2008 NFL Draft: The "Golden Goose" Looks to Continue His Ascent

Former University of San Diego quarterback Josh Johnson set the Football Championship Subdivision(D-1AA) world on fire, peppering his name all over the active career leader lists during his three-year stint as the starting signal-caller for the Toreros.


Ladies and gentlemen, I have a confession to make, I’m absolutely in love with quarterback Josh Johnson of the San Diego Toreros. Ever since my good friend Jon Bresnen watched him play against Morehead State this season and told me about him, I was convinced I had to see this kid for myself. Bresnen raved about Johnson’s flawless ball placement and told me that many of his receivers dropped balls that were placed right on the money. As much as he was raving about Johnson, you would think Bresnen had just witnessed the best game of the season for the immensely gifted signal-caller. A quick look at the stats and I realize that he watched Josh Johnson turn in one of his worst performances of the season. He only completed 14 of his 27 pass attempts for 211 yards and two touchdowns. Those are certainly not the worst numbers I’ve ever seen by any means, but not the best either. Johnson also rushed 16 times for 74 yards, an average of 4.6 yards per carry. Those numbers are overall, pretty impressive if you ask me.


My first chance to watch Johnson came on January 19th, when the 83rd East-West Shrine game was being held to display the nation’s top college football prospects to NFL scouts and general managers. After watching Johnson in the East-West Shrine game, I came away not only impressed, but amazed. He immediately became my favorite quarterback prospect in the 2008 NFL Draft and it was the first time I had gotten to watch him play. That sounds pretty crazy, but it is a testament to how highly I regard the Oakland, California native.


Johnson dancing around defenders in the open field in the 83rd annual East-West Shrine Game.


The first thing that impressed me about Johnson are his nearly flawless football fundamentals. His footwork in the pocket is some of the best I have ever seen. It’s such a natural and fluid motion when he drops back to throw and he really makes it look effortless. His footwork reminds me of Marcus Vick, the former Virginia Tech signal-caller. Say what you want about Vick’s off-the-field issues, but man did that kid have some beautiful footwork in the pocket. Footwork is entirely different from scrambling ability, but Johnson is blessed with the ability to do both with tremendous ease. When he runs in the open field, you can’t help but think of Vince Young. His strides are so long, so fluid, and so effortless, that the only person I can even compare him to is the fleet-footed Texan. I’m well-aware those are lofty comparisons, but this kid’s performance in the East-West Shrine game did more than dazzle me.


Johnson reeled in Offensive MVP honors, completing 5 of his 11 passes for 78 yards and rushing three times for an eye-gouging 91 yards. That’s a little more than 30 yards per carry, which is simply astronomical. When he runs in the open field, his 6’3”, 200 pound frame glides across the field so effortlessly and so beautifully it reminds you of a gazelle gracefully coasting across the African Plains.


Just how good are Josh Johnson’s numbers? Let’s put it this way, they are jaw-dropping. Sure they came against Division 1-AA competition(otherwise known as the Football Championship Subdivision), but his numbers are so outstanding they are hard to ignore.


In the 2007 campaign, Johnson led the Football Championship Subdivision in three major offensive categories: passing efficiency(198.3), total offense(371.4 ypg.), and points responsible for(27.4 ppg.). On top of those mind-numbing statistics, Johnson also ranked in the top 10 in FCS in total passing yards(2,988) and passing yards per game(298.8 ypg.). Perhaps the most impressive statistic that Johnson posted this past season was his near flawless touchdown to interception ratio. He tossed 43 touchdown passes this season, while only throwing one interception. A 43:1 touchdown to interception ratio is honestly the best ratio I’ve ever heard of in my life. If somebody has heard of better, be sure to give me a call, because I don’t think that will be happening anytime soon. Just how good is Johnson, you ask? Well you might want to start with former San Diego head coach, Jim Harbaugh. “He's the best quarterback in college football, period,” said Harbaugh. Can you say Troy Smith, Brady Quinn? “I've watched Troy Smith play,” said Harbaugh. “Our guy's better.” Those are lofty words of praise from the current Stanford head coach and I wouldn’t have believed him either until I watched Johnson in the East-West Shrine game.


Now I wouldn’t go so far as to say Josh Johnson is better than Brady Quinn or Troy Smith, but let’s just put it this way, I think this kid is going to be a phenomenal pro quarterback in the NFL.


Quarterback Josh Johnson has put the San Diego Toreros(D-1AA) on the college football map.


If I can’t convince you of how good Josh Johnson is, maybe one of the most beautifully crafted sports passages I have ever read in my life will. After I read Don Norcross’s article on Josh Johnson on the San Diego-Union Tribune, I simply could not believe my eyes. It was pure poetry. Norcross described one of Johnson’s scrambles against Yale in 2006 when he wrote,


“From the USD 46, Johnson drops back against Yale, feels pressure from the blindside and darts up the middle. Seven yards past the line of scrimmage, five defenders converge. Johnson puts on a 360-degree spin move, escapes, then veers left toward the sideline. He's in the open field now. Tightroping the chalk, he somehow high-steps a tackler at the 12, stays inbounds by inches, then beats the converging safety, diving, ball first, into the front corner of the end zone.”


So there you have it, Don Norcross’s description of the man labeled as the “Golden Goose” by Jim Harbaugh. That paragraph above dances through your mind as gracefully as Johnson dances around defenders on the gridiron.


Quarterback Josh Johnson has some of the most amazing footwork in the pocket I've ever seen.


Where exactly will the “Golden Goose” be landing? I have no kind of inside information on that, but I do know Johnson has been steadily rising up NFL Draft boards for months. CNNSI’s Peter King wrote in a recent column that one NFL team ranked Johnson as a second round pick. I’d say it’s pretty much a definite that Johnson gets drafted anywhere from round 1 to round 3, depending on how good his performance is this weekend at the NFL combine in Indianapolis. I don’t know about you, but I’m putting my money on the “Golden Goose” to set the combine on fire and live up to his smooth nickname.


Feel free to e-mail me at wadepeery@yahoo.com

2008 NFL Draft: Where's the love for VT LB Vince Hall?

Despite posting montsrous numbers in college, former VT LB Vince Hall is nowhere to be found in 2008 NFL Draft boards and discussions.

The 2008 NFL Combine is rapidly approaching and that means that the media hoopla surrounding the 2008 NFL Draft will begin to kick into another gear here within the next few weeks. I certainly don’t mind it. In America, the passion for the game of pigskin is unrivaled by any other sport. Just take a look at how much media coverage the NFL Draft receives every year. Ravenous fan bases scour the internet, talk radio shows, newspapers, and message boards to find information about the different prospects in the draft and who their respective team might pick. Each year there are players that seem to fly under the radar. Former Virginia Tech linebacker Vince Hall is one such prospect for the 2008 NFL Draft.


Former VT LB Xavier Adibi was an absolute terror on the gridiron for the Hokies. He teamed with Vince Hall to form arguably the best linebacker duo in college football the past three seasons. Adibi will be an excellent pro linebacker as well. Both players are sideline-to-sideline players with excellent football instincts.


Hall teamed with Xavier Adibi to form one of the most devastating linebacker corps in all of college football over the past few seasons. The dynamic duo were the two biggest reasons the Virginia Tech defense was so dominant over the past few years. The Hokie defense finished as the nation’s top ranked defense two of the past three seasons and finished as the fourth ranked unit in America this season. Those are simply astronomical numbers and they wouldn’t have been attainable without a linebacker like Vince Hall making his impact felt all over the field.

During the 2007-2008 campaign for the Hokies, Hall had what could arguably be one of the most underrated seasons by any linebacker in college football this year. He was a tackling machine for the Hokies and also displayed his ability to drop back into coverage. Despite missing four games with a broken wrist, Hall still managed to rack up an eye-gouging 100 tackles. I watched him in person as he dominated the entire field when the Ohio Bobcats came to Lane Stadium in September. He turned in one of the most dominant performances I have ever seen by a linebacker in my 24 years of existence.

Hall was flying to the football with reckless abandon, sideline-to-sideline, and was an unstoppable force for the entire contest. After it was all said and done, Hall earned MVP honors in the game, corralling 14 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, and 1 pass breakup. Those are mind-numbing numbers and it amazes me that more people are not discussing Vince Hall before the NFL Draft. The injury to his wrist is a very big part of that, but it isn’t rocket science. You could be blind folded and still see that this guy is one of the sure-fire locks to be a great one in the pros.

I’ve seen services such as nfldraftcountdown.com list his 40-yard dash time above 5 seconds. I don’t believe that time for a second and even if it is true, Hall’s instincts help to overcome any kind of speed issues that scouts might gripe about. The guy racked up 100 or more tackles in three different seasons in Blacksburg. That’s not even mentioning he tallied 404 career tackles for the Hokies. What other kind of evidence do you need to see to realize this kid is going to be a monster in the pros?

I wouldn’t hesitate drafting Hall ahead of other top notch linebackers such as Dan Connor and that is a testament to how highly I regard the Virginia native. He reeled in first-team All-ACC honors in 2006 and easily could’ve landed on the list this year if it weren’t for the left wrist he broke against Clemson. The injury forced him to miss four games this season. Hall even injured his knee during a beach outing before the Orange Bowl against the Kansas Jayhawks and STILL managed to lead the team in tackles with eight.


It just blows my mind that more people aren’t talking about Vince Hall leading up to the draft. Like everybody else, he’s going to need to post big numbers at the combine to improve his draft stock, but honestly I wouldn’t even worry about that. I think the NFL Combine is one of the most overrated spectacles in sports. How many times does a guy run 40 yards in a straight line without pads? Bench pressing is an excellent display of strength, but I’ve seen plenty of weight room champions that cannot carry it over to the field. I’d much rather draft a prospect who is more proven on the field than in the weight room. I enjoy looking more at what he’s done in the trenches in a game setting, because that is what he’s going to be doing for a living, not running stupid drills to determine how good of an athlete he is.



So what if Vince Hall isn’t 6’3, 250 lbs with a 4.5 40 yard dash time? He happens to be 5’11, 238 lbs. for the record. That doesn’t mean he can’t play the game of football at an elite level. I’m convinced too many NFL GMs and scouts are worried about a prospect fitting a certain mold.



After they pass on him, Vince Hall will prove his doubters wrong and make opposing teams pay dearly. He deserves so much more respect than he's getting.


Vince Hall is a sideline-to-sideline linebacker who also excels in pass coverage. Hall is a phenomenal tackler as well, you don’t rack up the kind of numbers that he has and not be able to make the play in the open field. Perhaps his best attribute are his instincts. I’ll admit that Hall doesn’t have the greatest speed, but his football instincts at the linebacker position help him to overcome that weakness. I’ll take instincts over speed any day of the week and I’ll take Vince Hall over nearly any other linebacker prospect in the 2008 NFL Draft, including Dan Connor of Penn State. Hall will prove everybody wrong and scouts and GMs will wonder why they let him pass them by. I’m telling you, don’t sleep on Vince Hall. This guy posted outrageous numbers in college and too many people out there seem to have forgotten that.