thetexanator said:
there are BUSTS, but there is no one in the past 10 years who has proven more in the college ranks than Bush. couch, smith, KIJANA? they in no way compare to bush. theres no thing as a "sure thing", but this guy is as close to it as when Peyton Manning was coming out.
Peyton Manning? I know he was supposed to be a great player coming out of college, but if my memory serves me correctly it was basically a toss up between him and Ryan Leaf and QB and look how that has panned out, so I wouldn't say Peyton was "the surest thing" to come out of college in a while.
how is Bush proven more in college than anyone else? Assume we take him #1 overall in the draft to be our star RB, let's see what Bush has "proven":
2003: 480 rushing yards, 5.9 ypc, 230 receiving yards, 7 total TDs
2004: 908 rushing yards, 6.4 ypc, 509 receiving yards, 13 total TDs
2005: 1658 rushing yards, 8.9 ypc, 383 receiving yards, 17 total TDs
What DeAngelo Williams has proven:
2002: 684 rushing yards, 6.6 ypc, 51 receiving yards, 5 total TDs
2003: 1430 rushing yards, 5.9 ypc, 384 receiving yards, 13 total TDs
2004: 1948 rushing yards, 6.2 ypc, 210 receiving yards, 23 total TDs
2005: 1726 rushing yards, 6.2 ypc, 80 receiving yards, 16 total TDs
What Adrian Peterson has proven:
2004: 1925 rushing yards, 5.7 ypc, 12 receiving yards, 15 total TDs
2005: 1024 rushing yards, 5.2 ypc, 42 receiving yards, 14 total TDs
What Cedric Benson proved:
2002: 1293 rushing yards, 4.2 ypc, 119 receiving yards, 12 total TDs
2003: 1277 rushing yards, 5.4 ypc, 108 receiving yards, 21 total TDs
2004: 1834 rushing yards, 5.6 ypc, 179 receiving yards, 20 total TDs
What Darren Sproles proved:
2002: 1465 rushing yards, 6.6 ypc, 99 receiving yards, 17 total TDs
2003: 1948 rushing yards, 6.2 ypc, 282 receiving yards, 17 total TDs
2004: 1318 rushing yards, 5.4 ypc, 223 receiving yards, 11 total TDs
Larry Johnson's senior year:
2087 rushing yards, 7.7 ypc, 349 receiving yards, 23 total TDs
Quentin Griffin's senior year:
1884 rushing yards, 6.6 ypc, 264 receiving yards, 18 total TDs
Anyways, do I think Bush will be a good to great NFL player? Yes. Has he "proven more than anyone else in the last 10 years"? No, not as a RB. He does have very good speed and quickness, not great size, and he has pretty nice kick and punt returning stats too, but generally you're not going to want your franchise RB as a full-time special teams player too. I think he is the most talented overall player in the draft, but I do not think he fits into our team. He has not "proven" to be the best pure RB in the last 20 years as some people have claimed. I would personally like to see him as a WR for us out there with Andre, Mathis, and Gaffney if he stays, but I don't see spending the first overall pick and $40+ million on a WR. If he was going to be our franchise RB then maybe, but I don't see him being a franchise RB that can carry the ball 25-30 times a gain like Tomlinson or Shaun Alexander, and I'm also not willing to spend a first overall pick and $40+ million on a part-time RB and special teams player. Anyways, that is my opinion, and you are obviously entitled to yours but let's not be saying he has proven more than anyone else at the college level because he hasn't. He has proven that he is an electrifying playmaker, is good returning kicks, and is a pretty good RB on the college level, that's about it.