He struggles to keep his weight up over 240 lbs. I figured the NFL scouts would like to see him up around 255 at least. But if they are looking at him exclusively as a weakside pass rusher or outside linebacker he would be a pretty good fit.

I mean he could go, but I’m not sure it’s a done deal. There s an awful lot of time between now and then and I’m not sure he’s big enough yet to maximize his draft value.

We usually get into this over the long off season, but here is my nickel preview.

The D should be fine. We return just about everyone on the front seven except Gaines and Sales. We take some heavy losses in the secondary, but with Wallace coming back and Astorino emerging this year I think we’ll be ok. We need another safety to emerge and right now the most likely candidates are Jefferies and Sukay. We also need a cornerback. The most likely guys there are Timmons, Lynn, and Fentress. We may even see one of the true freshmen coming in get some playing time if none of these guys step up.

The offense is the big question for me. We bring back Clark, Royster, and Green, but we lose a lot everywhere else. We’ll need a whole new crop of receivers. I’m not too worried about that because we have plenty of talent there and we just need one or two guys to emerge as a threat. The offensive line I’m wondering about. We return Wiz and Landolt, but lose Shipley, Ohrnberger, and Cadogen. Those are heavy losses. We have a bunch of young guys who should be pretty good, but it’s going to be rough in the early going until they gel as a unit.

I’m thinking nine wins plus or minus one depending on how things go.

Those are my thoughts. Also, lot’s of flack from the media about how easy our schedule is. Most of the flack will be warranted. You are right about the schedule, though, Iowa and OSU are at home, UM is on the road but they aren’t making any progress next season, Wiscy is at home but I think they will struggle also. It’s going to be an interesting year, better hope no one else goes undefeated though, if that’s what you’re shooting for.

Ok, getting WAY ahead of ourselves here.

I read earlier this year that Mo Evans watched players like King, Connor, and Poz slip further than they were expected to go and it made him have doubts about going pro early. Of course now that’s a moot point.

he saw how fast Evans’ stock dropped after police found weed at a party that he wasn’t even at. Of course, maybe it will teach the guys to stay clean (or at least find better hiding spots)

And Tony Romo played for Eastern Illinois, and, uh, I give up.

Maybe ‘09 will be the year Golden turns that team around and they win seven or eight games. Pretty sad when you’re hoping Temple is your best OOC win.

Getting way off topic here…sorry.

More and more schools are gearing their systems for kids who want to play one year and go pro. Rick Petino in Louisville is a classic example. They just spread you out and let their play makers beat you one on one. Any kid can come in and show off his talent for the scouts. And the coach is fine with this. They are more than willing to use the kid for a year and let him go pro. It’s great publicity so you can just go out and get another one-and-done kid.

This is why I kind of like what Ed is doing. He’s getting solid kids with very little NBA hopes. He can count on four years to develop them. He’s building a program the right way.

He’s the slowest defensive lineman we have. His percent body fat must be around 30%. And I heard he molests little boys.