re: Juniors leaving early befuddles me

You only have X amount of years to play the game. Unless you have a shot of shooting up draft boards, you'll never get that year of your life back.

I completely disagree about Minter. His production and draft stock was as high as it could possibly get. There was no way he could surpass what he did last year. He was right to leave. He is making hundreds of thousands per year. If he proves himself he will make good money on his second contract which is important. Most of these football players aren't good students and don't have promising careers waiting for them in another field outside of football (for example Matt Mauck). Getting their degree in a likely worthless field won't make a big difference. The fact is most of them go to LSU to major in football and not prepare for life after it. I think they are ready to try their hand in the NFL and see if they can get paid.

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completely disagree about Minter. His production and draft stock was as high as it could possibly get. There was no way he could surpass what he did last year. He was right to leave. He is making hundreds of thousands per year. If he proves himself he will make good money on his second contract which is important.

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yep + he graduated already. Everyone says "he could have improved his stock". Well he could also get hurt.

Being a 1st round pick doesn't pay as much as it used to

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5/13/2013: Signed a four-year, $4.39 million contract. The deal included a $1.57 million signing bonus.

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You can't gamble with that kind of money on the line

They'll end of broke, in prison or dead and want to blame it on football....

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Someone needs to tell a 18 or 20 year old kid that one million is Chicken Feed. Especially after they pay Taxes. Something happens you try living on that and see how far it goes.

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Chicken Feed huh??? I think I could manage! 1 mill in a basic savings account will get you 30k a year

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Big mistake IMO if they leave

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I dont see it as a big mistake at all, they both will get drafted highly, maybe not 1st round, but I bet both are gone by round 3 or 4.

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what i struggle with is the number of guys that leave early that aren't drafted that high.

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some leave because they will go "high enough"
Some get shitty advice from scouts or whoever gives them their grades
Some know they wont climb any higher and they are gonna have to prove it either way.

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I agree Les needs to step up his recruiting within the program.

Having said that, I use Minter as an example. He would have increased hid draft stock had he stayed and all he is doing now is playing special teams BUT i think his contract got him a million bucks this year.

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I posted this a couple of weeks ago, and the NFL scout couldn't agree with you more. Minter should have stayed, same thing with Simon and Montgomery.

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I have a very good friend 15+ years that is an NFL scout here on the west coast. I am not about to name names or even team because I don't want this coming back to him in anyway because he told me things he doesn't want associated with his name. He is a good friend and I am going to respect that. So take this anyway you want, I don't really care just trying to bring some perspective to the board from someone who lives it.

After hearing about Montgomery, I called to ask him what are his and "the general perception" of the players coming out of LSU last year. He stated emphatically that around the circles in the NFL last years draft out of LSU is disappointing except for the few that were expected and projected to make an impact. He had high praise for Reid, Mingo & Mathieu and said Logan you could go either way but he puts it in the should have stayed another year.

The rest of the early entrants "including Minter" he said it would have been better if they would have stayed in school. He literally feels that each individual would have bettered their position at the end of this season including the un-drafted free agents.

He also stated that if it were his kid, relative or friend and they asked his advice "unless their position is RB" and they are an underclassmen, if they are NOT projected to go in the top 2 rounds he would do everything in his power to convince them to play out their eligibility. He did say there are exceptions to the rule and that is a generalization but it applies to 90% of the early entrants. He also stated that sports agents are absolutely killing some of these kids futures "and he did put blame on scouts also."

He went through the advantages of why to stay if your not a 1st our 2nd rounder, most of them are obvious but the one he harped on is continued game experience and knowledge of the game a simple statement he made was "the more you see, the smarter you get playing the game." He could not emphasize enough with the complexity of offenses and defenses now a days being a smart football player has almost as much to do with it as being a physical football player. Again he said that is a generalization and their are exceptions to everything, but knowledge of the game through experience is huge.

I won't bore you any further because most of this stuff is pretty apparent but hopefully Miles uses the disappointment from last years draft class so far in the NFL as incentive for the underclassmen to stay in school, both for the player and the school. I truly can't even imagine what the team would be like this year if the defense had not have been decimated from all the early departure that he felt should have stayed. He named Minter, Logan, Montgomery & Simon specifically. Again those are his opinions but he says that is pretty much the general thought around the league within the scouts

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Posted by NAsh-vegas Tigah Why don't more Bama jrs leave early? Oh wait......

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It is very interesting how Bama guys never leave early, except for the RBs that win heisman.

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He was a second rounder with limited physical attributes. We have a hole at MLB, but how would coming back have benefited Minter?

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The scout I spoke with went over it, he felt that Minter "if he had the same type of year and he said there were no indications he wouldn't" would have been the 1st linebacker taken in the draft and obviously in the 1st round. He said the advantage of being taken in the 1st round as opposed to any other round is there is so much sweat equity put into that pick that the everyone involved in management & coaching staff have every incentive to make sure the 1st round draft pick works out. The 1st round draft pick is expected to be on the field that year and the coaches and team management will give that draftee every opportunity possible to put him on the field. If the 1st round draft pick is a bust, people involved in drafting that pick from coaches to management to scouts are accountable for that pick and sometimes people lose their jobs. Bottom line is management, coaches and scouts want to make sure that 1st round draft pick plays and will afford that player breaks and opportunities that other drafted players might not get.