The most intriguing pro prospect in college football, Rice's James Casey, has declared for the NFL draft. And if you've never heard of Casey and you're not sure why he's the nation's most intriguing pro prospect, let us count the ways:1. He's 24 years old.
2. He only played two years of college football.
3. He's a ridiculously good all-around athlete, having spent four years as a minor league baseball player and one season as a javelin thrower on Rice's track team.
4. He was so versatile at Rice that he started his first spring practice at safety, then got moved to defensive end, and also lined up at quarterback, wide receiver, tight end, fullback and running back. Oh, and he also played special teams.
And it's that last one that is the most interesting of all, because we really have no idea what position the 6-foot-4, 235-pound Casey will play in the NFL. After setting a Conference USA single-season record for catches with 111 last year, one would assume he'll play wide receiver or tight end, but that's not necessarily the case.
For his part, Casey told the Houston Chronicle he really doesn't know where he'll be drafted or where he'll play.
"It's really just speculation, but I've heard anywhere from like the second to fourth round," Casey said of his draft stock. "I didn't really put too much weight on that because I am an underclassmen and a lot of stuff goes into the draft as far as the combine. Just being older, I'm excited about it and ready to get started.My best guess is that an NFL team will try to bulk Casey up a bit and have him play tight end, but the most important thing to know about him is simply that he's a football player. Rice coach David Bailiff says of Casey, "He is the greatest player I've ever been around." That's the kind of endorsement NFL coaches will love to hear."Some teams might see me as a tight end or an H-back, but that's just each individual team. Some of them might have in mind what they might like, but that's out of my control so I'm going to keep working hard."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-06-2009 @ 1:27PM
Curtis said...
Most intriguing? Not by a long shot. Tim Tebow has that locked down pretty much. Casey CAN'T be a fullback, quarterback, running back or safety in the NFL. He's also a little light to be a defensive end and he lacks experience there too. So its wide receiver or tight end for him. End of story. Obviously he may take some snaps from center every now and then if the team he goes to is into that but ya, its pretty clear what he's going to play in the League.
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1-26-2009 @ 1:57AM
T.O. said...
Curtis, you don't know what you are talking about.
Casey has already played more positions than Tebow could ever fathom playing.
Casey was a safety prospect when he came to Rice, he played some DE at 250lbs (he gained 15 pounds in less than a month, and reportedly told coaches he could get up to 280 easy if they needed him to), but then dropped the unnecessary weight when he moved to offense to play QB/WR/TE/RB/H-Back. He had a 94 MPH fastball when he was drafted into the MLB, played QB in high school, and you think he can't throw a football? If Rice didn't have the most prolific scoring QB in college football in 2009 (Chase Clement, with 58 total touchdowns) then Casey would have played QB.
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