This was a weak draft for quarterbacks, but there sure seems to be a lot of good ones left over.
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| Toughness was Arkansas quarterback Clint Stoerner's ticket to the All-Undrafted team.(Allsport) | |
Not great ones. Not Heisman Trophy winners. But good, solid quarterbacks who made Saturdays much more enjoyable because they were on the scene, including a couple of guys from biggest passing factories -- Florida's Doug Johnson and BYU's Kevin Feterik.
There's also small-school hero Tim Lester, who threw for 11,299 yards at Western Michigan, and Fresno State's Billy Volek, whose touchdown-to-interception ratio last season was a mind-boggling 30-3.
And there was Arizona's Keith Smith, who combines athleticism with an NFL arm and CFL height.
None of those five is the quarterback on SportsLine.com's 2000 All-Undrafted team.
The leader of this group is a three-year tough-as-nails starter from Arkansas -- Clint Stoerner. He's infamous for the stumble and fumble against Tennessee in 1998, but he handled that pain with class and came back to beat the Vols and earn second-team all-SEC honors as a senior.
In fact, we like Stoerner so much, we're making him the captain of the 25-man All-Undrafted team.
Mostly, the players on this team are victims of the "terrible toos" -- too small, too short, too slow, too injured, too many character questions.
So, we're not saying that the NFL personnel men were out of their minds to not take these guys, or that they deserve to even get a sniff of playing in the pros.
What we did do was select players who made significant contributions to the holiday that is College Football Saturday ... so we don't care if Troy Hambrick from Savannah State was a higher-rated undrafted running back than either of "our guys."
Think of this as a college all-star team ... and a pretty good one at that. Many of these guys will be signed as free agents, and some will wind up in the CFL, or World League, indoor ball, or maybe their football careers are over. But here's a one last look at them as college football players -- the all-undrafted team:
| Pos. |
Player |
College |
Comment |
| QB |
Clint Stoerner |
Arkansas |
Lunch-pail QB gets the job done |
| RB |
Darren Davis |
Iowa St. |
Three straight 1,000-yard seasons |
| RB |
Kevin McDougal |
Colo. St. |
Makes the grade on toughness alone |
| WR |
Trevor Insley |
Nevada |
NCAA records for catches and yards |
| WR |
Kwame Cavil |
Texas |
Off-field problems a concern |
| C |
Rob Riti |
Missouri |
Tigers' anchor was all-Big 12 |
| OG |
Jason Whitaker |
Florida St. |
A 3-year starter for '99 nat'l champs |
| OG |
Ryan Johanningmeier |
Colorado |
Last name too long for uniform? |
| OT |
Jon Carman |
Ga. Tech |
No-brainer pick for all-ACC |
| OT |
Jonathan Gray |
Texas Tech |
Mammoth size; big potential, too |
| TE |
Ibn Green |
Louisville |
Lacks size, but sure can catch |
| DE |
Adawale Ogunleye |
Indiana |
Knee problems followed 34 sacks |
| DE |
Aaron Humphrey |
Texas |
Twice led Big 12 in sacks |
| DT |
Carl Bradley |
Va. Tech |
Linemate Nate Williams also ignored |
| DT |
Jerry DeLoach |
Cal |
A major force before injuries hit |
| LB |
Barrin Simpson |
Miss. St. |
All-SEC for nation's top-rated "D" |
| LB |
Jamel Smith |
Va. Tech |
Leader of Hokie linebacker corps |
| LB |
Matt Beck |
Cal |
Big-play 'backer ... when healthy |
| CB |
Courtney Jackson |
Arizona St. |
Second-best cover guy in Pac-10 |
| CB |
Amp Campbell |
Mich. St. |
Inspirational return from neck injury |
| SS |
Ashley Cooper |
Miss. St. |
Hard-hitter earned all-SEC honors |
| FS |
Brian Gray |
BYU |
Nice size; two-time all-league |
| Ret. |
Quinton Spotwood |
Syracuse |
Four punt returns for TDs in 1997 |
| K |
Shayne Graham |
Va. Tech |
Hit game-winner vs. West Virginia |
| P |
Andrew Bayes |
E. Carolina |
Led nation with 48.1-yard average |