in the hearts of the FG faithful, it is D-U-N.

I looked up ‘Matt Hasselbeck Boston College statistics’ and found nothing.

a ‘big arm’, ‘immature’, ‘immobile’, ‘side arm(er)’ and ‘inaccurate’.

Sanchez has been described as ‘good at reading defenses, cerebral, smooth delivery, blue collar work ethic’, etc. Not to mention his great feet. If anyone’s worried about small hands, apparently he has banana hands as well, 10.5 inch hands to rival Crabtree’s.

No offense to Leaf, but I think the warning signs were there that he didn’t know what to do with the fame, and was kind of a lazy fat drunk. Sanchez may be a bit immature, but he has had a lot of praise so far. Then again, the same that people gushed about Vince Young’s leadership capabilities, not call him whiny and unprepared and overprotected.

 Personally I ’d rather have Sanchez on my squad.

is his roommates involvement in cocaine dealings worthy of suspicion?

Both essentially had 1 great season which propelled them. Both were guys that had terrific final college seasons- particularly Leaf who carried WSU on his back. Both seemed “unshakable” on the field, and showed natural leadership and field charisma. Both were very good “tools” wise.

The critical difference between Leaf and Sanchez is that Leaf always struck me as an extremely passionate player who was an ultra competitive type at WSU, the kind of guy that gets easily frustrated because that’s how competitive he is (Manning is another guy that gets visibly frustrated all the time, but he was able to handle it unlike Leaf). When Manning struggled in his 1st NFL season, he was composed at least enough to succeed in his 2nd year, whereas Leaf erupted with frustration and his career became a downward spiral.

Sanchez strikes me as more aloof and having a good time out there. He’s competitive, but in a good way, not in a self-destructive way. He hasn’t faced the kind of adversity he’ll face in the NFL, but if you’ve seen his interviews, he’s very easy going, almost Hasselbeck-like.

As far as the Sexual Assualt, its my understanding that the incident happened in Sanchez’s room and it was a case of a man going too far (similar to the Kobe Bryant case). The victim left Sanchez’s place and told her mother about it the next day. It was the victim’s alarmed mother that reported the incident to the police. Parents are often over-protective and its very possible that the incident was overblown. Sanchez was never charged and evidence was never presented.

The Fake ID is very minor thing for me, its about as damning and as common among college students as illegal internet downloading of copyrighted material.

Both of these things happened 2 years before Sanchez played a single game for USC. I think his future as an NFL QB was far from probable at that point.

I have concerns for Sanchez, and I do see the Leaf comp, but not because of the red flags listed.

called “Outliers,” by Malcolm Gladwell. To distill the point for this topic, he makes the argument that opportunity and experience counts just as much (if not more) as talent and innate ability, when it comes to the rise of some of the most successful men in our nation’s history.

One example given was Bill Gates, who not only was lucky enough to be born at the right time so that he’d be in high school and college at the beginning of the computer age of the late 60’s and early 70’s, but also had the unique opportunity to go to schools (Lakeside and UW) that allowed students access to computers. The conclusion is that Gates got to log thousands of hours on a computer when he was young, at a time when only a tiny, tiny amount of people had similar access.

Along those lines, I think starting 4 years at a university over just 1 year is a value that seems to be completely ignored when evaluating son-to-be-drafted QBs. When it comes to comparing the elite of elite in draft classes, like Sanchez and Stafford this year and Manning and Leaf way back when, the difference in experience must loom as large as the shadow of a redwood.

Big arm and some stats that appear to be circumstantial.

As a WSU alumni from the Bledsoe era, I followed future WSU QB’s religiously. The two biggest red flags I could see with Leaf weren’t maturity issues, but mechanical issues. His incredible arm masked many of his throwing-mechanic deficiencies and his footwork was average at best.

Side note on Sanchez: His immaturity issues are three years removed. ALL of the infractions mentioned happened in 2006 during his redshirt freshman year. Since that point Sanchez became a leader of the team and on several occasions publicly took responsibility for poor performances or losses.

NOT NFL ready, but has every tool you would want from a QB prospect and is a proven winner. Great feet, great vision, good arm, and interviewed very well.

Or is that just too much Leaf for one draft? Just sayin’, just because one may be bad doesn’t mean the other will be good.

Unfortunately, as we all know, no one will know until it happens. Or doesn’t.

and oh boy were there some stories about what an immature douchebag he was.

probably all true I’m sure, but thats exactly my point. Pullman is so quaint that there just isn’t a real test of a guys maturity. L.A. by contrast will really test a young immature guy’s makeup from the beginning.

By the way- is it weird that I miss food at the Rotunda 12 years after I left?

Compare him to Jay Cutler, who by all account has been a total baby, has demanded to be traded several times, is diabetic and may have a list of off field issues all his own. Nobody cares though because he tore it up on the field last year. Immaturity and asshole tendencies haven’t kept a lot of players from being successful, why should we think it stopped Leaf?

I think the Seahawks over the years have already filled their quota of players who maybe did, maybe didn’t rape a young woman. Anyone who’s honest about it, I think, would have to admit that it takes a miracle to find a prosecutor who will even bring charges against the big-name college stars like Sanchez (or like Jerramy Stevens…hello!). I’d put those odds at a lot higher than 10% that he did it, and you know, I think you just have to man up and cross his name off the wish list because, actuarial tables aside, it seems like bad policy to take a flier on a guy who maybe didn’t rape someone. Then go home and cry into your pillow if you have to. For those who say “innocent until proven guilty,” remember, I didn’t say you lynch him. I said you don’t make him the face of Seattle sports for the next decade. Perspective, folks.

I say dirty Sanchez.