There's no place like Saturday...


March 23, 2011

First Quarter Hail Mary...3/23

"...where completion is considered unlikely"

Pro Day update

A.J. Green, Georgia wideout and possible top five selection in April’s draft, was introduced to his first set of weird and seemingly useless NFL rules Tuesday at his pro day event.

Green worked out Tuesday in a 30-minute session on the Georgia campus, but not in front of NFL scouts. Instead, scouts viewed Green from TV screens inside Georgia’s practice facility with head coach Mark Richt.

Because of what’s referred to as the 40-mile rule, which states players can only workout for NFL scouts within a 40-mile radius of their home or state they played college football in, scouts had to break the rules or watch Green on ESPN3, just like everyone else. The rule is only in place because of the recent lockout by NFL owners.

Green’s throwing partner, former Oregon and Montana quarterback Justin Roper, lives six miles outside of the 40-mile radius. Roper and Green built up good timing through workouts, and felt it was best to work out together.

As for Green’s workout, he ran through 28 plays impressing throughout. He elected to stand on his combine numbers, including his 4.5 40-time.

At Temple on Monday, defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson worked out in front of numerous NFL teams, including the Bengals, Seahawks and Saints staffs. Wilkerson stood on his combine numbers, but impressed in drills. Wilkerson continues to be a player rising up many teams draft boards.

Scouts turned out to Reno Tuesday to take in Nevada’s pro day workout, where the Wolf Pack could have as many as five players selected in April’s draft.

The main focus was on quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who came away from last month’s combine as one of the more impressive quarterbacks on hand. Tuesday, Kaepernick completed 36 of his 38 passes and chose to stand on his numbers from the combine. The 49ers have been in strong interest of Kaepernick, working out the quarterback before Tuesday in a private meeting. He also has 10 future workouts and visits planed.

While scouts would have loved to watch Dontay Moch blaze through workouts again, the hybrid linebacker chose to stand on his very impressive combine numbers, electing to only run drills.

Tight end Virgil Green built on an impressive combine, weighing in at 252 pounds and running through drills with ease.

One player to keep an eye on, on day three of the draft, will be running back Vai Tau. Tau ran again, claiming to have turned in a better time than his 4.62 time at the combine. At 214-pounds, Tau put up four more reps in the bench than at the combine, hitting 24 reps of 225-pounds.

Workouts to keep an eye on Wednesday include Boston College, Connecticut and NC State.

'Ken' is a football player

Toy Company Mattel has found its latest Ken Doll model, and its former Iowa State defensive lineman Kurtis Taylor.

Barbie’s new boyfriend will take the face of Taylor, who entered the Mattel 'Genuine Ken': Search for the great American boyfriend, through social media forms.

The comeback player of the year for the Cyclones in 2007, Taylor ranked second in the Big 12 in sacks in with 6.5.

There’s no word yet if Mattel plans to make the Doll with the structure of a 6-foot-2, 255 pound man or if football pads come included.

Iowa workout found at fault


The University of Iowa football team is set to put the numerous problems of the past season behind them, including the Jan. 20 incident where 13 players were hospitalized with rhabdomyolysis.

First came the three game losing streak to close the regular season, including an embarrassing loss to Minnesota. Then came the suspensions, which included starting running back Adam Robinson and wideout Derrell Johnson-Koulianos for drug related charges. Robinson was later kicked off the team.

To say the Hawkeyes football staff is ready to put the rhabdomyolysis incident in the past may be an understatement.

The Des Moines register reports that everyone on the football staff, including trainers and student workers, are cleared of any wrongdoing. An Iowa committee has found the workout to be responsible for the player’s symptoms. One part of the committee’s finding found that:

“The committee is as certain as possible that the strenuous squat-lifting workout the players did on Jan. 20 caused rhabdomyolysis in the 13 who were hospitalized, as well as serious muscle injuries to players who did not develop advanced rhabdomyolysis symptoms.”

The workout that had been used on Jan. 20 was the same workout used by Iowa coaches in the past, particularly in June 2004 and Dec. 2007. A question of rest periods and break time before the workout came into question.

The most important finding in the investigation comes that the cause of rhabdomyolysis was in fact the workouts, and not supplements or drugs involved, as had been speculated at one point.

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All writing and views subject to © Drew P. Kochanny, All Rights Reserved. Photo's credited to rights owner.