Many people think that every good college football player gets airtime on ESPN. It is time to branch out, and realize that many of the future NFL stars are playing well under the radar right now. So instead of doing NFL power rankings, which were getting old because a somewhat constant balance of power, I will be starting the DRW. Draft Report Weekly will report on players going under the draft radar, as well as players whose stocks are rising. The report will go much deeper than a Mel Kiper style of trying to predict the top 10 picks of the draft. So for the inaugural DRW, here are five legitimate NFL prospects you may have never heard of.

Micah Rucker



Rucker is a senior wide receiver for Eastern Illinois, and seeing as the Panther players don’t have names on their jerseys, if you happen to catch a game this year, Rucker is number 80. Rucker stands at 6’ 6” and weighs it at 221 pounds. This Eastern Illinois receiver has a play style that many would compare to Chad Johnson, only bigger. With hands good enough to impress almost any NFL scout, Rucker should find himself drafted sometime in the spring. Mainly because of the fact he plays at a very small football school, Rucker will be a great find for a lucky team later in the draft. Through the Panthers October 20th game, Rucker has 48 receptions for 699 yards and 7 touchdowns.

Matt Forte



One of the main reasons you may never have heard of Forte is because he plays for Tulane, one of the worst Division 1 football programs in the country. Forte is the leading rusher in the country, and rushed for a whopping 342 yards last week against SMU. Many people see freakish stats like this for a quarterback and argue that he is a system player. For Forte, the system isn’t a factor already having rushed for 1,261 yards and 13 touchdowns. Still aren’t convinced? Forte averages 6.7 yards a carry for a very bad offense. If Forte slips to the second day of the draft, I would not be surprised. However Forte has huge upside, and should turn into a very good NFL player.

Jordy Nelson



Kansas State doesn’t get much publicity as a football program, and therefore neither does a player who has huge NFL potential. Jordy Nelson is a 6’ 2” 213 pound senior wide receiver at Kansas State who is way under the radar, but one of the 10 best receivers in the country. Nelson already has 68 catches for 903 yards and 6 touchdowns. Are you ready for the real shocker? Jordy Nelson is one of the best wide receivers in college football, and he is white. Nelson had a big sophomore year, but saw production decline last year as a junior. Look for Nelson to be a late round gem come draft time this spring.

Jordon Dizon



Dizon plays at Colorado, a Big 12 school, and for some reason still goes unnoticed. Jordon is a 6 foot 225 pound senior inside linebacker for the Buffalos. Dizon leads the nation with 12.6 tackles a game. For all of the hype that James Laurinaitis and Dan Connor receive, Dizon has the potential to make just as big an impact on Sundays. Just think Demeco Ryans type impact, and even a little lower in the draft. He should land somewhere in the middle of the second round, and become a defensive mainstay for one lucky team.

Dwight Lowery



Another player you have probably never heard of because he plays for a bad program. Lowery plays cornerback for San Jose State, and is somewhat big for a defensive back at 6’ 1” 185 pounds. Lowery is a senior, and is easily one of the top five corners in the country. He has 12 career interceptions, and finally got to show his stuff on the national stage against Hawaii last week, returning both a punt and an interception for a touchdown. Lowery is an All American who should easily find his way into one of the first two rounds of the draft. Should be at least a solid second option at corner in the NFL.

Mention Philadelphia and football in the same sentence this year, and the first thing that comes to mind is probably the Eagles and the disappointing season they are mired in. What you might not hear about are the Temple Owls and the surprisingly average season they are having. The Owls, who were without a home in a conference for two years after being kicked out of the Big East, have found a home in the MAC. Because of that lack of a conference, the Owls suffered through a long two year stretch going 1-22. However the MAC is somewhat down as a conference lately and the Owls are taking advantage.



Temple has a three game win streak going, the first such win streak for the school since 1990. Al Golden, the 38 year old, second year coach of the Owls is doing a tremendous job with the team, leading them to a 3-2 conference record, just a half a game back of Miami (OH) in the East Division. Despite being 3-5 overall, the team has come a long way from where it was when Golden took over. Similar to Rutgers when Greg Schiano took over, Temple was one of the most hopeless teams in Division 1 football when taken over by Golden. Recruiting is going better than was probably planned as the Owls have gotten commitments from 15 two star high school recruits, and 1 three star recruit.


Coach Al Golden

On the field, The Owls pulled out what was probably their biggest win of the season this past weekend, as Temple beat Division leading Miami (OH) 24-17 to keep hopes of a division win alive. Three of the last four games of the season are winnable games for the Owls, going against Ohio on the road (1-3,3-5) playing at home against Penn State (3-2,6-2) and Kent State (1-3,3-5) and finishing on the road at Western Michigan (2-2, 3-5). The one game that is a huge test will be the home game against Penn State, however home games are always winnable in college football and anything could happen. Even if the Owls win the three reasonable games left to finish the year, three wins would put the Owls at .500 and bowl eligible.

However Temple finishes the 2007 season, it will have been a success. This team has gone from one of the absolute worst in Division 1 football, to a team with a shot at a bowl. It is always fun to watch a program on the rise, especially one that is coming from almost nothing, and being led by a young head coach. A win at Ohio this week would set Temple up for just about all it could ask for, a shot at a top 25 team at home. So what’s the biggest obstacle between Temple and becoming a major college football program; their own stadium. I have never been a fan of college teams playing at NFL stadiums; (Temple plays at Lincoln financial field, home of the Eagles) so a new stadium in a few years after this team has some success would be huge. I guess all that’s left to say is go OWLS!

Of all the teams in the NFL, the last one who should be complaining about privacy issues are the New England Patriots. This team wins the biggest hypocrite award, and it isn’t even close. Robert Kraft is hailed as being the best and most respected owner. It appears that success goes to an owner’s head, just like it did to Al Davis. Mr. Kraft made his fortune, and was able to buy the Patriots because of the free market economy that makes America so great.

For those of you who forget things quickly, just last month the Patriots accused the NFL of violating their privacy by confiscating the illegal video tapes. Here it is October, and the Patriots are on the other side of the law this time. They filed suit against the website stubhub.com because the site would not turn over the records of who had bought and sold Patriots tickets online. The club does not allow tickets to be sold or re sold for more than face value. Therefore, selling tickets for more than face value on stubhub.com is against team policy. Fans looking to sell tickets that would otherwise go unused can sell the tickets through the Patriots team ticket exchange. (Of course giving the Patriots a small percentage)


What's cooler than hanging out with a ruthless dictator?

Today, the court ruled that stubhub.com must turn over the records of customers to the Patriots. The Patriots fought the claim from stubhub.com that this was a violation of consumer policy. Funny how things seem to come full circle isn’t it. So what will happen to people who have been found buying or selling Patriots tickets online? The Patriots, determined to show off how much money and power they have, will revoke season tickets from season ticket holders, and take the rest of the customers to court. How about a phone call issuing a warning before revoking tickets? I know the rules are on the back of the tickets but who really reads that small print?


Art Rooney- The Chief: I am almost afraid to put the picture of such a great man in this article.

Mr. Kraft, (Officially known as a bureaucratic idiot on this site from now forward) has now alienated an apparent 13,000 fans. I find it severely unnecessary to take many of these average people to court; people that pay a lot of hard earned money to see this team play. The same people who keep this team in business. This is a capitalist society for a reason Mr. Kraft, you should know that better than anyone. Today someone with the organization said that the Patriots want to help the average fan by making tickets affordable. If people are willing to buy Patriots tickets for double face value, then Mr. Kraft, instead of killing the little guy who has found a good way to make profit, raise the damn ticket prices. Robert Kraft has officially become another big suit monster, screwing the little guy. Never again can he be mentioned with the top owners in the NFL, as that is a disgrace to the good, down to earth people that built this league. People like Lamar Hunt and Art Rooney, who are disgraced by Robert Kraft’s actions.

Last weekend marked the start of basketball practice for many universities around the country. In other words, many schools held Midnight Madness last weekend, where fans pack the arena to mark the start of official practice. The NCAA has allowed many schools to hold the event at 7pm to allow fans to make it home earlier, but I will get to that later. However, college basketball season is one of the most fun to watch. There is always at least one surprise team and small schools and mid majors have a chance to compete with the big schools.


Derrick Rose

For those you who don’t follow recruiting and the offseason activity in college basketball, I am going to give a quick rundown of what to expect this year. Many teams that will make a run at the Final Four, are teams that you may not quite expect. Duke, a school that continues to land solid recruiting classes, lost Josh McRoberts to the draft, and is still very young. One team that should be one of the best in the country all year should be Memphis. Yes, Memphis does play in Conference USA, however Coach Calipari landed another stellar recruiting class, including Derrick Rose, one of the best players in the class this year. UCLA should continue to be strong, and cross town rival USC is going to be very strong once again, especially with the addition of man child OJ Mayo.

For me, the best part of watching college basketball is seeing mid major schools upgrade their programs because of success. Many of the teams in the Missouri Valley Conference, which has recently gained credibility, have opened or are opening brand new, 15,000 plus arenas. And what is better than parody? For Duke followers, there is nothing much worse than parody. For a student at Duquesne, parody is something to get excited about.


Renardo Sidney

Want to get a head start on the recruiting class of 08? Well, college basketball recruiting is way out of control, and getting a head start on this class will be hard. Many of the recruits have already signed or are very close. Thad Mata is continuing to build a national powerhouse at Ohio State, and recently landed the top recruit in the 2008 high school class, Greg Monroe. If you want the inside scoop on the 09 high school class you have come to the right place. Many of my usual readers will remember an article I did on high school phenoms, one of them being Renardo Sidney. You won’t see it on the web for a while, but word out of Fairfax is that Renardo, the top recruit in that 09 class, is ready to sign on the dotted line at OSU as well. The craziest part of all; three of the top ten recruits in the 2010 class have signed. In the end, the best part is when they start playing the games, and lucky for me, that is right around the corner.

Through six weeks of the NFL season, the leading rusher is a rookie. A rookie with 780 totals yards and 5 touchdowns. All told, Adrian Peterson has better stats in his rookie year, than most guys can hope for in the prime of their careers. I am still not really sure whether or not Peterson has been made the starter, but if he hasn’t Brad Childress should not be a head coach in the NFL. Sunday, against the BEARS defense, Peterson rushed for 224 yards, and three touchdowns on 20 carries. For those of us who aren’t math majors, that’s 11.2 yards per carry. And to show just how valuable he is to the Vikings, AP also returned a kickoff to the Bears 40 yard line, which set up a last second game winning field goal.



Still don’t think this kid is the best rookie in a long time? If he keeps this up, Peterson will be the best running back in the league this year. Running backs are known to have shorter primes in the NFL, but most don’t have Pro Bowl seasons in their rookie year. For everyone who thinks that Darren McFadden is the best thing since sliced bread, Peterson was better in college as a freshman, than McFadden is now. If not for the injury that kept him out most of his sophomore season, Peterson could have been one of the best college backs of all time.

The inevitable comparison is Peterson and Reggie Bush. Let me take a minute to tell you why Bush was never really that great of an all around back, and yes, I did say that during his last year at SC. In high school and college, Bush ran back and forth, and around people. That made for impressive video on rivals, but not for an impressive career in the NFL. Bush has always been a glorified third down back who is slower than most at returning kicks. Without Lendale White at USC, Bush never wins the Heisman. Adrian Peterson has the moves and always has. Peterson has Willie Parker speed, with LT moves, and Larry Johnson power. Can anyone say beast?



Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Adrian Peterson is not the second coming of Barry Sanders or Jim Brown, at least not yet. However, he is one of the best rookie backs I have ever seen. He is putting up numbers that are ridiculous for any player. And Adrian Peterson has put the Minnesota Vikings on his back, and is carrying them. Most of the TV experts expected the Vikings to win 1 or 2 games all season. Mostly because of Peterson (Certainly not Tavaris Jackson) The Vikings already have those 2 wins through five games. What if this guy had half a team around him?