trash n talk

Do you like eye candy? Or do you appreciate substance?

Are you interested in dazzling the public? Or are you interested in getting results?

I ask this because right now in the world of quarterbacks there are two conflicting forces at work. One is going on at the college level. The other is taking place during these current NFL playoffs.

In the college ranks, the quarterbacks who are getting the most attention are the ones who are being mentioned as possible first-round draft picks. And those young men all are from prestigious, high-profile programs: Matthew Stafford of Georgia, Sam Bradford of Oklahoma, Colt McCoy of Texas, Mark Sanchez of USC, and Tim Tebow of Florida (who announced he is returning to school next year and will not make himself available for the draft).

But on the NFL front, three of the four remaining quarterbacks in the postseason hail from relatively small programs. Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers played at Miami of Ohio. Joe Flacco of the Baltimore Ravens came from the University of Delaware. Kurt Warner of the Arizona Cardinals attended Northern Iowa. Only Donovan McNabb came from a large program – Syracuse University, in the Big East Conference – although it can be argued that Syracuse hasn’t played like a large program for a long, long time.

The moral here: You don’t necessarily need a marquee name with a fancy pedigree to play quarterback for your NFL team. You need one who will get the job done, regardless of where he played in college.

That isn’t to say that Stafford, Bradford, McCoy and Sanchez will fail. They each may make the Hall of Fame someday. But draftniks should remember that college hype isn’t as important for the NFL draft as the combine, private workouts and personal interviews as well as his actual performances.

Determine first if a guy can play. Don’t worry so much about where he played.