College Football's Three Up, Three Down: Week 1 Edition

With the first week of the 2009 college football season in the books, it's time to take stock of...well...draft stock. Specifically, whose went up and whose went down? Also, whose rise and whose fall should be tempered?

Two Up

Jimmy Clausen, Notre Dame
What I loved about Clausen this weekend had little to do with his 15 for 18 performance, which included 315 passing yards and 4 touchdowns in a 35-0 victory over dramatically over-matched Nevada. It had more to do with his pocket presence, patience, vision and accuracy. He made some beautiful throws in tight spots, appeared lead his offense with poise, command and maturity (a quality not often attributed to the Notre Dame quarterback). While Saturday's impressive display came against an inferior Nevada squad, a few more NFL scouts are likely booking tickets to Fighting Irish games. Clausen is young and somewhat of a long shot to declare for the 2010 NFL Draft, but when he does, a body of work containing film like that of Saturday's performance could make the young signal caller a hot NFL commodity.

Jahvid Best, California
In California's 52-13 drubbing of Maryland on Saturday night, Best looked nearly unstoppable. Everyone already knew he's a shifty speed demon. What he demonstrated more of on Saturday, however, is that he's also a durable back willing to run between the tackles even when his team is up by 30+ points. The more Best shows that he's a football player with sprinter speed and not a sprinter with football aspirations, the stronger his bid as a first round draft pick will be. And it's already pretty strong, by the way.


One Up, But Don't Get Too Excited Just Yet

Jake Locker, Washington
Locker nearly led his Washington Huskies to a huge upset against LSU Saturday night. He may very well have if his receivers knew that, as receivers, their jobs are to catch the ball when it is thrown to them. Locker was not only an athletic quarterback who could get out of the pocket and make plays passing on the run or running the ball himself. He stood in the pocket with poise and presence and made strong, accurate throws from it. However, while he showed that he has the ability to do such things, he's not yet showed that he's superior at them. Also, while LSU was the vastly more athletic team on the field, their defense looked tired and sluggish. Nonetheless, keep your eyes on Locker this season. He could very well be budding into the next Tim Tebow, but with far better passing skills and, consequently, NFL prospects.


Two Down

LeGarrette Blount, Oregon
Rocky Balb - I mean LeGarrette Blount's sucker punch has been well publicized. What hasn't been is his -5 yard performance against Boise State after an offseason during which he was reprimanded for coming into camp overweight and slow. Barring a nexus of dramatic emotional, psychological and physical turnarounds, Blount has seen his projected draft position fall from somewhere around the 2nd round to out of the draft entirely.

Tim Hiller, Western Michigan
Hiller's poor performance last weekend stemmed partly from facing a talented and revived football team in superior state rival Michigan. However, his lack of accuracy, poise, decisiveness and vision, qualities that aren't necessarily supposed to be invisible against better opposition, were...well...invisible; if they existed at all, that is. They were not seen and, ostensibly, not there to be seen. It looks like Hiller has a lot of work to do if he wants to be a future NFL franchise quarterback and not just a physical specimen with 'all the tools' to succeed at the professional level.


One Down, But Don't Get Too Worried Just Yet

Sam Bradford, Oklahoma
Okay, so Bradford's Oklahoma Sooner squad was the victim of the first week's biggest upset against BYU and Bradford himself will be out for 2-4 weeks with an injury to his AC joint in his shoulder. I still don't understand how analysts are already speaking about his NFL prospects in the past tense in a manner reminiscent of the children's book character Chicken Little. Just hold, for now, the 'coulda, woulda, shoulda' talk regarding Bradford's decision to play college football this season rather than declare for the 2009 NFL draft last April. Oklahoma's BCS hopes have taken a huge it. I can't deny that. However, assuming Bradford recovers in time, he'll still be viewed as the most talented quarterback in the draft next April with plenty of film and experience to back it up; barring any meteoric rises from other college quarterbacks, of course. For now, Sam Bradford is still the best NFL prospect at the quarterback position in college football; and, in my opinion, it's not even close.