Why is Troy Smith not a high draft pick?

Question

I have heard multiple things about this, but why? He won the heisman, he had the best numbers, and a national championship. He can throw the longest and has great speed. True, Florida did own them this year- but that is a penny's worth of chrage to him. So, why not a viable 1st rounder, possibly #1?

Answer 1

troy smith weighed in at the senior bowl at 6 foot even and 222 lbs. teams think he is too short to see over the lineman but if you ask any qb they throw the ball through lanes not over lineman. if he where 6-5 it would matter because he would still be looking at the back of the o-linemans head height is over ratted scouts need to focus more on his arm strength and accuracy he will be a steal wherever he is drafted. out of all the qb's he has the tightest spiral and strongest arm besides jamarcus russell




he was suspende once for two games that happened to be the last game one year and the first the following


the pac 10 is the weakest big ten had three top 10 teams michigan ohio state and wisconsin



height is overrated drew brees is 5-11 a second rounder

Answer 2

OSU got to the NC game but they didn't win it
and that is one the main reason that he will drop into a the 2nd round
its just bad luck for him that his last college game he had probably the worst game of his life

If him and the whole team would have played well and won I think there is no doubt in my mind that the Browns would pick him up at #3

Everybody knocks him for being too short but I don't think that should be a factor he measured at 6'0 feet and that is the same size as Drew Brees,

I'd say his arm strength is average I've seen him throw a ball for 65 yards

but Russell can throw the ball 80 yards plus he is bigger and Stronger than all the other QB's, that is why he is going to be the #1

So the fact that his team made him look good all year Until the end (where they made him look like crap) that makes Scouts a little iffy about him

Answer 3

1 thing - Florida didn't own Smith, they owned the offensive line.

That said, I totally disagree with you. There are several reasons:

1. He's short!!! A QB has to be high enough to see the whole field over the defenders chasing him.

2. Lack of arm strength. WTC are you talking about "he can throw the longest". Several QB's that won't even get drafted have a better arm. Just to disprove you I'll name one name, who is possibly #1... JaMarcus Russel. He throws it about twice as far as Smith.

3. He doesn't know when/how to use his speed. True he has that speed, and great scrambling ability, but he doesn't use it at the right times. He could've created a lot more completions in that Florida game.

Now just to dispell some things you are saying (other than the arm and speed things) - Winning the Heisman means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for success in the NFL. Ron Dayne? Gina Torreta (spelling)? The Heisman means absolutely nothing to NFL scouts, plus he only won because he was the pre-season front runner and his team didn't lose. He was largely unspectacular (my vote was Ray Rice). His numbers were not even close to the best, just to name a few better, Brady Quinn (albeit against lesser competition), John Beck, Colt Brennan (not in the draft)... Look what numbers did for Omar Jacobs (last year @ Bowling Green)... 5th round pick for Pittsburgh (after being projected as 1st round pre-season). Ohio State did not win any NC with Troy Smith as their QB either (they beat ND in the Fiesta Bowl though).

Answer 4

First of all Troy Smith isn't that great... anybody can put up great numbers when they play scrubs... look at what happened to him against real coverage such as Michigan...
The real reason why isnt high on the draft list is because he chokes and he cannot read coverage... ESPN analyzed this when they broke down the national championship game against florida... The also re-analyzed him during the Senior Bowl in which he was even worse... this proved my point when i tell people Troy Smith is overrated he did not deserve the award... if they werent gonna give it to Brady Quinn they should have given the Heisman to Chris Leak

Answer 5

There are a few reasons why he is not a top rated QB coming out of college. Size is a factor, only Drew Brees is currently starting in the NFL at a similar size (and he played a pro style offense in college so teams knew what they were getting yet he was what...a 3rd rounder?). There are also questions about his character, he had some off the field issues early at OSU, his ability to run a pro style offense, his ability to read defenses (a lot of teams recognize that even though he put up good numbers that he benefitted from throwing to Ginn & Gonzalez) and his arm strength. Look back at previous winners of national championships and heismans and there are plenty of QBs that never were good pros. Flutie (again a small one), Gino Torretta tore up college opponents (Heisman winner and 7th round draft pick), Andre Ware (Heisman....1st round bust), Jason White (Heisman...never made it through camp) and the list goes on. Currently he isnt considered a top 5 QB on most boards but if he performs well at his pro day he may move back up depending on how the others do. Look for him to go in the 3rd round but i can see him sliding into the 4th if he doesnt have a great workout on pro day.

Answer 6

The college game and the pro game are quite different, and success in one does not translate into success in the other. Andre Ware is a great example of a college quarterback who put up great numbers and won a Heisman, but failed at the NFL game. Scouts no longer take the Heisman into consideration.

Smith's floor is considered to be pretty low. He performed poorly under pressure against Michigan and Florida, two of the three games on OSU's schedule where the most eyes were on him. In the rare situations where he did throw interceptions, it was as if he started to unravel throughout the rest of the game. this was especially obvious during the Michigan game.

Scouts consider a player's potential by comparing the cieling (a player's peak performance) with his floor (mistakes, how they respond to those mistakes, how they deal with frustration, etc). Smiths' floor brings him down quite a bit, and he didn't help his case in the last two games he played.

Comparing stats from four QBs in this draft: Jamarcus Russell, Brady Quinn (both of whom are expected to go early in the first round), Kevin Kolb, and Troy Smith (both of whom are expected to go early in the second round, but may be able to bump themselves into the late first round if they do well at the Combine).

Name QB Rating Comp. % Yards TD INT
Kolb 162.7 67.6 3809 30 4
Smith 161.9 65.3 2542 30 6
Russell 167.0 67.8 3129 28 8
Quinn 146.7 61.9 3436 37 7

Name Rush att Yards TD Sacks Yards lost:
Kolb 111 154 4 33 218
Smith 72 204 1 18 134
Russell 52 142 1 15 126
Quinn 82 71 2 31 216

Overall, Smith is a solid quarterback. He's just not first-round material.

Answer 7

We've seen over and over that the Heisman doesn't mean jack. He looked like crap the last couple weeks of the season (I know his line sucked against Florida, but he still didn't look good on his own), he's 5'10"...it's hard for short QB's to be successful in the NFL, and his arm isn't as strong as at least 4 or 5 other QB's entering the draft.
He's a second rounder all the way.

Answer 8

There are a number of reasons. He is small for a quarterback only 6'. He does not have phenomenal arm strength like Russell or Quinn and he has trouble adapting to defenses like in the Florida game. And the Heisman is just an award given to the best player on the best team. Without his line, Ted Ginn, and Antonio Gonzalez he would'nt have won nearly as much.

Answer 9

He DOESN'T have a National Championship. Also his last performance did him in, everyone loses stock in a bad game like that. The heisman is nothing but a popularity contest and typically goes to the QB on the undefeated team(bound to win when it was the ONLY one). The last National Championship that Ohio State won for the record is given more to Clarett then anyone. Anyway he is STILL short by NFL QB standards.

Answer 10

Ask all the other talented (athletic) short QBs who played well in college, but floundered in the NFL. Charlie Ward comes to mind. He won the Heisman, National Championship, and he was supposedly 6'2" or the 6'3" Akili Smith. The list goes on. Smith is 6'1". Many argue the team he was on made him, not vice versa.

This also is what make Vince Young all the more impressive, though he has the size.