Ickybaluky
03-13-2004, 08:00 AM
This article is pretty funny. Look at some of the high-schoolers who have declared for the draft this year:
http://www.tennessean.com/sports/titans/archives/04/03/48308286.shtml?Element_ID=48308286
Draft dodgers: Nine players, including former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett, used Clarett's court victory over the NFL to gain entry into this year's draft before they were three years removed from their high school class' graduation.
However, only two of the players — Clarett and USC wide receiver Mike Williams — played major college football. The other seven are a collection of players with little experience and little hope of getting drafted.
Though Pasadena (Calif.) City College cornerback Ronnie McCrae will try, McCrae played in just seven games last season and had no interceptions for a team that didn't win a game (0-10).
McCrae was not invited to the NFL's scouting combine last month, but did crash the party anyway, getting into one of the weight-lifting sessions, even plopping down at one of the machines in jeans and a T-shirt.
''School wasn't really my thing, so I figured I'd take my chances and see how far I could take it,'' McCrae said.
This is what the NFL is afraid of if it doesn't win the appeal against the Clarett ruling.
Some of the others who filled out the paperwork this year:
• John Belisle (Capac, Mich.). A quarterback who never took a varsity snap for the two high schools he attended and had a failed audition on American Idol.
• Joe Lee (Tacoma, Wash.). His high school, Gates, didn't have a football team.
• Earl Fields (Baxley, Ga.). Was not on his high school team's roster this past season.
• Ethan Mitchell (Springdale, Md.). Never played varsity football.
http://www.tennessean.com/sports/titans/archives/04/03/48308286.shtml?Element_ID=48308286
Draft dodgers: Nine players, including former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett, used Clarett's court victory over the NFL to gain entry into this year's draft before they were three years removed from their high school class' graduation.
However, only two of the players — Clarett and USC wide receiver Mike Williams — played major college football. The other seven are a collection of players with little experience and little hope of getting drafted.
Though Pasadena (Calif.) City College cornerback Ronnie McCrae will try, McCrae played in just seven games last season and had no interceptions for a team that didn't win a game (0-10).
McCrae was not invited to the NFL's scouting combine last month, but did crash the party anyway, getting into one of the weight-lifting sessions, even plopping down at one of the machines in jeans and a T-shirt.
''School wasn't really my thing, so I figured I'd take my chances and see how far I could take it,'' McCrae said.
This is what the NFL is afraid of if it doesn't win the appeal against the Clarett ruling.
Some of the others who filled out the paperwork this year:
• John Belisle (Capac, Mich.). A quarterback who never took a varsity snap for the two high schools he attended and had a failed audition on American Idol.
• Joe Lee (Tacoma, Wash.). His high school, Gates, didn't have a football team.
• Earl Fields (Baxley, Ga.). Was not on his high school team's roster this past season.
• Ethan Mitchell (Springdale, Md.). Never played varsity football.