Over the summer of 2009, folks from The Blue-Gray Sky, Classic Ground, Rakes of Mallow, and Her Loyal Sons held a mock draft from a pool of talent consisting of the rosters of the 2009 Notre Dame Fighting Irish and their opponents for that season. As the season approaches, we’re presenting our picks in hopes of sparking some debate and helping the ND fanbase better know the ND team and their opposition.
Round: 7
Pick: 40
Player: Colin Kaepernick
School: Nevada
Position: QB
Ultimately, no matter what sort of offense you run, the QB will be running your show, so I figure I can’t wait much longer to draft a QB or I might not have a lot of confidence in any plays I want to call. And that’s why I took Colin Kaepernick, QB, Nevada.
Career: Colin set the Nevada Football world on fire when he took over the offense in the 5th game of his redshirt sophomore season (2007). That year, playing in just 9 games, Colin threw for 2,175 yards with 19 touchdowns and 3 INTs. He also rushed for 6 more TDs. In 2008, Colin threw for 2849 yards with a 13.7 yards-per-attempt average. He also threw for 22 TDs against 7 INTs with a 54% completion rate. Kid can sling the ball, and when he connects, it’s usually for a big gain. But he may miss a few here and there as well. He makes up for that rushing. Last year, he made up for that 54% with 1130 yards rushing.
Why Him Instead of a Domer: I needed a starting QB, JC wasn’t available, and frankly this kid can do an awful lot of damage on his own.
Career Vs. Notre Dame: Colin has never played against the University of Notre Dame.
Prediction for 2009: Actually, we expect Colin’s stats to either level off or possibly even shrink. Yes, the kid has a boatload of talent, but in 2008 he also had a NFL-caliber WR to throw to against WAC-level competition in Marko Mitchell. With those Marko gone, one has to wonder if the 2-dimensional threat of the Nevada defense will remain. After all, they now only have one WR in Nevada with more than one career catch. Also, he opens his season with ND. At 6-6, 220, I’m wondering what might happen to him vs. a Jon Tenuta defense with this sort of speed and talent. He could get pretty dinged up.
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