NFL Draft: Troy Smith slip sliding away, just like those dreams of a National Championship

Troy Smith at the NFL’s Indianapolis Combine

Arriving over-weight, not running and doing little to impress the scouts, the Buckeyes Heisman Trophy Winning QB is no where in the talk of QB’s in the first day. Heisman Jinx Intact.

by Mike Zimmer, Buckeye Honk/Draft Expert

I’ve been keeping a keen eye on the NFL Network’s coverage of the Combine scouting invite in Indianapolis as we approach the up coming College Entry Draft in April. It’s mostly boring stuff when it comes to watching guys run 40-yards in a matter of 4-to-5-seconds all of which run within a fraction of one another. However, the drills, the interviews and the coverage and interviews of all the players and more specifically the scouts or NFL people is the fun part. It’s more than just guys being weighed, measured, tested, poked and prodded. It’s almost like a convention of wares, a trade show of human flesh. And, more it’s a process by which the majority of all picks in the NFL Draft are determined and compared to. It’s an inexact science, but it’s a massive live expiriment to see who’s tops, who’s not and who gets picked where.

With that being said, it’s also a political process, and a business venture. For the players themselves all hopeful to be NFL players, it’s an audition. And whether fair or not, much of their hopes and dreams can be determined in a matter of a few minutes.

For Troy Smith, the former Ohio State Buckeyes Heisman Trophy Winning QB, it’s been a rather disappointing showing and thus, his hopes for a shot at the NFL is being pushed further and further away. Oh, he’ll be drafted, but after unimpressive workouts, a 15-score on his Wonderlic Test, major questions concerning his height and the fact that his Senior Bowl performance was average at best, he’s looking at being a second day pick and an after thought by most NFL teams. This, after being considered as high as a middle of the first round pick or perhaps an early second round pick to a team that would “steal” him.

But then, there’s that little game they played back on January 8th where the Heisman Trophy winner looked awful and completely inept. Since then, combined with so-so workouts and being less than standout, he’s seen his draft stock plummet like there was bad market news. Like a comondity, there is bad pub surrounding him, the market is forecasting reduced returns compared to what was originally thought to be a fairly good bet. He’s looking now to be no better than a 4th-to-5th round pick and perhaps if the draft doesn’t really line-up right for him, not at all being picked. Someone will surely take a shot on him, but he’s done little to impress anyone to really consider him anything other than a short, really good college QB who is “just a guy” as one scout said.

It’s sad, but Smith is suffering from the full blown effects of the Heisman Jinx combined with that miserable day in January where everything he’d accomplished in 2-seasons including a magical 2006, came crashing down in a 41-14 defeat in the National Championship Game.

Read about it in an article from the Milwuakee Journal.

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