Questioning the Kelly/Harper snubs
There’s a lot of silence regarding where former Clemson quarterback Cullen Harper will wind up as an undrafted free agent.
Which raises the question of whether the unthinkable could occur just a year after the NFL’s two scouting services listed him as the top senior quarterback in this class – that Harper might not even get the shot to essentially be a pitching machine at some team’s forthcoming rookie minicamp.
Now, that may not be the case.
But … Harper’s name has yet to surface in any published report indicating he has agreed to terms with an NFL team, and that’s not a good sign as time goes on.
Harper hasn’t been quoted yet about his status – he answered my call to his cell phone Monday, only to hang up as I identified myself, and subsequent attempts – both immediate and later — to reach Harper were not successful. (Tuesday update: Harper refuted my notion that he hung up on me, saying he was experiencing cell phone problems, then later saying his agent, Jimmy Sexton, was trying to reach him).
A representative for his mega-agent, Jimmy Sexton, said Harper is mulling multiple offers, but declined to identify specific teams.
Meanwhile, though, we have already heard that other UFAs of comparable stature – Missouri’s Chase Daniel (Washington), Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell (Cleveland), Michigan State’s Brian Hoyer (New England), Buffalo’s Drew Willy (Baltimore), Louisville’s Hunter Cantwell (Carolina), Arizona State’s Rudy Carpenter (Dallas) and Alabama’s John Parker Wilson (Atlanta) – quickly agreed to terms, as have a number of other no-name QBs.
It should be noted that teams usually don’t hold roster spots open while waiting for a UFA to make a decision.
Could Harper actually be left out in the cold?
It wasn’t surprising that he wasn’t drafted … as I soft-pedaled in last summer’s blogs, I’m not sure how any of those aforementioned services ever came to the conclusion his skill set merited such a high projection … but I would be absolutely stunned if he nonetheless didn’t find a spot in somebody’s camp.
Former Virginia Tech QB Sean Glennon is getting a chance, for goodness sake, with Minnesota. Arkansas’ Casey Dick — whose feeble abilities were arguably the basis for why the “WildHog” formation was crafted and subsequently copied by the masses — has a tryout with the N.Y. Jets. Ohio State starter-turned-backup Todd Boeckman signed with Cincinnati. Nebraska’s Joe Ganz with Tampa Bay.
Love him or loathe him, Harper’s tools are far superior to half the bodies who have been signed for perhaps no other reason than SOMEBODY has to throw to folks at these initial minicamps.
I’ve maintained that Harper is nowhere as good as his junior numbers suggested but nowhere as bad as his senior numbers reflected, either.
Give him time to process a defense, and he has the arm and accuracy to make any throw. His improvisation and pocket-presence flaws were magnified by Clemson’s patchwork offensive line.
Can those improve? Who knows. But I think there’s a chance once Harper is turned over to a seasoned pro coach in a different system/approach than former coordinator Rob Spence employed. Plus Harper would theoretically be playing for a head coach he actually respected.
I could spend another 1,000 words why he and receiver Aaron Kelly weren’t drafted, but here was ESPN analyst Mel Kiper’s take Monday:
“In the case of Cullen Harper, you look at an overall 14 interceptions to 13 touchdowns – he wasn’t just able to maintain that type of grade. He has the size, he has the arm. But when you put him under the microscope, his stock started to drop with the unorthodox delivery, the slower delivery, and his numbers dropped from where he was as a junior with 27 touchdowns and six interceptions.
“A lot of quarterbacks who were in that same realm didn’t get drafted. So it wasn’t a shocker that he didn’t. If he did, he was going to be one of those 10 or 12 available in the seventh round who all had similar ability.
“Kelly caught a lot of passes, but if you look at him. He’s a tall angular kid who didn’t always play to the level of expectation. Straight-line speed, sometimes floated out of his cuts. To me, getting proper separation was an issue. He did 11 reps at 225. A good athlete and will be a nice free agent, but he was a borderline draft choice.
“I had him as a fifth-, sixth-round type of guy. And a sixth-round type of guy can be a free agent very easily.â€
Kelly, in my opinion, should have been a 5th- or 6th-round guy. But my knock has always been, who in the NFL do evaluators have to favorably compare him to? There just aren’t many scrawny 6-5 receivers who make it because the NFL demands receivers who move in short, quick steps and possess the strength to get off physical cornerback jams at the line of scrimmage – traits that tall, long-striding receivers such as Kelly generally don’t have.
Still, consider this: Before this year, only two of the ACC’s top 10 receivers had failed to catch a pass in the NFL: new No. 9 Clarkston Hines, a ninth-round pick off Steve Spurrier’s Duke team in the 1990 draft; and former No. 10 Geroy Simon of Maryland, who went undrafted. Both spent their rookie years on an NFL practice squad, though, and Simon is regarded as arguably the best receiver in Canadian Football League history.
Kelly is the ACC’s career receptions leader. Now, his yards-per-catch average ranks lowest among the new top 10, I’d assume because of the volume of short, high-percentage screen passes in Spence’s offense (a major reason Kelly probably set the record, too, truth be told).
But for Kelly to go undrafted while 34 other receivers were selected – only three listed as 6-4 or taller, it should be noted – is foolhardy and exemplifies that with the draft, sometimes more exposure simply equates to more scrutiny of one’s warts instead of emphasis on one’s strengths.
Kelly might not make his hometown Atlanta Falcons as a UFA.
But I give him and a guy like Nebraska’s Nate Swift (remember his dazzling catches in the Gator Bowl?) more of a chance to stick around than some of the workout warriors tabbed in the middle and later rounds (or, for that matter, the equivalent long-term shot that a few 1st and 2nd-rounders have).
28 Comments to “Questioning the Kelly/Harper snubs”
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Clemson Beat writer Paul Strelow blogs about Clemson University athletics.
When you play in the ACC (the little league of colllege football with many of the resources of bigtime programs) and still fail so much, the NFL will not waste its time on you.
The problem is: the in-state media is so sure that Clemson belongs in the same sentence w/ major D-1 football, you are baffled when the real media and experts contradict you. harper had some character issues too. I know The State covered for Harper (who denied) and said Jay Schaad lied, but that turned out to be a lie on Harper’s part.
PS: Paul: if you were so sure Harper was a bust, you should have done more than a blog entry about it. He WAS the ACC’s pre-season top QB. If you had doubts, you could have found support for that somehwere. That said: the fact that you and The State did not pursue the idea, is one reason you get so much criticism.
Big T, I’ve never taken Journalism 101 and I’m positive you haven’t either. The newspaper is for news stories, not a place for Paul’s personal opinions on the character of individual college football players. Especially if it’s a player that has not been in trouble, but just has a big head.
Pro’s are a different matter. They are open targets because they are grown men playing for a living.
Pete: eveidently you NEVER read The State’s coverage about the Gamecocks. They’ll float some lame-brian negative theory about the Gamecocks, that usually is conjured up in their minds, then they’ll go find some dolt to support the idea. You don’t need a journalism class to know that they do that. (or at least i dont.)
Still: I love the fact that Strelow is playing both sides of the fence. He tells us he “soft-peddled” the idea that Harper was a chump, but then he tries to sell us on the idea that Harper may have a chance. He blames Clemson’s patchwork OL for the poor performance.
Also: It is laughable how the coverage is so different. If USC had a scenario like Kelly, The State would be blaming anybody they could find in the USC program. As it is, it pretty much covered up that Dabo was Kelley’s position coach. Yet Paul tells us Dabo is a Star-in-the-Making. Yeah Right….
Big T-
Good call, lamecock. Yes, the ACC is the “little league” of college football. I’m sure that is why for what, the past 5 years, they have had 4 of the top 9 players drafted in each draft? And are 1 selection behind only the SEC for most overall draft selections?
Good point, moron. Might want to check the actual facts (not that they mean anything to lamecock fans) before you unintentionally identify yourself as an idiot.
Paul, if memory serves Harper had shoulder surgery after the ’07 season? I’m thinking lingering effects coupled with a flat-out poor OL was about 80% of his “failure” in my mind.
I don’t really understand why many fans are so hard on Harper. I like the guy personally. His biggest knock was say Bowden got what he deserved but two things about that: 1) stupid or ballsy, he verbalized what many other players and fans (like me) were thinking, and 2) his public criticism of his coach makes me think he’d fit in nicely with other NFLers who have criticized their coaches before. I think if put behind a solid OL and coupled with a strong QB coach (Cam Cameron comes to mind) he’d be a much bigger success than anybody anticipated.
Not surprised Harper wasn’t drafted. Harper and his father are learning a stinging lesson. His football IQ is not impressive, his field presence is below average. It was blatant that he wasn’t about to sacrifice himself for a play ala Tebow. He took too many losses rather than throw a ball away. Clock management skills were awful. His performance against NE was embarrassing. I honestly can’t imagine any team wasting a roster spot on him for these reasons, coupled with the Tommy debacle, which spotlighted his character. He was overrated as a junior and underachieving as a senior. Glad we can move on without him.
“I’m a man! Come After Me, I’m a man!! Don’t go after some kid who does every thing right!”
BigT is a closet Clemson fan…. Somehow manages to comment on every Clemson article in multiple publications. Yet, South Carolina (USC is in southern California) looses and BigT suddenly (and mercifully) looses his ability to type.
Big T…Please spare us we all know you are a delusional Gamecock…I mean really it is sad.
Please understand, Aiken Pete (and others), that Big T has an obsession with the State thinking that it conspires against USC while propping up Clemson. For a while I ignored him thinking he just liked “stirring the pot.” I came to realize that he really believes what he writes.
In a rant over a State article recently, any outside reader could not even correlate Big T’s thoughts with the article he attacked. In fairness to him, I read both the article and the rant three times trying to tie the two together. I simply could not do it.
I told him in this forum that there was no correlation, and many others did as well. This guy’s obsession is troubling…
AikenPete, I can assue you this Big T is a Gamecock fan by his opening comment regarding the ACC (who just so happened to have a winning record against the SEC last year). Yes, I’m a CU Tiger fan and I do think AK should have been drafted. I’ve always had my doubts regarding Harper. Had he had two decent seasons then he may have been drafted. He had one very good season then another poor season with poor decision making to boot. I give credit where credit is due and I believed McKinley (WR-SC) would be drafted and he was. Kid isn’t big, but he has guts and heart to go along with great hands. But there isn’t much separation between him and AK. AK has hands and height…I think he just needs to put on some weight and maybe he can be a nice possession type WR in the NFL. Not sure what McKinley will end up as, but I just hope he doesn’t have his head knocked off by the DB’s.
ATTETION YA,LL..BIG T IS A TEN ER SEE FAN he hates having to live here and because old rocky top is now called rocky flats and the vols navy is down to 12 drunks and there coon dogs he takes it out on both teams.Sorry big t. go back to the[ sure everybody cheat,s confrence]..SEC..and pull your head from your buttocks before you smell up Pauls web site…
tt borders on psychotic and his obsessive rants usually have nothing to do with the article. Enough about that idiot. AK is too skinny and like the article states, he floats out of cuts. He has progressed tremendously in his career at Clemson. We will see if he can progress to the next level. He will play somewhere. Harper better get his degree.
oh yea,,,,Bet you Harper becomes a canook…A.
So the ACC is little league huh queen t? That’s funny;let me see how the regular season head to head matchups went in 2008.Wake beat Ole Miss & Vandy,Duke beat Vandy,CU destroyed your yardbuzzards….AGAIN,GT beat UGAy and Mississippi St.Am I leaving any out? Granted,after the bowl season the SEC took the lead,but after the long layoff between the regular season and the bowls alot of teams don’t play as well in the bowls.(unlike your yardbuzzards who always start to tank at mid-season once the meat of the schedule comes rolling around.)It’s so hilarious to see the media hype up the yardbuzzards every year and see all you idiots flying your car flags.By early November the flags have disappeared!So much for those loyal fans.All your lame excuses and conspiracy theories won’t erase what’s coming on November 28,2009 so have the rent ready cock boy.65-37-4
If you truly think the ACC is on the same level as the SEC you are completely retarded. How man BCS bowl games has the ACC won? I’m not talking about BCS national championships, I’m talking about BCS bowl games in general. If I’m not mistaken I think the SEC has won more national championships in the past 3 years then the ACC has won BCS bowls the past decade. And Mullet maybe the reason the SEC won the bowl games head-to-head is because the teams had time to rest and recover from the SEC scedule. I’m not going to say anything negative about Harper, because I think with the right coach he could make an nfl roster. But, he is def. no world beater. He had a better career statistically than Blake Mitchell, but the two are similar in build as well as are strength. The negative they have in common is decision making. As far as Aaron Kelly is concerned, he is too slow and weak for the nfl. I think he was a great receiver on the college level, but he is far from the best receiver in the ACC. His reception numbers were definately inflated do to the screen passes. Now as far as kenny mckinley is concerned, he will not be an all-pro receiver by any means, but what he is lacking in size compared to Kelly he makes up for with his quick feet and great route running, he’s also not scared to catch the ball across the middle. I think that Mckinley will go on to have a nice nfl career as a slot receiver. Maybe average 400-500 yards a season and maybe 3-4 TDs. I’m a USC fan and a realist at that. I can openly admit that we are not a part of the reason the SEC is so good. Are we a bad team?, no. But are we a good team with potential to win the SEC?, no. But even though we lose to clemson basically every year, does that mean clemson is infinately better than Carolina?, no. After going through a relentless scehdule every year, your team is beat up by the time the end of the year rolls around. I’m not saying that if Carolina didn’t play in the SEC or if the game were played earlier in the year Carolina would beat Clemson, but I think the record from the past decade would be a lot closer. And for you clemson fans reading this, I understand that most of my fellow carolina fans swear to god that carolina is somehow way better than clemson every year. I’m not a part of that group. But there are also a lot of clemson fans who think Clemson is on a completely different level than Carolina and that is completely false. If clemson was way better than carolina, then there is no excuse for why clemson hasn’t won an ACC championship in the past 6 or so years.
C. Harper was way overated after his jr. year. Much of his yardage came on bubble screens and flat passes that were thrown 4-8 yards then run for 15-20 yards after catch.
A previous blogger is correct about one thing.The Dad is a bit of a nutjob.
If he had come out last year he would have been a 2nd rounder and had 3-5 million in the bank. I wish him the best. At least he has a degree.
Hey cullen, How does it feel to have that bus on top of you???
be it tommy, james davis, wily or courtney cincent…if clemon fans think they can get one ounce out of you for themselves, your’re god to them. but the minute you’re used up, or suspected to be invaluable to them….
they will dump you like a drunk redneck…
Big T – Is Dabo supposed to increase Aaron Kelly’s 40 time? If anything Dabo did a great job with AK. He is the all time leader in recpetions in the history of the ACC and he didn’t get drafted. To me that says he overachieved, not underachieved. God, you’re so stupid it makes my head hurt. Everyone knows that Harper sucks, the dude is just writing an article. Our O – Line did suck and the year before when it didn’t Harper’s numbers were solid. How do you not understand this stuff? Harper was a product of the system a few years back, swing passes to Spuiller going 70 yards to the house and bubble screens to Ford and Kelly going for big yards. Do we have to spell every little detail about every little thing that has ever happened in the history of the world out for you????? Quit whining and crying like a 7 year old girl and
Big T you are an embarassment to whatever team you root for.You stunning lack of football knowledge is only trumped by your utter classlessness
Hey Guys, Just ignore Baby T. He very rarely backs anything up with fact and when he does, I am sure its a accident.
hey big t how does it feel to be the laughing stock of d1 the university where great coaches go to die, where your mascot is a cok, where your in state rival’s second string is better than your first string…………. as bad as harper was he beat your team twice…………. give it up dude you just sound silly………..cj spiller scores at least 3 td’s on your defense and we win by 40 points that’s my prediction………..take it big boy you still got 6 more month’s of this coming……….WE OWN YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
what a sad, strange little eunuch
Big T, you say Clemson doesnt belong in the same sentence with other D1 football teams. So where exactly does USuCk belong? If they get owned by Vandy and Clemson every year, what are they, a D2 of D3 football team?
And by the way, you are a piece of sh*t who needs his azz beat, which I will gladly do
Son(BigT)… please explain the ACC having a winning record last year against the mighty SEC. I would love to hear your twisted thoughts as to how this happened.
Big T is a-typical. Gamecock fans want to be like Clemson. Period.
Better School, No Jails, You know that insult is the highest form of flattery.
Who will they bribe when Stevie realizes that he can’t do it a Usuck either.
Florida is doing just fine without him.
HERE HERE TO THE ACC..Putting common sense to such a childish outdated look at history as done so by the NCAA and th NAACP. Adolph Hitler was nicknamed the wolf.Because of this should NC State or New Mexico give up the wolf as a mascott or lose its chance to host games as well.That flag is history and how ever you gaze upon it.Its history.To ignore history and the past is to repete it.Its time to move on and live in the future for the betterment of us all.
I would bet my last dollar that Rob Spence was the cause of a few of Clemson,s problems.