http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/um-hurricanes/fl-florida-players-nfl-combine-0219-20120216,0,1137846.story The link above gives a list of players from each of the major Florida schools. They give a brief observation and or analysis of each player listed. Perhaps the Dolphins might be interested some of these guys.
its a shame that we are not using the florida talent pool more often, just from the top of my head only carey and pouncey come to my head
Florida schools haven't really churned out that great talent in the past two decades. What? McGahee, Lewis, Reed, Johnson, McKinnie, Beason, Hester, Gooden, Gore, Graham, Wilfork, McIntosh, Moss, Olsen, Shockey, Rolle, Vilma, Williams, Winslow, James, Sapp, and Taylor. Other than those guys all from the same school, and not counting the guys from FSU like Boldin, Brooks, Jones, Hope, Cromartie, Washington, or the guys from Florida like Warren, Taylor, Carter, Hernandez, Spikes, and Kearse, Florida schools really haven't had that much success with getting successful players into the NFL. I applaud the Dolphins for not looking in their same state for talent. I attribute part of our success to it.
While I may be off in thinking the last part of your post is tongue in cheek, I can also understand your point. But, based solely off the player summaries, only 3 really leap off the page at me. 1 OL(Sanders) and 2 RBs(miller and maybe Rainey) are projected above the 4th round. The rest are late round picks or FA. The Miami guys alone you listed, 17/22 were 1st round picks which is an amazing number in itself.
calais campbell , tebow, jimmy graham, reggie nelson ( who showed signs of life last year), jason pierre paul, kenny philips, maurkice pouncey, lawrence timmons
Given what happened with Sam Shields, I can see some of those UM guys surprising some with coaching. I think Bradham is a sleeper at MLB.
Yeah but the Canes have produced a TON of the best NFL talent and they are a Florida school so I don't see how you can say Florida has hardly contributed.......
I have never really understood why Miami has not only seemingly not taken players from the Florida schools, but they seem to go out of their way to avoid them it seems. The latter part of that statement is an exagerration, but you get my point. Of the last 188 players the Dolphins have drafted, only 10 have been from Florida schools. Compare that to Tampa Bay, who drafted 14 from Florida schools between 1993 and 2000. 14 out of 64 players drafted were from Florida schools. Those players contributed largely to their 2002 Superbowl Championship.
It's been more than just a mistake on a personnel level, it goes much deeper, the fact that a GM cannot conceptualize the connection it could possible have on the culture, and new fan interest is just pure ignorance, especially in this town. I remember two years ago I drew a mock of all canes for this very purpose, I suggested we take Hankerson, Orlando Franklin and Colin McCarthy..they were all need positions, they were all solid players, and we could of kept our original first rounder in Odrick.. Odrick..Franklin..Hankerson..McCarthy ....not to shabby know what i'am saying, even in hindsight..
Those three were drafted last year, so they could have been taken along with Mike Pouncey. Actually, McCarthy went two picks before Miami picked in the 2nd round, and Franklin was well out of their range. They could have taken Hankerson had they not traded up to get Daniel Thomas, but at least with Thomas, he did play his high school ball in Florida. This is absolutely something I have been pushing for in the past. In baseball, I'm a big Atlanta Braves fan. You could say I'm a bigger Braves fan than I am a Dolphins fan, but that's mostly because baseball is my game. I love baseball. I have a book written by Bill Shanks on the Braves drafting philosophy. From about 2000 through 2008 or so, Atlanta focused heavily on drafting high school talent from their own back yard. They focused on Georgia but also kept a close eye on the talent in the surrounding states such as Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Florida. The Braves hit on a ton of prospects that way. Adam Wainright is from New Brunswick, GA, and they foolishly traded him for half a season of JD Drew, another Georgia product who played at Florida State. Jeff Francoeur and Brian McCann are both from Atlanta. Jordan Schafer is from Florida. Jason Heyward is also a local Georgia product. The general reasoning behind this was that these players were great talents that were local talents that likely grew up being Braves fans. With Francoeur, he told everyone that he wasn't signing, that he was going to play baseball and football at Clemson. Except the Braves. They were the one team he would sign with if drafted. Now, it didn't work out long term for him in Atlanta, mostly because he would never change his approach at the plate and lay off that outside pitch. McCann has been a monumental success and is the best hitting catcher in baseball.
