Senior Bowl 2011: Not Exactly the Year of the Quarterback—Or Is It?

As we look forward to the 2011 version of college football's most high-profile all-star game, the Senior Bowl (4 PM ET on NFL Network), one thing seems certain—quarterback play is not going to be the highlight of the game.

This article is not intended to be a quarterback rankings sheet (that will come later in the draft season), but is meant to simply articulate what many already know—2011 is a year of great depth in the draft with few superstars, especially among the quarterback position.

So far I have graded eight separate quarterbacks—seven seniors and one underclassman—and only one has received a definite first round grade (hint: it is one of the seniors). Among those seniors are all six of the QBs playing in today’s Senior Bowl.

In case you are not familiar with the quarterback roster for this year’s game, the North team features Iowa QB Ricky Stanzi, Washington QB Jake Locker and Nevada QB Colin Kaepernick. The South team provides quarterbacks you are likely less familiar with and/or excited about in Alabama QB Greg McElroy, Florida State QB Christian Ponder and TCU QB Andy Dalton.

Among this group only two of these quarterbacks were in the top-10 vote getters for the Heisman Trophy this past college season. And they were eighth and ninth. Which two? The ones from the smallest schools of the group—Kaepernick and Dalton, respectively.

Locker came into this season highly regarded, but had a highly disappointing season. He did end it on a strong note with four consecutive wins, including a revenge win over Nebraska, the team he had a career worst performance against earlier in the season. Did Locker do enough at the end of the year to regain some traction on his draft stock?

Ultimately, the Senior Bowl week of practice is meant to answer that question. All indications are that Locker went back down after a very disappointing week. But if he can show himself a gamer and play well, he can at least save face a bit.

Similarly, Ponder came into this year as one of the hot prospects and a likely first rounder. His stock has cooled dramatically, and was not aided any by his inconsistent play and occasional benching. He too needed a good week, but appears to have struggled.

The other four—Stanzi, McElroy, Kaepernick and Dalton—were all relatively lightly regarded prospects heading into the 2010 college football season, yet their play this season put them in this game—again, the premier college football all-star game.

It is likely that even after this week all four will remain lightly regarded when compared to some of the juniors such as Blaine Gabbert, Ryan Mallett and Can Newton. In my opinion, though, all four have proved themselves worthy of a look.

They’ve all proved they can handle fairly complex college offenses while working within their strengths. Each showed improvement as this season went on. Each guy is considered a winner.

They all started at least two full college seasons; all but McElroy started three. All are mobile enough to make a play with his feet when necessary—a skill that is increasingly necessary, even in the NFL.

They all have the moxie and leadership that even a third-string NFL QB must have. Are any of them going to be stars? Maybe one of them (again, another hint on who I gave the first round grade to).

But isn’t this what makes the draft process and the Senior Bowl fun? We get to write articles and talk about guys whose past performance we judge in order to predict future performance.

None of these quarterbacks' past performances would lead us to believe they will be NFL Hall of Famers, and therein lies the great chasm, since one or more could actually become just that.

This game is likely to be dominated by two defensive linemen—Iowa’s Christian Ballard and Cal’s Cameron Jordan. According to reports, these two were noted as both the best players and among the hardest workers during Senior Bowl practices.

Among receivers in this game, Miami’s Leonard Hankerson (a Marques Colston clone), San Diego State’s Vincent Brown and Boise State’s Titus Young were reported as having the best weeks.

Many of the top offensive and defensive line prospects will go at it in this game. As mentioned, Ballard and Jordan will match up against Mississippi State’s Derek Sherrod and Arkansas’s DeMarcus Love. Baylor’s Phil Taylor and Arizona’s Brooks Reed will get to go against Colorado offensive tackle Nate Solder and Boston College’s Anthony Castonzo.

Finally, don’t sleep on the tight ends in this game. Wisconsin’s Lance Kendricks is another in the line of great Badger tight ends and is eerily similar to former Badger Travis Beckum (now of the New York Giants).

Nebraska’s Mike McNeill played some receiver for the Huskers, and Marshall TE Lee Smith was apparently very impressive in all facets of the game this week. On the South team, Tennessee’s Luke Stocker has a lot of scouts talking, while Arkansas’s D.J. Williams is probably the second highest ranked tight end in the entire draft.

Enjoy the game!