My Take

Although on draft day I needed to be cooled own throughout most of the day, I'm not nearly as upset as I was initially after the surprising picks went down. After reading about the plans for these guys I believe that Ruskell and company has a solid plan for them.

After trying unsuccessfully to trade down in the first round we ended up adding an early fourth round pick and taking the center who every team had rated as the best center in the draft. Spencer has a chance to become a perennial Pro Bowler, he has the size and athleticism, not to mention the character intangibles, which make him worthy of being a first round selection. We all knew that this team would be looking for a replacement for Tobeck, well we got an upgrade. How often have we all bitched about the right side of the line? With Tobeck on his last legs, this was a pick that I think we'll all be very excited about very soon.

Tatupu has a chance to become the guy who we all can identifiy this team with. I honestly believe that about him. His path to the NFL was laced with constant struggle, time after time being told that he was too small too slow, kind of reminds me of a certain receiver we all know and love by the name of Largent. Tatupu's heart and character simply over shadowed the knocks on his size, his will and determination forced U.S.C. to give him a chance, where he went on to lead the team in tackles during both of their championship seasons. This was the one guy who the coaching staff and Tim Ruskell really wanted because of his heart, determination and his ability to be a leader.

Apparently Willis, though a fourth rounder, is already being looked at as the front runner to start at RT next season. The FO is saying that only injuries moved him down that far, and that he was a steal where they got him, a sentiment being echoed by a lot of so called experts.

Greene was a guy that Jim Zorn desperately wanted, and talked the staff into taking. All he did at Georgia was win. There was a knock on him about his arm strength but after watching him play, Zorn was convinced that this left hander had the intangibles needed to become a good QB in the NFL. Zorn ought to know.

Hill was a standout at Clemson, though I'm not convinced he will be much more than a ST player for us, he was the defenses team leader at Clemson and although a bit undersized made up for it with determination, sound familiar?.

Jackson was drafted with one thing in mind, fullback. Imagine a guy his size and speed, with his ability to maul LBers lead blocking for Alexander. It sounds almost scary.

Even Huckeba has a chance to be decent, especially in the nickel defense where he is quite the edge pass rusher.

In fact, after day two of the draft I settled down quite a bit because I felt the reaches of the first day turned into steals (for the most part) on the second day. All in all I no longer have a big problem with this draft. I was never upset about the players we got, just where we got them and what we gave up to get them, too much in my opinion. But the players themselves I am quite happy about.

Most importantly, this whole draft infuses this team with much needed heart and character. This entire draft was about guys who want to compete, who want to work hard and play here. These guys are PLAYERS, not just talent. We've had enough of guys like K Rob and Stevens who are extremely talented but don't care.
Like I've always said, I would rather go to war with 30 guys who want to fight than 100 guys who are good at fighting but don't really care. It's about heart, desire and passion for the game of football, and that's exactly the type of players we got.
I think that in the end we will all be glad that we took the players we did. I believe that Ruskell has a plan to change this team from a talented group of underachievers into a group of players, with character and heart, who really care, really want to succeed. I for one am down with this plan and I cannot wait to see it unfold.