Birdwell
01-30-2011, 09:44 AM
The best college football all-star game to watch every year isn’t really the Senior Bowl, hyped as it is by the NFL because of the relationship between the league and the game.
The Senior Bowl is useful, but the talent level is already pretty well-evaluated and scouted before the rosters are announced, the biggest name players who could level playing field seldom attend, and the game itself seldom shows much that has a relevance on the following NFL season. This game really fell into that category, except WRs Vincent Brown and Titus Young, G Danny Watson, and DE Cameron Jordan.
The Texas vs. the Nation game, on the other, generally brings together guys from major programs who were overshadowed by someone else on the squad with standouts from lesser programs. The competition is generally at a higher overall level than the senior bowl, because the hunger is there. For these players, much more than Senior Bowl, this is make or break week, the difference between being drafted at all and being a UDFA at best or ignored at worst. Of course, since it’s sponsored by the NFLPA, don’t expect much coverage on NFL-controlled-TV.
Here’s the link (http://texasvsthenation.com/players/rosters/2010-roster) for the 2010 roster – you’ll find some very interesting names there. For those who don’t want to go through six pages (the roster is divided up by each squad’s O, D and ST), last year’s game included Jared Veldheer, Travis Goethel. 25 players from the 2009 game are still in the NFL. Bottom line, it's a good showcase for guys who could be otherwise overlooked, and we know the Raiders pay attention.
The game is coming up on February 5. 2011 Roster here (http://texasvsthenation.com/press/news/175-nfl-players-association-game-finalizes-rosters-). The HCs are Bill Bates and Jerry Glanville (what's not to like about that for an all-star game?) Check it out.
The Senior Bowl is useful, but the talent level is already pretty well-evaluated and scouted before the rosters are announced, the biggest name players who could level playing field seldom attend, and the game itself seldom shows much that has a relevance on the following NFL season. This game really fell into that category, except WRs Vincent Brown and Titus Young, G Danny Watson, and DE Cameron Jordan.
The Texas vs. the Nation game, on the other, generally brings together guys from major programs who were overshadowed by someone else on the squad with standouts from lesser programs. The competition is generally at a higher overall level than the senior bowl, because the hunger is there. For these players, much more than Senior Bowl, this is make or break week, the difference between being drafted at all and being a UDFA at best or ignored at worst. Of course, since it’s sponsored by the NFLPA, don’t expect much coverage on NFL-controlled-TV.
Here’s the link (http://texasvsthenation.com/players/rosters/2010-roster) for the 2010 roster – you’ll find some very interesting names there. For those who don’t want to go through six pages (the roster is divided up by each squad’s O, D and ST), last year’s game included Jared Veldheer, Travis Goethel. 25 players from the 2009 game are still in the NFL. Bottom line, it's a good showcase for guys who could be otherwise overlooked, and we know the Raiders pay attention.
The game is coming up on February 5. 2011 Roster here (http://texasvsthenation.com/press/news/175-nfl-players-association-game-finalizes-rosters-). The HCs are Bill Bates and Jerry Glanville (what's not to like about that for an all-star game?) Check it out.