It's too bad, but what can I or any other Bowling Green alumnus tell Omar Jacobs? Stay?
Jacobs announced Friday he will forego his senior year at BG and declare for the NFL draft. He is already the school's all-time leader in touchdown passes with 71 and has a bowl victory to his credit last season.
It is hard to tell a star MAC quarterback to stay, especially with the success Ben Roethlisberger has enjoyed in his first two seasons, and the fact that Charlie Frye is now the starting QB for the Browns.
Like Jacobs, Roethlisberger came out following his junior year.
I was hoping Jacobs would use next season as an exclamation point on his career at BG after a leg injury put a huge dent in the second half of this season. But it might have had the opposite effect. Jacobs got a firsthand look at how fleeting success can be in a violent sport like football, and decided to cash in as soon as possible.
Again, what can you tell Jacobs? It's worth it to stay in college when you know your career could end the next time you land awkwardly on your ankle?
Sure, Matt Leinart stayed for his senior year at USC, but he is the exception. If a player is in line to make the big bucks, might as well do it now.
I doubt Jacobs will go in the first round, and a certainly don't think he will step in and start almost right away as Roethlisberger did. But with size and strength similar to that of Roethlisberger, Jacobs will be around the NFL for a while with the blessing of good health.
The only question I have is how he will adapt from the Bowling Green spread offense, where Jacobs spent the majority of time working out of the shotgun, to a conventional NFL offense. 49ers QB Alex Smith, like Jacobs the product of an Urban Meyer-placed spread offense at Utah, has shown just how difficult the transition to a drastically different offense can be.
Attention at Bowling Green now turns to backup QB Anthony Turner, who was inconsistent in relief of Jacobs this year. The spring intrasquad game should give a decent indicator of whether Turner can step in and fill Jacobs' shoes adequately.
2 comments:
I think he saw what happened this year -- not to him with the injury -- but the team going in the shitter, and decided to get out.
For all the upside a schedule of Boise, Wisconsin and Ohio State has if he plays well, it could have the opposite effect if BG gets trounced (which they will) and he is a sitting duck.
I don't think his stock could get higher, so why risk it going lower?
If he's projected as a fourth-rounder now, and he improves a round, he's a third-rounder (clearly).
A team will keep a third-rounder around, not cut him at first mistake, like it might with a later pick.
I think he's in good shape.
He's got nothing to lose, plus BG can fully rebuild. No use working in new offensive players with a lame duck quarterback.
In no way am I plugging my own post about this. That would be morally reprehensible.
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