mike onwenu

Transfers away. College football looks set to implement the one-time transfer idea Jim Harbaugh started pushing last year:

The Division I Council is expected to vote next week to introduce the one-time transfer exception proposal into the legislative cycle, two sources told The Athletic. A formal vote by NCAA membership could take place as early as January at the NCAA’s annual convention. If adopted, the rule would take effect for the 2021-22 academic year. That means if an FBS football player decides to transfer following the 2020 season and has eligibility remaining, he would be eligible to play at his new destination next fall.

This exception already exists for all sports except football, basketball, and men's hockey. The legislation does have a restriction that seems fair enough to me:

…the legislation includes a May 1 notification date for fall and winter sports and a July 1 notification date for spring sports. Athletes who miss those deadlines would need waivers to receive immediate eligibility.

That would prevent guys leaving fall camp for immediate eligibility elsewhere. This would prevent a carousel effect where someone leaves or gets hurt at one school, which poaches a player, creating an opening for another poaching, etc.

[After THE JUMP: the best Patriots sixth-rounder out of Michigan ever]

The crux. Adam Rittenberg has a extensive article on the Big Ten's decision to play after all. This is the heart of the matter:

"You're catching somebody with a positive before they're even contagious," said Dr. Jeff Mjaanes, Northwestern's head team physician and a member of the Big Ten's medical subcommittee. "That's a huge breakthrough in this. If we can do that on a daily basis, which is what's in our proposal, then we can identify people before they're even infectious, and we can remove them and really maintain the sanctity and the health of the team.

"With daily antigen testing, if you're able to identify somebody before they're actually contagious, and we can remove them, it almost completely eliminates the need for contact tracing."

The other key component was getting everyone access to the equipment OSU doctors used to find myocarditis in asymptomatic athletes:

Mjaanes said the Big Ten also was able to "secure some workarounds" so that every school could have access to cardiac MRIs. Penn State, for example, formed a partnership with Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center so that any athletes who test positive will drive the 90 minutes to Hershey, Pennsylvania, for their cardiac tests. Heading into the Aug. 11 vote, a few Big Ten schools couldn't easily process cardiac MRIs, which are key in detecting myocarditis and other heart issues.

Thus a delayed but extant football season.

[After THE JUMP: print out these hockey draft rankings and use them to build a horse]

I've never been more excited for the NFL Draft.

This has little to do with the players involved, nothing to do with my on-again off-again relationship with the Detroit Lions, and everything to do with the fact that 32 NFL GMs—by and large the aging dads who need their children to log in to Netflix—will be attempting to conduct the entire draft via a remote group-chat setup. By now, many of us have experienced the pitfalls faced by inexperienced Zoom/Hangouts/Skype users. The tension just to see if picks get in on time is going to be incredible.

"We've hired four computer folks and we're completely re-doing the back-end of our college and pro scouting systems" – Dave Gettleman discusses the Giants' advancements in analytics pic.twitter.com/uJKQ9fkpxA

— Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) December 31, 2019

Godspeed, computer folks.

There are other compelling reasons to tune in besides gawking at technological train derailments. Michigan looks poised to have as many as nine players selected over the next three days, including two who could go in tonight's first round.

The First-Round Candidates

can't teach this bend [Bryan Fuller]

Cesar Ruiz entered the draft a year early after a rock-solid college career at center. Like his play, his draft projections are very consistent. He's the #31 player on The Athletic's consensus top 300 big board and most mocks I've seen have him going in the last ten picks of the first round. ESPN's Mel Kiper expects him to go somewhere in the 20s and his final mock sends Ruiz to the Patriots at #23. As NFL.com's Lance Zuerlein says, his ability to play multiple spots on the interior line could help him get into a starting lineup early in his career:

Athletic and tenacious with the combination of skills and technique to fit into a variety of blocking schemes on the next level. Ruiz wins early with initial quickness and fast hands into first contact. He works to convert early advantages into wins. He's consistent in securing down-blocks and has the athletic traits to become a second-level factor. He'll give some ground to power rushers and needs help against wide-bodies, but the tape checks out. Ruiz has early starting potential and should develop into a good pro with guard/center flexibility.

Ruiz is Michigan's best bet to get his name called tonight. He's projected as the first interior lineman off the board. Since 2000, there's been only one draft (2017) in which the first round passed without an interior OL selected.

On the other hand, Josh Uche is one of the draft's bigger wild cards, which befits his time as a Wolverine. Unfortunately, a lot of Uche's draft uncertainty comes from perceived mis- and under-utilization in Don Brown's defense. Here's a scathing scout take via The Athletic's Bob McGinn:

“He was so underused there,” one scout said. “With his ability to bend the edge it’s ridiculous. He can affect the quarterback from a bunch of different angles. Michigan really did this kid a disservice. For as versatile as this kid is he should never leave the field. He can run. He can cover. I thought he was the best defensive player in Mobile besides (Javon) Kinlaw. He’s super conscientious. He would have run high 4.4s, low 4.5s and jumped close to 40. All that stuff people don’t know.”

The next scout quoted believes Uche is a 3-4 outside linebacker at the next level; I agree. The third scout produces an all-time "did you watch the right guy" quote [emphasis very much mine]:

“Little guy,” said a third scout. “He’s not a very good athlete. Nothing against the run. No burst as a pass rusher.”

That's up there with "Devin Bush lacks sideline-to-sideline speed." I mean...

...what in tarnation?

Anyway, Uche is the #62 player on the consensus top 300, but he sneaks into the back end of a couple first-round mocks—The Athletic's Dan Brugler projects him at #27 to Seattle. He may go tonight if a team with the right system finds his potential too tantalizing to pass up; he may fall into the second round (as he does on The Ringer's mock) or even the third if the lack of film and positional uncertainty scares teams away in a year there isn't a lot to go on.

[Hit THE JUMP for seven more players with a solid chance to be picked plus more roster candidates.]