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More Coffee and Cigarettes: College Football Links for Sunday

Because Sunday mornings are for reading. And smoking, and drinking.

Courtney Upshaw on getting ready for the NFL Scouting Combine - NFL - SI.com
It feels good to get back to the grind. As I wrote last week, I'm working out at Athletes' Performance Institute in Phoenix with several other draft prospects, including my college teammate Dont'a Hightower, Memphis defensive end Dontari Poe and Cal linebacker Mychal Kendricks.

Managing the Pocket Part II: Texas A&M QB Ryan Tannehill | The Rookie Scouting Portfolio
"If I worked out a quarterback for an NFL team, he’d have to show me 100 throws off his back foot." -Dan Marino This is one of two statements about quarterbacking from Marino that football analyst Pat Kirwan shared in his book Take Your Eye Off The Ball that demonstrates the difference between the theory and practice of the NFL game for a pro passer. The second statement is about having a good internal clock – the awareness of the length of time a play should take, how long its actually taking, and what the defense is doing to add or subtract from that amount of time. Marino says a good internal clock "can be a quarterback’s most important asset."

Breaking down three top Alabama defenders | National Football Post
A look at the games of Upshaw, Kirkpatrick and Barron.

NFL DRAFT: Late round sleepers worth monitoring | National Football Post
Who could be a late round steal?

Whitney Mercilus tape vs Ohio State " Seahawks Draft Blog
Whitney Mercilus is a player I’m still trying to work out. In my initial tape review vs UCLA, I had mixed feelings.

Stanford, Baylor each schedule March 22 Pro Days - CBSSports.com
Unless Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III defy the trend of top-rated quarterbacks choosing not to throw at the Scouting Combine, talent evaluators are going to have a tough time seeing both throw prior to the 2012 draft. That's because Stanford and Baylor have each scheduled their on-campus "Pro Day" workouts on March 22, according to a report from ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Draft 2012: The Overrated - NFL Draft Preview - Rotoworld.com
Every year leading up to the draft, certain prospects seem ticketed for specific teams or to be taken highly due to groupthink, publicity, and name recognition. These predictions may or may not pan out. Usually, they don’t, and that’s what makes the NFL draft so enticing: suspense and unpredictability.

2012 NFL Draft: Baylor RB Terrance Ganaway's Stock Is Rising - SB Nation Dallas
Baylor Bears running back Terrance Ganaway had an impressive 2011 season as he led the Big 12 in rushing and was No. 7 in the nation with 1,547 yards, plus he also hauled in 21 touchdowns. Even with that impressive season, Ganaway has not been projected to go early in NFL mock drafts, and the reason for that is his lack of being able to run routes, catch the ball out of the backfield and pass block.

New Era Scouting – David Wilson 2012 NFL Draft Scouting Report
To be the ideal complete back in the NFL, you must be able to get the though yards between the tackles in short yardage and the redzone. For a running back tagged as a speed back, proving he can handle a full workload is always a constant struggle. Given the higher failure rate of speed backs, it’s clear that the NFL looks for a combination of speed and power— being one dimensional is usually a death sentence. Is the speedy Virginia Tech running back destined for part-time work or did he prove in his first full year as a starter that he should be a first round pick and the complete back that plenty of teams desperately search for?

Ravens college scouting director high on 2012 NFL Draft QB class - Mocking The Draft
Between now and April, opinions will vary and change, but for now at least one NFL talent evaluator is high on this year's quarterback class.

Lamar Miller NFL Draft scouting report - Mocking The Draft
Acceleration/ burst: He is dangerous in the open field with his foot quickness, agility, vision, and top notch speed. He can accelerate to top speed in a blink of an eye. He had a lot of long scoring runs in between the guards. He can get to the outside with his speed and quickness and then bursts around the corner like the Falcon spaceship in the Star Wars movie trilogy, known as "warp speed".

NCAA proposes moving kickoffs to 35-yard line - NCAA Football - SI.com
The NCAA football rules committee has proposed moving kickoffs from the 30-yard line to the 35 and to limit the running start by players on the kicking team to 5 yards as a way of keeping players safer.

Move from BCS to four-team playoff could spark tougher scheduling - Stewart Mandel - SI.com
Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick holds a seat at the table alongside the 11 FBS conference commissioners who will discuss a potential college football playoff in a series of upcoming meetings, the next Feb. 21-22 in Dallas. He's not interested in speculating on specific formats, such as the hosted semifinal proposed by a few Big Ten athletic directors this week, but he does have an opinion on another pertinent detail.

Draft Tip Sheet: Small-school corners again intriguing options - NFL, NFLDRAFT - CBSSports.com - NFLDraftScout.com
It's been a few years since a cornerback from a really small football program was chosen in the first round; Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie of Tennessee State was probably the last one when Arizona selected him in 2008. But the draft annually includes several corner prospects from smaller schools in the seven rounds, and this year doesn't figure to be any different.

Big Board: Top prospects centered around passing game - NFL, NFLDRAFT - CBSSports.com - NFLDraftScout.com
The NFL is a notorious copycat league, so the trends we saw emerge that helped the Patriots and Giants reach Super Bowl XLVI will certainly be mimicked by other teams next season. The value of accuracy and poised quarterback play was never more clear than when Eli Manning engineered an 88-yard game-winning touchdown drive, following seven fourth-quarter comebacks during the regular season. And the pass rushers capable of disarming the growing group of elite quarterbacks are almost as critical on the defensive side of the ball.

NFL Draft: All Underrated Team Part II | National Football Post
A look at which defensive prospects aren’t getting the love they deserve.

Former Tennessee standout FS Janzen Jackson to enter NFL Draft | National Football Post
From SEC stud to small-school sleeper?