Lloyd recruiting blunder

You can't find them all, either. Recruiting is still an inexact science. There are always a few "nobodies" who develop and some "can't-miss" prospects who bust.

Hillsdale has an awesome school, the name of which I can't recall now, but is essentially the School of Firearms. Seriously, you can get a BA in guns.

If a quality athlete just has some bad luck and doesn't get labeled as a "hot" recruit initially, it can snowball against him. The coaches feel safer running in herds to get the big names. It takes guts for a big name school to go after a sleeper.

I like the fact that RichRod has the guts to do this occasionally. Omameh is a great example. I'm hoping Vinopal is the next one.

[But I have nothing against a class loaded with 4 and 5 stars either.]

When I first glanced at that picture, I thought he was a tight end. The kid is 315, but he's LEAN. He could probably be 340 lbs. and still not look like a fatty.

Sucks that we missed on this guy, but I would put these as bigger recruiting blunders.

Taking Savoy over Desean Jackson. Jackson wanted to be a Wolverine.

Not offering Ted Ginn at camp, he really wanted an offer and was very interested in Michigan at the time, but instead left in tears. I believe the reason we didn't offer was because he didn't look great at CB.

Not having anyone on campus when Ryan Reynolds and his Dad came up to visit and wanted to commit.

I actually played AAU basketball with this kid. He went to several D-1 football camps over his high school years but was never offered by anyone major because of his drive and personality. He was a very nice kid but didn't have that mean streak that o-linemen need, he was very soft coming out of high school and was not focused on earning a D-1 scholarship. Like magnus said, he is extremely lean and can add on a decent amount of weight. Scouts have consistently been at Hillsdale practices watching him for the past two years...

Hey cool I went to High School with that guy! He's two years younger but I remember him on the bball team. Didn't think anyone from Northern would make the pros with our "powerhouse" program lol.

The the NFL draft is more so. This kid could probably be had in the 5th round or so. Do you look at him, his size, athleticism, apparent intelligence, desire and project a starting 6'8", 340# DT with speed? Well, do you?? Do you pass on a highly ranked DL in round two hoping to get this "sleeper" in round five? Great organizations (hello, New England) are built on being right on these precise kinds of questions more often than the other guys.

First of all, he's an offensive line prospect, not a defensive line prospect.

Secondly, New England has used plenty of high picks and free agency to build their franchise. It's not like they make a point of picking sleepers every year.

In fact, New England is probably not the best argument for the NFL draft being an "inexact science" because their draft picks generally have tended to work out. They build their team from within and then supplement with free agents/trades like Rodney Harrison, Corey Dillon, Mike Vrabel, Randy Moss, etc. But Tom Brady, the offensive line, Troy Brown, Asante Samuel, Ellis Hobbs, Vince Wilfork, Richard Seymour, etc. were all "home grown" talents.

holy shit, that guy went to my hs, Forest Hills Northern. I had no idea he had developed into that kind of player! He's a couple years older than me so I never played with him, but word at the time was that he denied a preferred walk-on spot at ND despite them being the only d1 school to show interest.

Obviously, I hope he has a long and illustrious nfl career :)

"Veldheer has a better grade than, among others, Texas' Adam Ulatoski, Penn State's Dennis Landolt and Notre Dame's Sam Young."

Translates to: The Lions will draft Young, Ulatowski or Landolt, and the Patriots, Colts, or Saints will draft Veldheer. You know how that ends up.

just saw this dude mentioned on sportscenter by the "draft experts" Mcshay and Kiper. Mcshay said this kid is a freak athelte for his size and he could be one of the bigger sleepers in the draft. As long as the Lions dont hear about him, he may actually be a decent NFL player.

There was an article on Jared a few weeks ago, that Hillsdale's coach Keith Otterbein had to be convinced by Hillsdale's basketball coach (who coached Veldheer's older brother at HC) to give him a serious look. Very glad he did.

Youtube is blocked at this location, so I can't post a link but search for Jared Veldheer 425 hang clean.