Are Alabama players maxed out in college?

[Cincyfan78]

Interesting thought(s):

And while the Bears' selection stole the headlines, the bigger story in the scouting community was the fall of the Alabama players.

Let's rewind three months ago after the national title game and Senior Bowl were completed. At that time it was believed that as many as six Crimson Tide players could land in the first 20 picks of the draft. Jonathan Allen was viewed as a top-four pick while Reuben Foster, Tim Williams, Marlon Humphrey, O.J. Howard and Cam Robinson were all graded as players who could land as early as the eighth pick of the draft and no later than the 20th selection.

So what happened?

More and more teams are starting to realize Alabama players are entering the league both beat up and maxed out. Both are understandable as the Crimson Tide is always fighting for the national title, which lengthens their season. Their pro-style coach Nick Saban gets the maximum from his players, who then enter the NFL without high upside.

There's also the concern that some players are playing with injuries when they should not be on the field, which damages their next-level potential and careers. It's something I mentioned in January during an interview when I stressed that this is not exclusive to Alabama but takes place all across big-time college football.

2017 NFL Draft: End Notes | Draft Analyst

 

[cincygrad]

Interesting take. On the one hand, it's hard for me to see how they are playing that much more football than any other D1 team..... Yes, they have the SEC championship and then (when successful) the playoffs. At most, they play 2 more games than everyone else. That certainly doesn't stick out and I don't think it makes them much different than a program like Ohio State. But..... It does seem like some of their guys show up to the pros as damaged goods. A few of their running backs definitely lost some tread on their tires in their college days. McCarron had to sit out a year to get his shoulder right, etc.

 

[ckhokie]

I read an article - it may have been posted on 247 - which essentially said there were GMs who had said Alabama players have slipped in the draft recently because their coddled and have their hands held so much in college, they have difficulty trusting them when they're out of an environment where the school, cops, local government, etc. aren't all looking out for them and taking care of their every (mis)move.

Was a take I hadn't seen before

 

[Cincyfan78]

I thought it was interesting, because I'm not so sure that it really holds any real truth to the matter.

For the most part, as stated before, they are only playing 1 or, at most 2, more games than other high profile schools that have kids being drafted.

The only thing I can think of is maybe they are already getting kids who are at/near their top end, their players are very good, but less upside as they've already achieved nearly as much as they can athletically. Where maybe other schools are getting kids who are not quite the 5* kids (maybe a high 3 or mid 4*) and those kids are the ones with the most upside once their body catches up with their talent and work ethic?

Like in little league football or baseball. At 9-10-11 year old, you always have those kids who just are dominant. I mean, flame throwing on the mound, ball busting at the plate, or just has an arm for a QB or just that must bigger/stronger/faster than every other kid on the football field. Down the road, they are still very good, but those kids who sat around and played in the dirt because they were too short, or not quite athletic enough (yet) finally start coming into their own and actually end up surpassing those other kids who used to dominate.

Maybe there is the same thing here, only in smaller numbers, but at the NCAA level where we are seeing more and more kids from smaller schools or not as highly recruited finally getting more recognition than in the past due to the increased online profile and scouting reports over the past 5-6-7 years. Teams are able to get more film, and more in-depth analysis on guys who maybe would have ended up in the 4-5-6 rounds or undrafted in the past? Conversely, we're seeing bigger name kids falling because scouts are convinced that they were near peak at the NCAA level athletically. Less room to really grow, and therefore, what you see is what you get, but you may not get much more. Teams are always enamored with upside, and thus in the draft, this caused these kids to slide.