Morris Claiborne Wonderlic: Poor Score Shouldn't Hurt LSU Star's NFL Draft Stock

Standardized tests—who needs 'em? Am I right?

Morris Claiborne certainly doesn't, or at least he would rather not talk about it.

As first reported by Pro Football Talk, the former LSU Tigers star and top cornerback prospect in the 2012 NFL draft scored a paltry four out of 50 on the famed Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Test at the scouting combine earlier this year.

It's the lowest known score since Iowa State running back Darren Davis registered a four in 2000, and it comes in below Vince Young's initial score of six in 2006 and Dan Marino's 16.

As embarrassing as the score may look on paper, it's hardly reason enough to deter any team interested in selecting him early in the 2012 NFL draft (i.e. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers).

For one, as ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. points out, Claiborne doesn't play a particularly mentally demanding position. Unlike, say, a quarterback or a middle linebacker, a corner like Claiborne is expected to react to situations rather than read them in depth. He's shown the ability to do just that, especially given his tremendous physical gifts.

A poor score on the Wonderlic doesn't tend to carry much weight these days, either.

Greg Gabriel of The National Football Post notes that such test results are often invalidated by improper testing conditions, wherein some prospects practice for the Wonderlic (which isn't supposed to happen), while others take it cold (as expected).

What's more, Gabriel goes on to reveal that Claiborne's score might actually be the product of a learning disability, with which he has figured out how to cope throughout his collegiate career, both on the field and in the classroom.

By all accounts, Claiborne is a resourceful, high-character kid, something that even a poor score on the Wonderlic doesn't change.

The fact that Claiborne's results have gone public should raise a red flag or two as well. Wonderlic scores are expected to be kept as private, privileged material among all 32 teams.

As such, it's entirely possible (if not highly likely) that Claiborne's was leaked by a team sitting lower in the draft, one hoping to implicitly discourage other clubs from taking him so as to have a better shot at him.

Of course, none of these theatrics should have any effect on when and by whom Claiborne hears his named called later this month. Those teams keen to select him have already done their own research, poring over ever detail, vetting him vigorously, making lists and checking them twice (if not three, four or five times).

And, at the end of the day, the tape doesn't lie.

No flawed test can take away from Claiborne's on-field performance, as captured in hours upon hours of game tape. If a prospective team doesn't like what it sees from him on the football field and is thrown off by his Wonderlic score, then so be it.

Just don't expect any football executive to be so dull as to be scared off by Claiborne's score.

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