Can You Spell W-o-n-d-e-r-l-i-c?
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by user Batb
http://www.boovaandthebeast.blogspot.com
Every year the NFL Draft combine supplies what could only be described as cannon fodder for everyone with an IQ over 37 by administering and releasing the results of their famed Wonderlic test. Year after year we hear of a player achieving a "low" score on the test; last year it was Vince Young, a couple years ago it was Frank Gore (who notched a rip-roaring 5). I never thought much of it because I, unlike NFL executives, believe it would be very difficult to quantify game knowledge through a test. None of that changed my mind today when I took a sample Wonderlic test and scored a 39 out of a possible 50. So that being said, I am going answer all the questions that keep you awake at night, such as: how dumb can these guys be?; does it quantify their football knowledge?; can idiots still be good football players?
The fellas at Deadspin and Every Day Should Be Saturday got me all fired up about this because they drudged up my memories from last year when everyone from Mel Kiper to Bob Ley to the Philly Phanatic were tearing apart Vince Young on ESPN. As Todd McShay (in an effort to impress his man-crush, the previously aforementioned Kiper) notes, the highest score this year was a 41 by Justin Blalock out of the University of Texas. But I am not interested in the guys who excelled, rather I would like to take a look at the prospects who pulled an A-Rod on this test (in case any of them are reading, that means you guys didn't come through when it counts). From Todd McShay, the worst 10 scores this year are as follows:
T-1. David Irons, CB, Auburn (4) T-1. Bo Smith, S, Weber State (4) 3. Earl Everett, OLB, Florida (5) T-4. James Jones, WR, San Jose State (9) T-4. Turk McBride, DT, Tennessee (9) T-4. Julius Wilson, OT, UAB (9) T-7. Brandon Mebane, DT, Cal (10) T-7. Matt Trannon, WR, Michigan State (10) T-9. Baraka Atkins, DE, Miami (11) T-9. Alonzo Coleman, RB, Hampton (11)
Now, the lowest known score ever was posted by whiz-kid child prodigy and former Ravens linebacker Roderick Green with a 3. Fortunately none of these superstars sunk that low. The lowest score I had previously heard of before researching this was the one I mentioned earlier by Gore (5), but I took that in stride, probably because of the fact that I have seen Frank Gore interviewed on television and I didn't expect much more than that. But all that aside, lets look a little deeper at the some of the biggest morons of this years draft.
At number 7, Brandon Mebane is a cut above the bottom feeders, but should he be proud of that? Mebane attended Cal, otherwise known as the University of California at Berkeley. While it is known as a free-thinking, hippie, ultra-liberal campus, it is also widely recognized as one of the top public institutions in America. Perhaps Mebane took in a bit too much of the, eh, culture while he was there and didn't spend enough time looking at his papers. Or he did spend too much time looking at his papers. I don't know and don't care. Next.
At the top of the list is David Irons, CB, Auburn, and also the brother of Auburn's starting running back Kenny Irons. The folks at Scouts, Inc. put it politely when they said "marginal score on the Wonderlic Test." Marginal? The guy got lower than Frank Gore. Another interesting tidbit about David is that he thinks his brother is a monkey. Thats right, his own flesh and blood, is a monkey. Taken word for word from an interview on scout.com here is what David had to say about Kenny:
> I just tell him to keep running like that and keep on running to the jungle. I told him I'd buy him a seesaw and monkey bars so he can swing around like a banana tree. He's doing real good running to his jungle. I told him the end zone is his zoo and if he runs to the end zone he can be with all of his little animal friends. I just told him to treat the football like a banana. You treat the football like a banana and you won't let anybody at the zoo take your banana peel. He was like, Yeah, that's true. And I was like, Kenny, but it's not yellow, it's brown. Just think of it as an old banana and you've had out for weeks like you did at the house and its turned brown. Run with it and don't let people strip it. He's been running like a crazy wild child.
Need I say more? David Irons belongs in a mental institution.
I could go on all day showing examples of this stuff about these kids, but I don't want to tear them up any more. The real question is whether or not stupid players can succeed in the NFL. Who really cares how smart these guys are? This is football we are talking about. Any player must possess some streak of stupidity to go out there week after week, day after day, and get his brains beat in. To me, I would want a bunch of dumb athletic freaks on my team over some very smart fringe athletes. For example, two guys I mention befored, Vince Young and Frank Gore, both scored quite awful on the Wonderlic. Yet Young led the Titans to an 8-8 record and won Offensive ROY. Gore just ran for 1700 yards last season and was rewarded with an extension. Obviously the Wonderlic did a great job of showing us that these guys aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer, but so what. It did nothing to quantify their knowledge of the game or, especially in Young's case, whether they could pick up a pro offense. Vince Young single-handedly made the Titans respectable last year in a league where starting rookie QB's are expected to struggle.
So who could be the Gore or Young of this year's draft? How about Earl Everett? He is a linebacker out of Florida who possesses skills enough to land him a spot on the first day of the draft. Direct from the Scouts, Inc. scouting report on him:
> Possesses good height and the frame to add bulk. Plays faster than 40-time indicates. He's at his best when protected and given room to roam. He displays good upper body power. He can be an explosive hitter for his size. He can match up one-on-one versus most running backs out of the backfield. Shows the athletic ability and speed to turn and run downfield with faster backs and occasionally even slot wide receivers. His ball skills are improving and he is becoming a bigger playmaker in the passing game.
A scouting report like that just screams at you that this kid can flat out play. But also included in that same scouting report are red flags about his mental capacity, certainly highlighted by his "marginal" Wonderlic score. Again, who cares? He plays linebacker. All they have to do is tell him "tackle guy with ball." Simple enough. This kid is gonna slip to Day 2 in the draft but if anyone on that list has potential to be an impact player, it's Everett.
What all the scouting and evaluating should come down to is whether or not a guy can play. If he doesn't know the square root of 4, no big deal. Can he go sideline to sideline and chase down ballcarriers? Can he overpower guys bigger than him? Can he burn anyone assigned to cover him? Those are questions that scouts need to be asking themselves. They should avoid putting stock in mental capacity. Like I said before, this is the game of football. NO dorks allowed.
- T-Rex
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Read these for an explanation
The point is, if a player does poorly on the test, it means hes more likely to misunderstand the play, or screw it up when giving the play call. It's not as simple as you make it seem.
You give 2 examples of flukes. What about all those guys who bombed it and didn't make it that were slated as 4-5 rounders? Probably a lot