Palmetto Proving Grounds

I agree with him. Its becoming a joke. Not one player who left early has had an impact

Ko simspon out of football
E cook special teams
Gurlley played for 1500 nfl teams
Geathers bounced around, no impact
Troy williamson out of football

Gilmore and alshon will be good pros and i agreed with their choices
Lat needed to go pro

Ace sanders is shocking to me.

If you can go in the 1st round you go period! Its life changing money! nobody would regret that!
Now fourth round......thats a bad decision! Probably look back one day and regret it.

Rice made the pro bowl and Troy was a first round pick. Not sure you can fault those guys for that.

The point of the post was that we seem to lose guys every year to the draft, while other schools are able to keep kids with sometimes much higher draft grades....Take Logan Thomas at Tech, he is rated as the #1 junior QB, with his size and athleticism someone would take him in the first round (i think he is overrated, but i also cant stand Va Tech), he decided to come back. Aaron Murray would have been a first rounder, and Lewan the tackle from Mich more than held his own against Clowney which had to do nothing but boost his draft stock (first rounder), both decided to come back. Im all for a guy leaving if he is going to be a high pick, ala Clowney next year. But a guy who is 5-8 leaving to play in the NFL when his best projection is 3rd round is a joke to me. He is a great college player, but i dont see much of an impact in the NFL but punt returns. He would be given a chance to do that in the NFL after his senior year, leaving early doesnt change anything about his career. Another year of improving as a WR and proving you could be a elite returner ala, Hester, could have boosted his stock. If nothing else he gets his DEGREE, and helps us potentially take the next step. Between constantly replacing coaches, and loosing kids early each year, its hard to think we can ever take the next step.

Whether a player goes in the 1st round or the 4th round is irrelevant. It's about whether coming back will improve the player's stock. I love ace but he will never be 1st round pick whether he comes back or not. If he feels that with the year he had and with the weak receiver class that this is the highest he wil go then by all means he should go. And to say that that other schools keep their underclassmen better then us is ridiculous. Lsu is losing around 10 underclassmen. For a player like Lewan to come is the exception not the rule.

Thought Rice made the pro bowl one year. Injuries, not ability hampered Sidney. When completely healthy, he had a very good career.

Williamson didn't work out, but he cashed in on a great draft pick and made serious money. In retrospect, he made the perfect decision financially.

Some of the others wouldn't have been higher picks had they stayed and made some money in the year they woul have been in college.

Gurley had an unusual circumstance because of his age.

Joseph has had a good career and made the pro bowl once.

Making Money is all its about and if you think other wise you are crazy... Also you could be seeing the Marcus Lattimore affect on a lot of these guys. They are thinking should I stay and risk injury or should I leave lose a little money but get paid and not have a career altering injury ? Can not tell me that does not get brought up when thinking about this decision.

Apparently im not making myself clear, im saying if your a first rounder you go and get you money, if your a fourth rounder, come back, get your degree so in case the NFL works out, your not left without an option.....

Also my point is we need to start keeping these guys that are great college players in order to take the next step.....

You can make the same argument against it, that great teams lose guys all the time. Go take a look at UF and LSU, they have plenty of juniors making the jump, not all of whom are guaranteed first round picks. Ace can't improve his stock AT ALL by returning, so he may as well go pro. Heaven forbid he come back next year, get his clock cleaned on a punt return, and fall from a 3rd round pick to a 6th round pick.

My issue is that he announced he's returning and then changed his mind. If you're not ready to make a decision then don't make one b/c you end up looking stupid after you disappoint an entire fan base.

Sidney Rice is a PRO BOWL receiver. Completely idiotic example. Not to mention he has 50 million dollars in contracts to this point.

He is a damn good WR.

Wish he'd stayed. We could use him. It will provide the need and opportunity for younger talent to step up. The potential is definitely there. Wish Ace the best. Agree with Jr, only time will tell. He's awefully small for NFL.