Stoned Cold":19waa3x9 said:
We might want to stop paying our scout who watches SEC Football. Carpenter, Simon, Williams, Kris Durham, Levingston and even Jay Howard all have under achieved. KJ Wright is the only guy they hit on. And before people start talking about it being too early, well let me explain....
Simon is a self entitled prima dona. He doesn't work hard and has gotten this far by god given talent. The strength coach wouldn't even talk about him and put him on a list of guys who were lazy while at LSU. His arrest, I don't even care because it's Simon being Simon. From what I hear the cop was just trying to break up a loud social event. It didn't help that Simon wasn't compliant though. Just showed his self entitlement.
Carpenter has been here 3 years and has never been in game shape. Still isn't.
Williams is over rated. He was actually pretty mediocre at Alabama but was surrounded by so much talent he got 1 on 1's and did okay. Nothing special. His fan claim to fame was playing fullback in short yardage situations. Never was dominant and I laughed at people on this message board who became huge fanboys. Yet, Jordan Hill and his athleticism and desire was being overlooked.
Durham was the consummate 1 hit wonder. He wasn't proven. Played like 5 good games in 4 years or so. Just a freak of nature athlete like Konz.
Howard is almost the same as Durham. He still has potential because of Quinn. He may shape into a role player some day. Thats a big MAYBE though.
Whatever happened to that guy Pep Levingston? I don't even think that dude started at LSU? I live in Louisiana and barely heard of him.
Whoever is the SEC Scout is gets a "D". KJ saves his bacon from being an F bomb.
Carpenter: Late first rounder and has been injured his entire pro-career. Never injured in College. How was the scouting dept. supposed to predict that?
Simon: 5th rounder on a team loaded at CB and hasn't had a chance to to show anything because of injury. He's a rookie, there hasn't been a chance to achieve anything. Most 5th rounders don't pan out players like Sherman and Kam are the exception. You pointed out his name on the LSU lazy weight room list. Spencer Ware was also on that list and has made the most of his opportunities in preseason game and has a pretty good shot at making this team.
Williams: 5th Rounder. Nagging injuries. He was advertised as a project before the draft. Plenty of raw talent, but needs to learn technique. In other words, you need to let him develop. Expecting anything after game 2 of the preseason is wishful thinking, especially at a non-sexy position like DT.
Levingston: 7th round pick. They're 7th rounders. How can they under-perform? Making the team is over-performing for them.
Durham: 4th rounder. Injured in college, injured in the pros. Worth the risk, didn't work out. We got KJ in that draft, so our SEC scouts scored a hit. We also got Sherman, Maxwell and Smith in the later rounds and they far exceeded expectations.
Jaye Howard: 4th rounder. Wasn't active much last year, but as a 4th rounder i'm not sure what you were expecting. Some people need to be inactive on game day. Just a reality.
With the exception of Carp who has been plagued by injuries all your examples have been later round picks. I don't really understand how you can call them under-performing when they are drafted in later rounds for a reason. Not all draft picks in the NFL become pro-bowlers and most players only last 3-4 seasons. For most of the players on your list, making the team is an accomplishment in itself. I can't call that under-performing. Now, you did mention that KJ was a solid pick-up. Personally i think the scouting department deserves a lot of credit for this pick in that he replaced the sure fire thing in Aaron Curry from the previous FO.
I think it needs to be mention, though obvious, that we can't just draft any player we want. We're competing against every other team that knows the SEC. You don't know what players he had pegged before they were swooped up by other teams and it's misleading to think that a scouting department deserves a "D" when you don't know how they valued the entire pool of players.
