is at an all time high.
I think that a lot of that has to do with the evaluation process today and the player development.
With the amount of information available today if a kid can play, he is found. I am not sure that was the case in the 1990's. That means more players available than ever before.
Plus now you have great S&C programs at so many levels. 20 years ago Brian Urlacher is not a Big 5 guy, today he would be because he probably would have been working out with a trainer and taking supplements. In fact, there are probably hundreds of kids who would not have been D1 kids back in the day, but now they are due to player development.
Watching games the past few weeks I am amazed at just how so many "weaker" teams have guys that are legit. The biggest difference is simply depth. Weaker teams cannot deal with injuries. MSU has played CMU and WMU and both teams have guys that would start for almost anyone in the Big Ten. Would MSU be a better team with the WR from WMU? Both CMU and WMU have OT's that MSU looked at that are as good if not better than Dennis Finley. Jabari Dean is a pretty stout DT for the Chips and Cooper Rush would start in Ann Arbor.
Just thinking to myself about all these "upsets" and "close calls."
I think that a lot of that has to do with the evaluation process today and the player development.
With the amount of information available today if a kid can play, he is found. I am not sure that was the case in the 1990's. That means more players available than ever before.
Plus now you have great S&C programs at so many levels. 20 years ago Brian Urlacher is not a Big 5 guy, today he would be because he probably would have been working out with a trainer and taking supplements. In fact, there are probably hundreds of kids who would not have been D1 kids back in the day, but now they are due to player development.
Watching games the past few weeks I am amazed at just how so many "weaker" teams have guys that are legit. The biggest difference is simply depth. Weaker teams cannot deal with injuries. MSU has played CMU and WMU and both teams have guys that would start for almost anyone in the Big Ten. Would MSU be a better team with the WR from WMU? Both CMU and WMU have OT's that MSU looked at that are as good if not better than Dennis Finley. Jabari Dean is a pretty stout DT for the Chips and Cooper Rush would start in Ann Arbor.
Just thinking to myself about all these "upsets" and "close calls."
