Goodgers Must Win Out to Return to BOB

Painter
Bacher
Brown
Young
Dorien Bryant
Dustin Keller
Devin Thomas
Taylor Mahlhoff

Looking Backward 2007 Worst of BTFFL Draft

10 “Boom” Herron, John Clay, Nick Toon, 17^th, 9^th and 16^th Round, Halifax Spitfires, Halifax Spitfires, and Fightin’ Farmers. It’s never good to have a Red Shirt year in the BTFFL. All three of these guys have not, and will not, see the field this year.

9 Arrellious Benn, 3^rd Round, Fightin’ Farmers. I loved the pick at the time but Benn simply has not delivered enough to merit this pick this year. He certainly has soon skills and should be a keeper based on talent but in the end, this season, he has been a fantasy disappointment.

8 Greg Orton, 10^th Round, Halifax Spitfires. The last WR picked before both Wheelwright (the pick before) and Decker. Orton was supposedly set to be the #2 receiver in the pass happy Purdue offense but it has not panned out.

7 Jaycen Taylor, Amir Pinnix, 3^rd and 4^th Rounds, Golden Goblins and Fightin’ Farmers. Both of these backs had decent runs at the beginning of the season but have been slowed or stopped by injury. They are not the worst picks taken on their own (Pinnix is still in the top 10 RBs) but the problem is an old one on the worst of the draft list and that is they were snagged before Javon Ringer. Ringer should have been the first RB off the board and these guys went before him.

6 Todd Boeckmann, Brian Hoyer, 6^th and 7^th Round, Fightin’ Farmers and Halifax Spitfires. Boeckmann has been serviceable, Hoyer hasn’t cracked the Spitfire line up for quite a while. Worse still, CJ Bacher was on the board when this pick was made.

5 Andy Brodell, 7^th Round, Bucky’s Goodgers. If I ever pick another Wide Receiver with my first or second pick I should be shot. Brodell joins a notorious list – Jonathon Orr (taken over 2^nd choice Taylor Stubblefield), Herb Grigsby (taken over 2^nd choice Mario Manningham) and now Brodell (taken over 2^nd choice Brian Robiski). The Iowa offense never looked good, Brodell never looked good, and then he was injured.

4 Dion Butler, 6th Round, Golden Goblins. The earliest, worstest, WR picked in the draft. The Goblins had their choice of all the good ones – Arrington, Robiski, Wheelwright, and Decker. Instead choose the guy that is reliant on Schreech to get him the ball.

3 Jake Christiansen, 5^th Round, Golden Goblins. The second QB off the board, only outscoring the injured Chad Henne and the injured and often pulled Juice. He looks terrible and is no small part of the Goblins massive struggles this season.

2 and 1 (He gets 2 spots) AUSTIN SCOTT!!!!!!, 2^nd Round, Fightin’ Farmers. What a fitting end to a truly amazing career, the likes of which I doubt we will ever see again even if the BTFFL survives for the next 50 years. Let’s Review. Great Scott entered the BTFFL a highly regarded RB recruit to a tradition power, a tradition power running team and the question was simply, how great, how soon? Having never played a down, he was snatched up by the Goodgers in the 2003 in the 7^th Round. Typically, he teased that season. He had a 28 point game and a 16 point game to go with his 3 Zeros, 2 Ones and 1 Two point games. I think he was hurt at the end of the season, or in the doghouse, or, more than likely, both. He was a keeper in 2004. Game 1, 23 points – here comes Great Scott! He followed that 2004 debut with 0, 6, 0, 0, and 1 point games. My records end there for 2004. Dropped by the Goodgers, Scott is picked again in 2005. The lowest that he is ever picked – the 10^th Round. Less heralded Tony Hunt takes over at Penn State and Scott scores 22 fantasy points on the season. But he’s still too good to give up on, maybe as a senior he’ll figure it out, it will click, he’ll mature, and he’ll beat out this clearly limited Running Back Tony Hunt. Cut again, in 2006 he’s chosen in the 8^th Round. At this point, Scott has been a 7^th Round pick, a Keeper, a 10^th Round pick and an 8^th Round pick. Towards the end of the season, Shawn famously puts his finger right on it – has there ever been a bigger disappointment than Austin Scott in the BTFFL? Well, no. And yes! Because Austin Scott gets a Red Shirt season as Tony Hunt tears up the BTFFL in 2006 – the 2^nd highest scoring RB in the League! Only Scott can outdo Scott. In 2007, the buzz builds again. Scott is a Senior, Hunt is gone to the NFL, none of the other RBs on the Penn State roster looks at all good (who is Rodney Kinlaw, Evan Royster?), certainly Scott, with all that talent, will finally meet expectations. Remember Larry Johnson! He never saw the field before his huge senior year. Perhaps, Scott, who has looked good on occasion, can pull an LJ! As the 2007 BTFFL draft approaches, all the clear cut stud Running Backs will be kept, startable RB will be hard to get. Scott emerges as the Great hope for BTFFL franchises. He’s got the job, Penn State RBs are valuable, don’t share time and Austin Scott is the 1^st player off the board! Taken by Shawn (remember Shawn, the guy who first identified Scott as the biggest disappointment ever, oh the humanity) in the 2^nd Round in a draft where Matt cuts James Hardy in the hopes that Shawn passes on Scott so he can grab him. Austin has outdone himself! Scott has a decent, but not great, start to the season. It is not clear at all that he is outplaying the nobodies behind him, and then, to cap off a truly transcendent, no, transsplendent, BTFFL career, he is accused of rape and suspended from the team. Could it have ended any other way? I don’t think so. What will we do without him?

Looking Backward 2007 Best of BTFFL Draft

Honorable mentions

Adrian Arrington, 8^th round, Halifax Spitfires. Good pick, decent value.

Ryan Mallett, 12^th Round, Fighting Farmers. Mallett has been pressed into action and has performed reasonably as a Freshman. No doubt he will be Michigan’s starting QB in 2008.

And to the list:

10. Duane Bennett, 5^th Round, Halifax Spitfires. The first of 4 Gophers to appear on this list, Bennett certainly appears set to be the Gophers RB next season. As a freshman he has been impressive, might have even taken over the starting position if not for injury.

9. Kory Sheets, Omar Conteh, and Evan Royster, 6^th, 11^th and 17^th Rounds, Halifax Spitfires, Golden Goblins and Golden Goblins. This trio of Running Backs have one thing in common, the starters in front of them have been injured or lost the job for other reasons, they have all stepped in and played well. There is a bit of luck in these three but nonetheless, they have all paid dividends. They are the 9^th, 8^th and 16^th ranked Running Backs as of this week.

8. James Hardy, 2^nd Round, Golden Goblins. I hate to put high picks on this list but it always seems like one or two picks deserve it. And Hardy deserves it as he is the highest scoring WR in the League and the Goblins snatched him back with their first pick in the draft. Lucky thing Austin Scott was not available or the Goblins would be even worse.

7. CJ Bacher, 8^th Round, Bucky’s Goodgers. The Goodgers only pick on this list. Bacher has outplayed Christiansen (5^th), Boeckmann (6^th), Hoyer (7^th), and Henne (8^th), all selected before him. Eighth QB off the board, third highest scorer. Goblins agonized between Bacher and Kinlaw – choose Kinlaw.

6. Javon Ringer, 4^th Round, Golden Goblins. Ringer has been fantastic this season. He is the 4^th highest scoring Running Back behind only Hill, Mendenhall and Hart – all three were keepers. He was also the 4^th RB selected! Somehow, Scott, Taylor (inj) and Pinnix picked before Ringer.

5. Ernie Wheelwright, 10^th Round, Golden Goblins. Another Gopher. Wheelwright has been a reliable BTFFL WR this year. He’s the 6^th highest scoring WR and is outplaying a boatload of WRs selected ahead of him, including Benn (3^rd), Bulter (6^th), Beckum (7^th), Brodell (7^th), Arrington (8^th) and Orton (10^th).

4. Brian Robiski, 9^th Round, Fightin’ Farmers. Robiski has been fantastic. Taken just one round before Wheelwright, selected after the mediocre group of WR, he is the 4^th highest scoring WR.

3. Jehuu Caulcrick, 10^th Round, Fightin’ Farmers. 5^th Highest scoring RB, even after last week’s goose egg! Nonfactors like Austin Scott, Damien Sims, John Clay, Marcus Thigpen, and Brandon Saine selected ahead of him.

2. Eric Decker, 13^th Round, Fightin’ Farmers. Go Gophers! Decker is the 7^th highest scoring wide receiver in the BTFFL and he was picked after such duds as Butler, Brodell, Orton, Williams, Hubbard and Lymon.

1. Adam Weber, 5^th Round, Fightin’ Farmers. Wow! The Farmers have the top 4 best picks in the draft and it looks like they are headed to the Blue Ox Bowl because of it. Weber, along with every other Gopher drafted was scoffed at by this author. How much crow can one man eat? Weber is the 2^nd highest scoring QB (was 1 for much of the season) and is the biggest beneficiary of Brewster’s spread coast offense – although clearly not the only one. I guess he’s a keeper?

Grading the keepers

It's that time of year...

Fightin’ Farmers (Chris Wells) Wells has been something of a disappointment this year, although last week he performed as the Farmers maybe expected he would throughout the season. But clearly Beanie was a good keeper. You can’t really blame him – but this team cut Ringer and Caulcrick (both have outscored Wells to this point), as well as Wheelwright and Decker! Got Caulcrick and Decker back though. Grade: B-

Halifax Spitfires (PJ Hill, Kellen Lewis, Mario Manningham, Rashard Mendenhall) Well, Lewis is the high scoring QB, Hill and Mendenhall are 1 and 2 at RB and Manningham is a top 5 WR. I guess these were good keepers. Grade: A

Golden Goblins (Tyrell Sutton) Sutton is hurt. Cut Hardy, the #1 WR, but took him right back. Grade: C

Bucky’s Goodgers (Mike Hart, Curtis Painter, Juice!, Dorien Bryant, Albert Young) A few hits, a few misses. Hart, Painter, and Bryant performing well. Juice!, who walks on water, not exactly tearing up the league, as he is the 11^th highest scoring QB and Young, coincidently, the 11^th highest scoring RB. Bacher cut but got back. Grade: C-