best nfl players who played JC football?

[rivercitybirdie]

been curious about this for awhile..... and it cropped up in one thread i was in and i see some JC comments in another thread.

i want to do something like a JC all-star team....... and i should add i may blog it at some point in the future.

it's funny that not that many names spring to mind:

QB Aaron Rodgers

TB OJ Simpson (i think) Rudi Johnson (auburn)

WR Chad Johnson (WR... oregon state)

and that was really all i could come up with off the top of my head.... any other super obvious high profile ones.. i might have confused auburn TB's AND i know Rudi isn't really that high profile but the other 3 certainly are.

thanks advance ... i did cursory+ google search. not very productive.

 

[rivercitybirdie]

At least four JC transfers became No. 1 overall picks (Cam Newton, Keyshawn Johnson, O.J. Simpson and Ron Yary), and five 2013 first-rounders were JC guys: Minnesota's Cordarrelle Patterson, Carolina's Star Lotulelei, Chicago's Kyle Long, Denver's Sylvester Williams and the New York Jets' Sheldon Richardson. Some other JC transfers who made their presence felt in the NFL include Corey Dillon, Cortez Kennedy, Aaron Rodgers[FONT=arial, verdana, helvetica] and Roger Staubach.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, verdana, helvetica]i forgot cam newton... all other names are news to me..... roger staubach is a bit of a head scratcher. wonder if that's a different type of JC. like a mandatory military prep school.[/FONT]

 

[rivercitybirdie]

found a couple more recent ones...... blount TB and fairly DT

wow, this is NOT yielding the treasure trove i expected.

i was looking at recent top JC classes... seems like a lot of SEC teams take 2-5 JC players every year..... not that many programs heavy on them. the 2 arizona schools, kansas is always one that pops up. jay hawks not the wildcats (who are historically huge player).. idaho is a funny name that pops up.

 

[GoSooners]

found a couple more recent ones...... blount TB and fairly DT

wow, this is NOT yielding the treasure trove i expected.

i was looking at recent top JC classes... seems like a lot of SEC teams take 2-5 JC players every year..... not that many programs heavy on them. the 2 arizona schools, kansas is always one that pops up. jay hawks not the wildcats (who are historically huge player).. idaho is a funny name that pops up.

That number sounds about right for the number of JC players going to SEC teams each year. They basically draft these players just to fill immediate needs where they are thin at those positions. And most of those JC's are 4 star caliber players. Schools like Kansas and KSU recruit the JC ranks heavily because the state of Kansas has one of the biggest junior college systems in the country to choose from. But even at that, as many JC's as Snyder has recruited at KSU, in the last 5 years he has only recruited a total of six 4 star prospects out of those classes. And I'm not sure how many of them were actually 4 star JC players. Probably not all of them. So basically KSU wins with 2 and 3 star talent every year. Quite an achievement for a winning Power 5 program. Most of your JC prospects are not the 4 stars that go to the SEC and maybe into the pros. Most are in the category of 2 and 3 star talent. The biggest misconception about JC talent is just because they are experienced, it doesn't make them better. If age was an advantage, BYU's 25 year old college players would be undefeated every year.

 

[rivercitybirdie]

i looked at the rivals top 100 jc recruits and here's where they went:

okstate 6
south carolina 5
arizona 4
olemiss 4
missouri 4
miss state 4
iowa state 3
louisville 3
ASU 3
OK 3
WSU 3
tam 3
WV 3
CAL 3
auburn 3

that's 54 players.. and maybe 10 just had a "list" so that's pretty amazing concentration....

sorry for alternating between caps and non-caps........

is the reasons that the JC all-time team in NFL isn't shaping up that well a combo of: 1) not being able to make an FBS team out of high school is a big red flag for NFL (dedication, concentration etc.); 2) FBS teams as a whole can get any UBER-talented kid. that no matter what one FBS team will admit kid with 7 grade reading level who hasn't attended class regularly in years (see the UNC scandal. said some players hadn't gone to HS classes in 3 years)

 

[rivercitybirdie]

That number sounds about right for the number of JC players going to SEC teams each year. They basically draft these players just to fill immediate needs where they are thin at those positions. And most of those JC's are 4 star caliber players. Schools like Kansas and KSU recruit the JC ranks heavily because the state of Kansas has one of the biggest junior college systems in the country to choose from. But even at that, as many JC's as Snyder has recruited at KSU, in the last 5 years he has only recruited a total of six 4 star prospects out of those classes. And I'm not sure how many of them were actually 4 star JC players. Probably not all of them. So basically KSU wins with 2 and 3 star talent every year. Quite an achievement for a winning Power 5 program. Most of your JC prospects are not the 4 stars that go to the SEC and maybe into the pros. Most are in the category of 2 and 3 star talent. The biggest misconception about JC talent is just because they are experienced, it doesn't make them better. If age was an advantage, BYU's 25 year old college players would be undefeated every year.

thanks.. that makes sense that better JC players were 2 and 3 stars (or less). i saw that rivals had two JC at 5* and (from memory) 10-12 at 4*. assuming that HS* are equiv. in many ways to JC*, schools like USC and alabama probably get better recruiting classes than if they had the choice of what ever 18 JC prospects they wanted.

as you said, top schools fill holes but kansas/iowastate/idaho/WSU/etc. and fill their roster with them to some degree.... fyi, i posted that other comment with all the different schools and their JC haul before i read your comment.

thx again

 

[rolltide]

Bama has done quite well on the JUCO front during Saban's reign. He really picks his spots like getting Mount Cody when we desperately needed a nose tackle (won first national title thanks to his rocky block) then replacing him with Jesse Williams. I think Williams is somewhere in NFL? certainly Carpenter at offensive tackle was a great JUCO pick up and i think was a 1st rounder. We'll see about Leon Brown but he should be our starting RG this year.

obvious big games like Staubach, sCam and Rodgers but also Cortez Kennedy and Rozier (who we talked about a bit ago). Kstate had that juco qb, bishop, who almost won the national title. if he keeps playing NFL mettenberger will be on the radar although i don't think he's be pro bowl status like roger, sCam, and Rodgers.

although his teams sucked cordarrelle patterson was very good and a high draft pick but best WR juco style had to be Keyshawn. I thought Pierre-Paul was a dominant NCAAF pass rusher and i think won a title with the Giants (?) ... same with Bruce Irvin on seattle.

wouldnt be surprised if that kid from clemson who was kicked out resurfaces after juco commitment. can't remember his name but was a big time recruit

of course big difference between filling holes (like Bama, LSU, and FSU do with JUCO) and having a program focused on them (K state) but a win is a win

 

[CoachCB]

JUCO football would do itself a service by going to a Spring schedule.

They could play a season from late January through early April. That way the kids would get scouted better and could transition right into a 4-year program. It would also help w/ graduation rates/grades.

JUCO has become a big part of major D1 programs the last 10 years or so. It wasn't that way in the 80's & 90's (some smaller/less successful programs have always taken JUCO's but not many major programs). As a Gator fan, I know during Spurrier's 12 years in Gainesville he only had 2 JUCO players. Zook had about 6 (in 3 years). Meyer took a few. And Muschamp signed about 4 or 5 in his 4 years.

I expect it will continue to increase....it's basically a free agency signing. A lot of D1 players go to JUCO for 1 year knowing they'll be right back on a D1 roster the next year vs. sitting out a year at another D1 school.

 

[RunLeeRun]

Bucs OLB Levonte David comes to mind. No championships under his belt, but that's mostly a product of who he played for because he's a machine that tackles.

 

[rivercitybirdie]

thank you for all the responses...... didn't realize mike rozier went to JC. thought it was some sort of new jersey connection (irving fryer too) but maybe it was kansas JC network... gonna check cortez kennedy and levonte david. those are good names.

i agree JUCO would do itself a huge favor by going spring. makes so much sense. also, they might get a bit more recognition. the JC's at the place i visit a lot (san francisco) sent kids to alabama, tennessee, california and many other really big programs. but you would never know they even exist (i'm thinking SFCC and San Mateo CC as the locals but there a bunch of good ones in their league... but no one, and almost literally no one, knows and/or cares about it.

 

[CoachCB]

thank you for all the responses...... didn't realize mike rozier went to JC. thought it was some sort of new jersey connection (irving fryer too) but maybe it was kansas JC network... gonna check cortez kennedy and levonte david. those are good names.

i agree JUCO would do itself a huge favor by going spring. makes so much sense. also, they might get a bit more recognition. the JC's at the place i visit a lot (san francisco) sent kids to alabama, tennessee, california and many other really big programs. but you would never know they even exist (i'm thinking SFCC and San Mateo CC as the locals but there a bunch of good ones in their league... but no one, and almost literally no one, knows and/or cares about it.

They could get a lot of recognition. I imagine ESPNU could show a JUCO game of the week. There could be some great matchups, especially at playoff time.

There is not one JUCO football program in the state of Florida. That is ridiculous. Imagine the talent that could continue playing. Florida is among the top 3 most fertile recruiting grounds in the country.