Fun with numbers
Does perception trump reality?
Check out the blind résumés from three college defensive ends:
Player A: 14 tackles, 3.5 tackles for losses of 9 yards, 1 sack for 3 yards, 3 QB hurries, 1 fumble recovery, 1 touchdown scored
Player B: 13 tackles, 3 tackles for losses of 17 yards, 2 sacks for 16 yards, 4 QB hurries, 1 forced fumble.
Player C: 18 tackles, 4.5 tackles for losses of 26 yards, 3 sacks for 20 yards, 7 QB hurries, 1 forced fumble, 1 interception, 1 pass broken up, 1 touchdown scored.
Player C is perceived to have underachieved by some, come to camp overweight and played himself into perhaps needing to stay in school another year to still end up a first-round NFL Draft choice. Yet of the three, he clearly has the best numbers.
He is Irish junior defensive end Stephon Tuitt, who did rate as a midseason All-American by one of NFL.com’s seven analysts who recently put together their halfway-point college All-America squads. (Irish nose tackle Louis Nix was mentioned as a first-teamer by three of the seven and was the only other ND player on any ballot).
Who do the other two blind résumés belong to? Player A is former ND defensive end Aaron Lynch, now a junior at South Florida and a first-rounder on some 2014 NFL mock drafts. Player B in South Carolina junior Jadeveon Clowney, still considered by most as the consensus No. 1 pick next May, despite some injury/motivation questions.
