draftageddon 2015

Our annual gimmicky Big Ten preview occurred. Then a football season occurred. And now that it’s deeply offseason it occurred to us to do a wrap on that, roundtable style.

THE TEAMS:

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1. DEFEND YOUR TEAM

Brian: Christian Hackenberg got drafted ahead of Connor Cook. Therefore I had a good QB.

Seth: J-E-T-S Jets! Jets! Jets!

Ace:

Brian: Seriously though, flip out Hackenberg for Cardale Jones, who was neck and neck with JT Barrett for much of the year and got drafted and my offense is clearly the best running outfit available: #4 overall pick at RB, first-rounder at LT, returning IU All-American next to him, a legit dual threat superback/H-back type and a traditional TE, both drafted. Marz and Kugler were both upper-echelon college players not quite good enough for the league; Ball got hurt in fall camp and eventually left UW's team.

There's nobody else who can put that kind of rushing firepower on the field, or really anywhere close to it. The downgrade from Elliott to anybody else is enormous.

Seth:  Is it?

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[Patrick Barron]

[After the jump: Brian gets thatsracist.gif about 3-3-5s. Spartan defensive backs are lamented. And someone in the comments will say they don’t like this series]

Each drafter was asked to defend his team and say something nice and something mean about each of the others. Your candidates:

THE Acehio State

Ace Image

There are consequences to such behaviors [original photo courtesy of Ace's new employers at Eleven Warriors]

OFFENSE: QB Jake Rudock (U-M), RB Josh Ferguson (IL), OW Braxton Miller (OSU), WR Michael Thomas (OSU), WR DaeSean Hamilton (PSU), H-back Kyle Carter (PSU), TE Adam Breneman (PSU), LT Jack Conklin (MSU), RT Kodi Kieler (MSU), LG Billy Price (OSU), RG Kyle Kalis (U-M), OC Dan Voltz (UW)

DEFENSE: WDE Joey Bosa (OSU), SDE Darius Hamilton (RU), NT Austin Johnson (PSU), DT Willie Henry (U-M), OLB Darron Lee (OSU), MLB Riley Bullough (MSU), OLB Joshua Perry (OSU), CB Eli Apple (OSU), CB Darius Hillary (UW), HSP Sean Davis (MD), S Tyvis Powell (OSU), S RJ Williamson (MSU)

SPECIAL TEAMS: K Paul Griggs (PU), P Cameron Johnston (OSU), KR Josh Ferguson (IL), PR Braxton Miller (OSU)

Ace: My defensive front is downright terrifying. The best player in the draft, at a position of relative weakness in the conference, dropped to me at #3. That front four (plus Darron Lee) would be very stout against the run and produce a fearsome pass rush more than capable of covering for any perceived weakness in the secondary—and my secondary is pretty decent with a nice ceiling if RJ Williamson takes a step forward this year. My linebackers will clean up anything that somehow manages to get past the line, the corners are good, and Tyvis Powell is a steadying presence in the back.

The criticisms of my backfield are legitimate, though Ferguson's fumbling is getting too much attention (hi, Seth); he's the best weapon out of the backfield in the conference, which is key given the dearth of receiving talent this year, and he's also an explosive runner with good patience and vision—he's much more than just a receiving threat. Rudock won't set the world on fire but he's got the best group of pass-catchers to work with out of any of our teams, he'll take care of the ball, and I'm actually more confident he'll have a strong season this year than Hackenberg. My line features a potential top-ten pick at left tackle, a good Wisconsin center, two guards poised for major breakout years, and a right tackle who didn't give up a sack and blocked the run well last year.

What I believe sets my team apart, aside from the defensive line, is the Braxton Miller pick. Not only does he provide an explosive threat from the slot, he's backfield insurance for both Rudock and Ferguson—Ohio State is going to move him all over the field this year (Miller: "It's like playing a video game") and my offense would utilize him in similar fashion. I'm still shocked he went after Cardale Jones, who provides nothing if he doesn't win the starting job.

[After the jump: you get to vote on this]

The first rule of Draftageddon is "you must complain about Draftageddon." The second is "the four people drafting assemble teams of Big Ten players in an effort to seem the best at drafting." The third is "you vote on who you think assembled the best team." The fourth is "This is actually our Big Ten preview."

THAT WHICH HAS COME BEFORE

Previously on Draftageddon:

In order to ensure a bountiful harvest and that all further injuries and transfers will affect only Northwestern Wildcats, every year we sacrifice a little bit of what makes us human to discuss what just occurred, and try to summarize all of Draftageddon into a single, informative around-the-Big Ten preview.

We'll defend our teams and let you vote on them later; this is the informative part. I sent out a mini-questionnaire to all the selectors and got back the following:

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1. So many Spartans (15) and Buckeyes (19). Skip the justifiable ones and tell us which were the most overrated?

Seth: Josh Perry==Joe Bolden, and I'm skeptical of any 1st round grades for their secondary because their DL was so good we rarely got to see Powell or Bell even have the opportunity to biff a coverage. That goes double for MSU: Cox is barely holding down a job, and was behind Hicks, who was so iffy last year they had to play Lippett both ways. Neither Williamson nor Nicholson could hold off the other last year. Kodi Kieler is just okay, though at that point Ace was picking from bad OT options.

Adam: Eli Apple and Raekwon McMillan, whom Ace and I took in the ninth round, respectively. I think both guys will have successful seasons, but those are two guys who played a significant amount in 2014 but have yet to start a full year. Looking at others at the same positions, there were guys with proven track records who went later that you could make an argument for flipping with Apple and McMillan (Briean Boddy-Calhoun and Desmond Morgan come to mind). There is, however, a price to upside.

Ace: I think Taylor Decker (with Jack Conklin on the board) and Adolphus Washington (a host of quality DTs) went earlier than they should've, even though both are fine players. Demetrious Cox was one of the more questionable picks in the whole draft. I'll cop to overrating Josh Perry—I wanted Ed Davis, overcompensated in the aftermath of him going off the board, and... actually, I guess that kinda worked out.

Brian: Will Gholston.

[After the jump: why we drafted more Wolverines than Spartans]