They may have been able to control a college game, be Heisman Trophy winners or nominees, or be top draft picks, but for whatever reason once these guys hit the professional field they tend to look like little kids running scared.   Within the past few years I have noticed the quarterbacks coming out of the college ranks have not been able to “run with the big dogs,” so to speak.

Mark “The Sanchize” Sanchez has lost his patina in New York.  Matt Leinart was supposed to be the next coming of all quarterbacks and ended up being one of Arizona’s biggest let downs in franchise history.   Kevin Kolb was drafted in 2007 and still needs to work on his foot work?  The Denver Broncos have had to “dumb-downed” their playbook to fit Tim Tebow’s “style” of play.  Is it his style or what he is able to execute?

Do we look at the college game as to why these guys aren’t coming out prepared to play at the next level?  Do we as “Joe Schmo Fan” have ourselves to blame because we expect too much since we buy into the media hype?  Maybe it’s a little bit of both?

We see how well the player does in college. He gets all sorts of accolades for his performances and if he happens to win any awards, fa-git-about-it, we are sold. This kid is all that and a bag of chips!  The hype continues through the off season, through the draft and after.  If he happens to be a high draft pick were still sold.  If he drops we take it for what it’s worth and think that that team just got the steal of the century.  Time for more off season build up and now the team is helping feed into it. They’re marketing the guy, selling his jersey, and feeding into the probability of this guy being a starter especially if quarterback was a position that the team desperately needed. The OTAs, and mini-camps take place and more hype is made.  Pre-season hits and now the real player begins to get exposed.

He’s not picking up on the execution of plays, he panics in the pocket, he doesn’t know how to read a field and look for options, and he is running scared and feels exposed.  You can see it on his face while on the field looking for direction.  He’s constantly looking to the sideline for his coach, looking at the arm band cheat sheet and can’t figure it out.  He throws interceptions, has bad passes and trips the running back on a hand off. Where is the wonder boy that helped his college team perform well and lead them to all those bowl games?  Where’s the next big thing? The hope for an instant fix has fizzled.

 Look at the guys that are doing well in the league right now (http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=0&statisticCategory=PASSING&conference=null&season=2011&seasonType=REG&d-447263-s=PASSING_YARDS&d-447263-o=2&d-447263-n=1) you can see that the guys on top have paid their dues. Some of these guys came up through the system in the shadows a great player and others may have started out a little rough.  However, expectations may not have been as high for them when they first came out of college or began to start.  Either way, for whatever reason I don’t think the quarterbacks are coming out of school ready to perform on the big stage.   If your team needs a quarterback, don’t expect the kids from college to pull off a miracle and lead the team right away to a Superbowl.  The kids these days need to learn from the big dogs before they can run with the big dogs.