I remember us looking at him when we got Miller and Nugent, lots figured he would be a 2nd round pick or early 3rd, then went on to be an UDFA who did not make the cut in the NFL, well now he is with the Calgary Stampeders of the CFL, he looks out of place even in the CFL, he is so tall and gangly that he cannot run with the small guys, he trips over his own feet, he has the worst hips of any DB I have aver seen. On the positive side he locks up well with big posession recievers and does have a nose for the ball, just to bad he cannot catch. Akili Smith also plays for Calgary, I was at the Rider game the other night to support the home team. Wow does he have an arm, but he seems to have the brains of a mosquito, its all bang or bust with him, every play he is a different guy, I saw him throw a 60 yard bomb for a nice reception, ball was right on the money, then the next 2 plays he throws it in the dirt with no one around him, I actually kind of feel bad for him.
I couldn't believe all the people here who had a boner over Browner. I would write it 'rider m'self. When I saw Rider written above I immediately thought of the Rough Riders (who are now defunct). But 'rider would have made me immediately think of the Roughriders.
He had a ton of physical skills. Sure he didn't have the greatest hips, but he had great football speed, size and decent ball skills. He should've never left college his junior year...had he stuck around he could've spent more time fine tuning his skills(perhaps moving to safety) and may have turned into at least a decent DB in the NFL.
Browner left after his Sophomore year at that, had two years to improve his game in college. It was obvious back in 05 that he should have moved to safety, had he spent at least another year at OSU maybe he'd have shown NFL teams that he had the potential to move. The simple fact was that he was basically unproven yet as a corner, so a team would have a hard time teaching him to play Safety when he hadn't even mastered his college position yet.
You're right, he was a redshirted sophomore(Forgot about that). And I recall when he declared for the draft, the OSU coaching staff kind of laughing at him directly to the media. I guess they knew then what we know now.
If we made a list of the worst decisions to leave school for the NFL, Browner would probably be high atop the list. Does anybody remember if Mazio Royster skipped his final year of college? He did, the way I remember it. He led Southern California in rushing in 1990 with 1168 yards (5.0 average). I don't know what happened with him in 1991. Deon Strother lead USC with 614 yards rushing. Royster was drafted in the 11th round by Tampa Bay in the 1992 draft. The only stat he accumulated in 1992 was an 8-yard pass reception. He did get 33 carries in 1993 and scored a touchdown. He made one career start. That came in 1994. He finished his career with 42 carries for 122 yards and 13 catches for 62 yards. He had nice size (6'1", 205). Sort of a bad career for a USC running back, particularly if this guy did in fact leave school early. EDIT- He did leave early. Click on the hyperlink.
Akili Smith also plays for Calgary, I was at the Rider game the other night to support the home team. Wow does he have an arm, but he seems to have the brains of a mosquito, its all bang or bust with him, every play he is a different guy, I saw him throw a 60 yard bomb for a nice reception, ball was right on the money, then the next 2 plays he throws it in the dirt with no one around him, I actually kind of feel bad for him. Look up to the top of the thread
People like to downplay Vince Young's Wonderlic score and the Wonderlic in general, but Akili Smith is one of the best examples of a Wonderlic loser gone bad. Smith supposedly took the test and got a 15. He took it again and he got a 37. Interestingly enough, Smith's backup at Oregon that year got one of the highest scores. -X-
Yeh I agree, although I have never seen Young play, well besides highlights I do not know much about him. I watched Smith play 2 quarters, and I was right up close and sometimes he looked like the second coming, and others he looked like a special olympics player
