In an otherwise underperforming receiving core corps out of the ACC this year, Ford provides a surprising (to others surprising but not as much to us) bright spot. Article below...
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That ACC blog is such trash. Glad to see Ford getting recognition though.
True story. Even getting rid of Dinich didn't help. I just check it every little bit to keep updated on some of the other things going on in the ACC.
Yeah, ever since a certain someone moved on to bigger and better things, it's really gone downhill. Fortuna's a great guy though.
ford having a great year. finding those holes to sit down in the end zone last week allowing Mot to find him was big. Boyd still the top of heap numbers kind of skewd and hes seeing double and triple coverage. Vt even payed too much attention allowing the Tends to run free. Boyd still leading in receptions although only playing in 4 games where others have played 5 or 6. Ford will leave his mark in VT receiving records books. Possible early entrant in draft if he has another good season next year.
There is a 0.0% chance Ford leaves early.
I guess you could say he Ford has really escaped the defenses this year. It seems Ford has developed great fusion with Motley. I guess Ford has shown his edge so far.
Okay I'm done.
your Excursion into Ford puns hopefully puts Focus on Ford's Fiesta of Super Deluxe touchdowns last week and gives him the confidence to continue Escape-ing defenses to lead us to the ACCCG and be Crowned Victori(ous).
As long as he keeps Flexing on defenses like he did NC State and we C-Max effort from the rest of the offense, we'll set a good Tempo for the rest of the season. And with guys like Teller and Conte Escorting our RBs into the endzone, we could even Aspire for greater things in 2016.
Also, something something Mustang.
What about next game in Fairlane, 150 yards? F 150, let's Model A new record! They'll say "he Taurus a new one."
Speaking of receivers, what a Pinto Deon Newsome?
reads this
gets a confused look on his face
spends the next ten seconds playing mad gab with this sentence
OH... very clever
Gerald R.
Wow, I did not know those things still existed. Ever since ESECPN revamped their website I stopped frequenting it because it is way to hard to navigate. I kinda miss mama giraffe, her absolutely horrible writing makes even my engineer English and grammar seem good...
I'm still sort of puzzled about how ESPN managed to make their website so impossible to navigate. That level of inept can't be an accident.
Apparently they wanted it too look like facebook. Which I haven't visited in at least 5 years.
Have they seen Facebook?
Someone said a few weeks ago "AJ made ESPN's front page." I looked, and everything is on ESPN's front page if you scroll far enough.
I guess "without having to scroll to the point of carpal tunnel" is the modern equivalent of "above the fold."
Why pick the top "29" teams for this statistic when the next two are ACC QBs? Typical ESECPN garbage. Jeesh!
Good on Isaiah though, keep it up kid!
And yards per game are one the least telling stats about how effective a passing game is.
I say early entrant possible being a 3 year starter and leading the team each year in receptions. Good chance of being at least 2nd team all ACC two years in a row. The only holdup may be his film , he doesn't jump off the screen showing great speed or athleticism. Not many whoa catches etc. good receiver however and if he keeps it up I see possible 3rd round for the kid. Just wish he returned kicks or punts etc.
Again, there is a 0.0% chance he goes to the draft early.
Don't get me wrong, I like Ford as a receiver and think he's got a solid chance to play in the NFL. Excellent body control, nice route runner, good hands, starting to learn the receiver position, decent height.
But a kid that's not a combine freak, with only 60 catches a year (which is good -- especially in VT terms -- but not off the charts good), who didn't have the benefit of a redshirt yr to gain physical maturity isn't getting a 1st or 2nd rd grade after his true junior season.
And Ford strikes me as a pretty smart kid who knows the score and isn't delusional about himself.
See, your logic breaks down when you assume that kids are only leaving for 1st or 2nd round grades. We've had players leave just because they've been told they have a good chance of getting drafted, just to get left behind at the end of the draft and struggle to sign on with anyone in free agency. I'd imagine that to a lot of these kids that have already played to what they expect their potential to be in college, they see that rookie contracts for even late-round players can get up to a million per year, which certainly beats scrounging for ramen cash while in school.
You apparently missed the part about Ford being a smart kid...
Remember they only get 1st/2nd round or nothing grades now. And he's not going to get a 1st/2nd round grade. So that leaves somewhere between 3rd and UFA.
Folks have an inflated impression of what NFL players make. "Rookie contracts for even late-round players can get up to a million per year"???
If by "up to" you mean "a lot less than", then you are correct. As an example, Keenan Lewis, a THIRD round WR, got a $615k signing bonus and a 1st yr non-guaranteed salary of $405k (league minimum) in 2013. So assuming he's on the roster for the whole year, that's barely over $1 million for a 3rd round WR. Devin Street -- drafted in the 4th round in 2014 by the Cowboys -- got a $202k signing bonus and a $420k (again, league minimum) non-guaranteed salary. Those are 3rd and 4th rd players. Late round WRs aren't getting anywhere near $1 million dollar 1st year contracts. And note the drop off in bonus between 3rd & 4th round.
I repeat, Isaiah Ford isn't leaving early.
I had missed where the draft grades were now limited that much. That does help a bit, but it still doesn't keep Mel Kiper and his ilk from offering their thoughts.
Great, my "up to a million" was off a bit. I realize the NFL minimum is in the $400K range, and that late rounders aren't going to get much of a bonus if anything. But even a half million dollars (or even the minimum $112,200 that they'd get from suiting up on a practice squad for a season) is a lot more than the pittance that college players are getting, even if you count tuition at a top-tier private school as part of their "income". But yeah, go ahead and point out that my spur-of-the-moment "estimation" of "up to" a million dollars is absurd, since that's the most important takeaway here.
I'm not saying that he will leave early. I'm also not saying that it's likely that he'll leave early. What I am saying is that there is a history of players leaving early because they have heard they would get drafted, even if they are projected to wait until the 5th round or later, just because the likely paycheck (even at NFL minimums) is significantly more enticing than spending another year in school without one. Don't be surprised if Isaiah Ford decides to leave if he continues on his hot streak and breaks most or all of the school's receiving records by the end of next season.
Unfortunately breaking VT's school records are not a big selling point...
He currently ranks outside the top 50 in catches, yards & ypc. That's not going to get much attention from scouts.
If he is waiting to go to enter the league with a first round grade, then hecould stay at VT 8 years and will never get that. I think he is a good WR and could possibly get drafted in 3rd round with another strong stat year. His measurables will never allow for him to be a 1 or 2 round guy. His tape is just not that explosive. Anyway the kid has a chance to have the best numbers ever at VT. Maybe not saying a lot for the history of WR but still great to be no. 1. After watching all the injuries to upperclassmen, just getting drafted anywhere in first 4 round may not be a bad move. Unfortunately Dadi decided to stay trying to get that 1 or 2 round grade if he doesnt pick up the pace he will definitely be a late rounder or FA when he might have gone 4 thru 6 last year.
Don't forget, he didn't take a redshirt year - so he's less physically mature than many of the comparable guys he'd be competing against. A guy that's neither a burner nor a size freak will need as much time as possible to develop physically and refine his skills as much as possible to impress draft scouts.
Dadi's issue are his hands. Guys that look only at sack stats think he's having a down year, but he's not. I'll bet he goes higher this coming draft than he would have last yr (which probably 4th round at best). He won't be a UFA.
UVA Valles came off a great season and has better measurables than Dadi and almost fell off the draft board. He also played LB more than Dend and thats not the case with Dadi. He will be a LB and has close to no film at the position. Dont get me wrong love Dadi but there is no way staying this year has helped draft status. Again unless he really turns it on.
I think you're referencing Darren Evans here? Not sure of anyone else that did that, but for him there were some specific family issues that led to that decision. Not sure they apply here, or generally.
If he stays healthy and stays all 4 years (may only need 3) he should shatter pretty much every receiving record.
Pet peeve of mine, it's a receiving "corps".
Too early to pronounce them dead at this point.
/s
Aw man, a peeve on a peeve, you're thinking of "corpse" not "corps". Someone call up xzibit.
I realize you're probably making a joke, but I've gone this far down the "correcting people's harmless mistakes" rabbit hole, don't see why I should stop now.
FTFY ;-)
OH, you mean like 'Marine Corpse'. Now I understand.
/sarcastica^2
Embarrassing mistake but thanks (and a leg) for the heads up. I fixed it above.