 1970 – 2005

The following conferences produced Pro Bowl quarterbacks in significant numbers from 1970 through 2005: the six major conferences (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big Twelve, PAC 10, and SEC), Notre Dame, Conference USA, Mountain West, and Western Athletic Conference (WAC). It is interesting to note that while the Mid-American Conference (MAC) has garnered a lot of attention lately for producing NFL quarterbacks (as in Chad Pennington, Byron Leftwich, and Ben Roethlesburger) no Pro Bowl quarterback to date has been from the MAC.

By far the most dominant conference for producing Pro Bowl quarterbacks is the PAC 10, which produced 49 Pro Bowl appearances out of a total of 193, or more than 25%. The other major conferences ranged between 6 and 10 percent of the total except for the Big Twelve, which only produced three quarterback Pro Bowl appearances in 36 years, which is less than the appearances for Notre Dame (13), Conference USA (13), Mountain West (12), or even the WAC (4).

The distribution of running backs was much more even among the major conferences. Although the Big Twelve was the most frequent with 44 appearances out of a total of 215, or slightly over 20%, the SEC was only slightly lower, with 39 appearances (18%). The ACC, Big Ten, and PAC 10 had totals in the 20’s, while the Big East lagged behind the rest of the majors with a total of 12. The major conferences dominated the ranks of the Pro Bowl running backs slightly more than the ranks of the quarterbacks. More than 69% of the running backs in the Pro Bowl attended major conference schools whereas the number of quarterbacks from major conferences was closer to 60%. The Mountain West accounted for 12 Pro Bowl running backs, Notre Dame for 10, and Conference USA for 7. The current WAC was completely shut out during the period of the study.

Best Conferences by Decade

During the decade 1970 – 1979, the quarterback position in the Pro Bowl was dominated by the SEC, with 12 appearances, followed by the Big Ten with 7. During this era, the SEC was represented by such familiar names as Joe Namath, Fran Tarkenton, Ken Stabler, and Archie Manning. However, with the close of the decade, the SEC appeared to drop off the map as a producer of quality quarterbacks. It was not until Archie’s son, Peyton entered the league that the SEC was again represented at quarterback in the Pro Bowl.

During the 1980’s and 1990’s the quarterback position was dominated by the PAC 10. During the 80’s, the PAC produced 13 Pro Bowl quarterback appearances. The next best major conference (ACC and Big East tie) had five. The PAC 10 was even more dominating in the 1990’s with 25 Pro Bowl quarterbacks, while the ACC was runner up with 7. However, since the start of the new century, the PAC 10 has been poorly represented in the Pro Bowl by quarterbacks. The Big Ten currently holds the lead with six appearances by four different quarterbacks, followed by the SEC with five appearances, and the ACC and Big East are tied with four. However, the totals for the SEC and the Big East are somewhat deceiving since both of these conferences have been represented by a single QB in the Pro Bowl since 2000. The PAC 10 is falling behind with only two appearances, although those appearances were by two different quarterbacks.

During the 1970’s the running back position was dominated by the Big Ten (Franco Harris accounted for most of these) and the Big Twelve, with 10 Pro Bowl appearances each. With the 1980’s, the Big Ten ceased to be a major source of running backs while the number originating from the PAC 10 and SEC increased. By the 1990’s, the running back position in the Pro Bowl began to be dominated by the SEC with 17 appearances, while the Big Twelve remained a steady producer of quality running backs with 13 Pro Bowl appearances. In the early years of the 21^st Century, the Big Twelve and SEC are again among the leaders in producing Pro Bowl running backs, but the ACC has also accounted for 8 Pro Bowl appearances.

In contrast to the Pro Bowl quarterbacks, who have been dominated by a few individuals, most of the major conferences have produced multiple Pro Bowl running backs. For example, the SEC has been represented by six different running backs in Hawaii, and the ACC by four individuals.

SportsIllustrated.com had a nice article about this, talking about how Nate played QB at high school powerhouse De La Salle and is ready to accept the bigger challenges and demands at the college level.

Joe’s lineage doesn’t end there though. His other son, Nicholas, who’s 16, will be a junior QB at De La Salle next year and wants to go on to play for USC.