Andre Smith..Would You Take Him At 13?

[Ruhskins]

I heard the guys on the Sports Reporter today talking about how so many little things in the combine can make or break a player, without actually affecting his actual ability to play. I for once think some of these kids are probably not given the best advice as they make this transition, and yes you might say they are 20 or 21 yrs old, but I'm sure there are a lot of people trying to exploit these kids and make money off of them and not give them the best advice.

This situation also make me think how some players don't think the combine is that important and put their school's pro day and private workouts as a bigger priority. I wonder if there's way to make the combine just for players that are projected to be picked after the 1st round to avoid having this "oh X star player is not working out at the combine" or make the combine mandatory for all players period.

[DirtyLandry]

Originally Posted by Ruhskins

I heard the guys on the Sports Reporter today talking about how so many little things in the combine can make or break a player, without actually affecting his actual ability to play. I for once think some of these kids are probably not given the best advice as they make this transition, and yes you might say they are 20 or 21 yrs old, but I'm sure there are a lot of people trying to exploit these kids and make money off of them and not give them the best advice.
This situation also make me think how some players don't think the combine is that important and put their school's pro day and private workouts as a bigger priority. I wonder if there's way to make the combine just for players that are projected to be picked after the 1st round to avoid having this "oh X star player is not working out at the combine" or make the combine mandatory for all players period.

Absolutely. I think this is a problem in all of sports. Agents have been known to contact kids even as early as high school. Fame and the prospect of a lot of money can really screw with someones head, especially at a young age.

[That Guy]

I'm just saying, ryan leaf bombed his interviews, clarrett obviously bombed his combine, and the red flags sure showed up in their careers. And hoping for other players to pull them in and "fix" them doesn't actually work out about 90% of the time. see TO or pacman jones or the raiders... and coaching couldn't make cory raymer stronger, arch deluxe fast, the raiders less dysfunctional, our 2nd day OL projects into actual starters, llyod or TO into not a douchebag, stubby or jagr into people who actually cared enough to play or any other miracles either. I mean, I hope for his sake this is just all blown up over nothing, but that usually isn't how it works.