Pike Has Career Day in Return

Cincinnait Bearcats senior quarterback Tony Pike may have had the best game of his career yesterday in a win over the Illnois Fighting Illini on Senior Day. Pike was coming off an injury to his non-throwing shoulder that kept him out for nearly two months.

Pike answered all the questions…six times.

In a 49-36 victory over Illinios, Pike did just about whatever he wanted whenever he wanted to do it. He broke the Cincinnati Bearcats record for touchdowns with six, and threw for 399 yards in the shootout. “Words can’t describe how amazing this feels,” Pike said.

The fifth-ranked Bearcats are one of the six remaining unbeatens. They take on the No. 9 Pittsburgh Panthers next Saturday for the Big East crown.

NEW PROSPECT SPOTLIGHT & UPDATED RANKINGS

Alabama cornerback and return man Javier Arenas replaces Sean Canfield as the new player featured on our prospect spotlight. The spotlight focuses on players that the average fan does not know and those players that are expected to fly up the draft board as the big day nears. You can check out his scouting report by following THIS link or simply clicking on the “Prospect Spotlight” tab on the right side of this page.

I also updated postional rankings last evening. If you have some time, check them out by clicking on the “Rankings” tab on the top of this page’s sidebar. That will bring you to a screen with a list of all the positions. Simply click on a position to see the rankings for that position.

Clausen Punched By Fan

Notre Dame Fighting Irish junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen was reportedly punched by an irate fan after leaving a bar in South Bend.

Clausen, a female acquaintance, his family, and a few other Notre Dame upperclassmen left “CJ’s” early Sunday morning. The group arrived shortly after the team’s loss to UConn on senior night.

A witness said the future first round draft pick was “sucker-punched” by a Notre Dame fan as they left the establishment. The fan apparently said something to Clausen and his female friend, walked up, and unexpectedly jacked Clausen in the face. According to teammates, he has a swollen/black eye that should not keep him from playing the team’s final regular season game at Stanford this Saturday.

MOCK DRAFT UPDATED

Check out our newly updated 2010 NFL Mock Draft. Follow that link or just click on the “Mock Draft” page on the left side of your screen. My favorite team took Jake Locker… What about yours? 

Please note that the draft order used is simply created from standings as of 11/19/09.

Murray Expects to Return for Senior Season

Oklahoma Sooner running back, DeMarco Murray, expects to return for his season season after the remainder of the 2009 campaign. Murray says, “I’m pretty sure I’ll be back next season, but I won’t decide until the end of the season. I like it here. I don’t want to end my career at OU with an 8-4 record or whatever,” Murray said. “I’m just trying to get better and I just enjoy being here. I love the coaching staff. I love the camaraderie with my teammates.”

Senior Chris Brown, the other deminsion in the dynamic running attack Oklahoma possesses, gets the majority of the carries but will be leaving for the 2010 draft. Brown is projected to be a second round pick,  where Murray should go in the first round of the 2011 draft.

Last week against Texas A&M, Murray set the school receiving yards for a running back record when he logged in nearly 150 yards with only five receptions. His career rushing totals stand at 2358 yards and 32 touchdowns on 437 attempts in three seasons. For 2009, he is on pace to record over 1300 all-purpose yards and 11 touchdowns.

Oklahoma is current 6-4 (4-2) and stands 3rd in the Big 12 South. DeMarco Murray, along with the entire Sooners team, should be much better in 2010. With a year of experience as a freshman, Landry Jones is already being hyped as the “next Sam Bradford”. If Murray returns for his senior year, you will see Oklahoma’s offense dominate once again.

HEISMAN WATCH UPDATE

Check out our Heisman Watch by clicking on THIS link or by opening up the “Heisman Watch” tab on the right sidebar on this page.

Leading Big East WR Quits

According to Draft Breakdown:

The Big East’s leading WR, Mike Williams, quit the team today for undisclosed reasons. Speculation around the team is that Williams may have been facing another suspension, but details are unclear at this time.

Williams had registered 49 catches for 746 yards and 6 touchdowns so far this season. This will certainly be a red flag for scouts and NFL personnel to examine closer as the draft process goes forward.

Even as a junior, Williams would have been one of the top wide outs available. Now, who knows if Williams will even be invited to the Scouting Combine.

More on this story can be found at ESPN.com.

MOCK DRAFT UPDATED

Check out our newly updated 2010 NFL Mock Draft. Follow that link or just click on the “Mock Draft” page on the left side of your screen. My favorite team took Jake Locker… What about yours? 

Please note that the draft order used is simply created from standings as of 11/10/09.

Two More 2010 Draft Prospects Out for the Season

Arthur Jones

Syracuse’s senior nose tackle and major NFL prospect Arthur Jones has a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee. He will miss the remainder of the 2009 college football season and likely will, unfortunately, miss the NFL Scouting Combine in February.

Jones was a member of the 1^st-team All-Big East squad last year and actually passed up a potential first round draft pick in 2009’s draft. He recorded 38.5 tackles for loss in his career – most in Syracuse Orange history by a lineman. This season, the 6’4” OT has 18 tackles, 12 solo tackles, six assists, and one sack.

The recovery time for a torn meniscus is:

Remove the meniscus: 4-6 weeks
Repair the meniscus: 4-6 months
Reconstruct the ACL: 6-9 months

This obviously kills Jones’ draft stock. He will be draft, there’s no doubt about that. However, he is no longer a first rounder. To know exactly where he will go is almost impossible to predict this early in his recovery process.

Christian Ponder

Ponder, the most recent prospect to hit the “out for season” list, has a separated right (throwing) shoulder. The junior QB for Florida State injured it while making a tackle after throwing his fourth interception of the game last Saturday against Clemson.

The separation has been reported to be a “3 AC” injury and will require surgery. Ponder plans to meet with doctors all this week and will likely have the operation within the next two weeks. The injury is extremely similar to Sam Bradford’s.

When asked what Ponder plans on doing now regarding his future in the NFL, Ponder said, “I think things have changed now. We’ll see at the end of the season but it looks like I will be back.”

Before the injury, Ponder was projected as being a 2^nd-3^rd round draft pick in this upcoming draft. But considering he will probably play out his senior season, I would say he is setting himself up for a possible first round pick and maybe the top QB available (if Bradford, Locker, Clausen, Snead enter 2010 draft).

Florida State’s gunslinger has a 148 QB rating on the year to go along with 2717 yards, 14 touchdowns, 7 interceptions (only 3 excluding bad game vs Clemson), and a 69% completion percentage. If he was not injured, and played out the rest of the season, Ponder would have been on pace for a 3500+ yard season, with 20 touchdowns, and 8 interceptions.

SENIOR AND JUNIOR RANKINGS UPDATED

To view the recently updated Top 32 overall lists for both seniors and juniors, simply click on THIS link for seniors, THIS link for juniors, or open the “Top 32…” tab located on the right side of this page.