Newsflash: Andrew Luck is a very good quarterback.

Nothing new, right? Before the 2012 NFL draft most sane people agreed that Luck was a rare prospect for a college quarterback, and many proclaimed him to be the best overall prospect they had seen. Now that Luck's first NFL game is in the books, let's take a look at three traits that separate No. 12 from the rookie quarterbacks we've seen over the last decade.

Vision

We hear it said all the time during a broadcast, but what does it mean for the quarterback to look off the safeties?

Luck demonstrated this very well in his first outing. To put it very plainly, he's not locking on to his receivers and showing the safeties where the pass is going. Instead, we'll see him actually lock his eyes onto the safety when the ball is snapped and then move his head and eyes to his targets in a routine manner. He may not throw there, but his eyes are scanning the field constantly to prevent the safety from keying in on where he's going with the ball.

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The shocking announcement Friday afternoon that the LSU football team would dismiss its best player—defensive back and return man Tyrann Mathieu—left the college football world reeling. Mathieu was the best player on an LSU team that came up just shy of a national championship in 2011 and enters 2012 as the No. 1 team in the country.

While there are many great people covering what this means for LSU, what does this mean for Mathieu?

When the 2012 NFL draft closed, Mathieu's draft stock was a bit of a mystery. He's been referred to in conversations as the "defensive version of Tim Tebow...minus the good-guy character."

That's pretty accurate, as Mathieu defies conventional scouting measurements and ideals. He's not big, listed at just 5'9" and 175 lbs but thought to be much smaller, and he doesn't possess what you would expect to be a very low 40-yard dash time based on his short strides.

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Football season is here, folks. After a long wait through the spring and summer months, the 2012 NFL preseason kicked off with the Arizona Cardinals taking on the New Orleans Saints in Canton, Ohio at the annual NFL Hall of Fame Game. 

Preseason games can be a glorified scrimmage at times, but with most of the depth chart seeing live duty on the field, preseason games are a great chance to evaluate the entire roster. What did we learn from the first game?

10. The Saints Offense Looks Different

The New Orleans Saints' first-team offense came out and rolled to an opening-drive touchdown, but they did it on the strength of a strong run game. Pierre Thomas and Darren Sproles were featured heavily in the first drive, with Mark Ingram cleaning things up in the red zone with two big runs. The Saints of years past threw the ball to set up the run, but without Sean Payton calling the shots, we may see an offense that relies more on the run with the strength of their talented stable of running backs.

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St. Joseph, Missouri—The 2012 Kansas City Chiefs have been picked by many to win the AFC West after missing out on the playoffs following the 2011 season. If what we saw at training camp is any indication, the Chiefs will be contenders for the West and more.

New Faces

After a lackluster campaign in 2011, general manager Scott Pioli got aggressive, and it led to one of the best offseasons of any NFL team. Pioli added free agents Eric Winston (RT), Peyton Hillis (RB), Kevin Boss (TE), Stanford Routt (CB) and drafted defensive tackle Dontari Poe in the first round to anchor the defensive line. No team brought in a crop of free agents with as much proven talent as the Chiefs did, and the on-field performance is noteworthy thus far.

Winston is as solid as they come on the right side—in fact he was our top-ranked right tackle in our B/R NFL 1,000 rankings. Winston is a perfect fit for the zone-blocking scheme being implemented under offensive coordinator Brian Daboll and offensive line coach Jack Bicknell. The scheme not only benefits Winston, but the entire offense looks faster with the linemen moving through the defense as opposed to sitting and waiting. With top-level athletes like Branden Albert (LT) and Rodney Hudson (OC) in place, a transition to an agile blocking system was smart by Pioli and head coach Romeo Crennel.

Having Winston on the edge, where he can seal the strong side in run situations, is key. He's able to get upfield to block for speedy Jamaal Charles—something we saw in camp.

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Interior defensive linemen get caught up in the anonymity of the trenches and they don't even have the profile of offensive left tackles protecting their quarterback's blind side. The NFL still recognizes the deep value of an elite defensive tackle, and it has shown in recent drafts that saw Marcell Dareus, Ndamukong Suh, and Gerald McCoy all go in the top three.

Utah defensive tackle Star Lotulelei could be the next top three overall defensive tackle. Here's why:

ATTACK

Lotulelei is consistently the first defensive (and offensive) lineman up and out of his stance. His snap count anticipation and first-step explosion are exceptional for a defensive tackle. He gets the drop on his opponent and is heady and aggressive enough to often land the first blow and get the offensive lineman staggering backwards. His motor runs hot and he'll get pressure by endurance. Lotulelei is a major disruption in the run game, almost always pushing his opponent into the backfield, if not shedding him and making a tackle for a loss.

ATHLETICISM

Yes, that's Lotulelei covering a running back as a receiver out of the backfield at the bottom the screen. He forced an incompletion on the play. Lotulelei runs and moves amazingly well for a 6'4" 320 lb. man. Think Haloti Ngata.

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A lot is going to change between now and next April, but as we head into the 2012 college football season, we can still rank the draft-eligible quarterbacks based on where they stand going into the season.

Any of these quarterbacks could skyrocket into the No. 1 spot with a strong campaign, and many quarterbacks touted as first-round picks going into their last year in college football end up waiting until the later rounds of the draft to hear their name called, if they hear it at all.

Here are the top 10 2013 NFL draft-eligible quarterbacks...until they start playing the games.

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If Jaguars fans thought Blaine Gabbert was the worst pick general manager Gene Smith could make, they should survey the damage the fifth pick overall, Justin Blackmon, is already causing before he has even shown up to his first training camp. Consider these developments:

1. Trading up from the seventh pick to the fifth pick cost the Jaguars their fourth-rounder, which then forced Smith's hand in the third. He wanted punter Bryan Anger bad enough to take him in the early third round, which is like going in the first round in punter terms.

2. ESPN Florida beat writer Charlie Bernstein told us Blackmon was not creating great separation in OTAs. While the Jaguars have some quality cornerbacks, this is not what you expect to hear about a player selected in the top five overall.

3. Blackmon dragged the organization's name through the mud with an aggravated DUI arrested, including a literally staggering blood alcohol level of .24. Bernstein told us the word "alcoholic" was being thrown around in connection to Blackmon's name.

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Ryan Tannehill started out ahead of Matt Moore and David Garrard this spring because of his familiarity with offensive coordinator Mike Sherman's scheme from their time together at Texas A&M. But his trajectory basically went downhill from there.

At the team's minicamp, Omar Kelly of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that Tannehill was having trouble adjusting to the speed of the game. And Brian Biggane of the Palm Beach Post reported that he was "not in the running" to start at quarterback heading into training camp.

Just a few days into camp, though, Tannehill has reversed that course. And when I talked to Kelly today, he told me to not rule Tannehill completely out of the starting quarterback battle.

Tannehill got a late start to his first NFL training camp after a very short holdout, but according to the Associated Press (via Yahoo! Sports), he was impressive in his first practice.

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