Thursday, January 8, 2009

Shady To Declare For the NFL Draft

So Kevin Gorman just broke the big story that Shady McCoy is going to declare for the 2009 NFL Draft. This news comes as a bit of a surprise considering the quotes from Wanny this week and what Shady had been saying all season. I have no idea what caused this move, I have heard conflicting reports of what the draft advisory board had to say about his potential (anywhere from 1st rounder to a borderline first day pick).

As a bit of an addendum to this story I have an extremely hard time buying that the advisory board told him that he would be a first round pick without seeing his combine workout. I'm a bit of a NFL draft nerd and I can't see how Shady would be anything other than a late second to early fourth round pick level(pre-combine) just due to size, injury history, and perceived lack of breakout NFL level speed. He has certainly put together a great college career in his two years at Pitt but he has put up these numbers in an inferior conference and hasn't dominated in the way you would expect a first round running back prospect to. 

None of this is to knock Shady at all I'm just saying that he is far from a can't miss 1st round NFL prospect and another year working on his game could have only helped. Something about this story seems to suggest that Shady wanted out of Pitt but maybe he has an awesome workout in him and he knows he can blow away the scouts at the combine. 

This isn't the end of the world because Chris Burns and Shareef Harris are promising players. Chris Burns is the guy that has all the hype on him as a replacement for Shady. Hopefully, one of the two is ready to take over the work when we get to camp in the spring.

5 comments:

Studzy said...

next year we'll be lucky if we win 5 games. bye bye wanny

johnny said...

Best of luck to Shady if he in fact turns pro this year. As much as I hear great things about Harris and Burns, both of whom I will proudly watch, I am also not ready to stick a for in Kevin Collier.

As for things that we can more directly affect this weekend: Kolby Gray, Mason, Holmes, Nunez, Gordon.

And save a slot for Malcolm Bush as well.

Do it!

rkohberger said...

Michael, can I have your season tickets for next year? Obviously you have no need for them.

Studzy said...

i'd rather be pleasantly surprised than horribly let down again, rkohberger. however, i will still go to every game and cheer my ass off. if i am a bad fan, so be it.

rkohberger said...

OK, so would I.

You're not a bad fan I'm sure - just like so many other PITT fans disappointed in McCoy's decision.

May I ask if you were "horribly let down" in 2008? Personally I thought it was a great season.

But, I had a great time following PITT football in 2007 also. Didn't like the results so much - but every week was exciting, not knowing what the outcome of the games was going to be, watching players develop, wondering which newcomers would do well or not...

Which, should McCoy decide to leave, will be the same thing next year. Hell, I think it'll be worth the price of a season ticket to see just how the RB thing shakes out - let alone all the other positions.

I think the most pessimistic PITT fans forget one thing - had Shady not played for PITT last year, someone else would have. It's like they look at McCoy leaving and subtract his production for the team, without understanding that is never actually what happens.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if we surpass our rushing yardage next season with him gone - after all we were 6th in the BE in rushing. It's his knack for the Red Zone TDs we'll miss - but even that happened because he got the ball over 80% of the time in the Red Zone - of course that was because he scored points.

No one is totally irreplaceable, and that goes for McCoy also - I'd hate to see him go, but once he does it's "Thanks and goodbye, now who's up next?"