Fluker Allowed To Play In Senior Bowl.....

[Swamptick]

I have no problem with it. Fluker is, by all standards, a senior - despite minor technicalities.

[Porter]

Williams knows this is going to significantly cut into his playing time which reduce his chances of impressing the NFL scouts and coaches.

The scouts all leave by Thursday afternoon, it's the practices (and sit-downs) they are interested in, and players all pretty much get equal reps by design.

Funny story on Michael Williams, this has happened to lots of players over the years at lots of places (especially at Alabama under Bryant), but Williams packed up and went home very quickly after his arrival at UA. It was "too tough". His mom basically told him to get his ass back there and suck it up. He did, and has turned out to be one of the top TE's headed into the draft... Kid comes from a good family...

[0LDSCH00L]

I have no problem with it. Fluker is, by all standards, a senior - despite minor technicalities.

You might see it as more than just a minor technicality if you were one of the other Offensive Linemen hoping and praying for just a chance:

72	Oday	Aboushi	OL	6'6"	310	Virginia
76	D.J.	Fluker	OL	6'6"	335	Alabama
64	Dalton	Freeman	OL	6'5"	285	Clemson
65	Garrett	Gilkey	OL	6'7"	320	Chadron State
69	Lane	Johnson	OL	6'6"	303	Oklahoma
73	Xavier	Nixon	OL	6'5"	314	Florida
57	Brian	Schwenke	OL	6'4"	300	Cal
71	Dallas	Thomas	OL	6'5"	310	Tennessee
74	J.C.	Tretter	OL	6'4"	300	Cornell
67	Larry	Warford	OL	6'3"	343	Kentucky

[TerryP]

You might see it as more than just a minor technicality if you were one of the other Offensive Linemen hoping and praying for just a chance:

"Hoping and praying for just a chance" at what?

I believe you're putting far too much emphasis on 60 minutes of action on the 26th.

[0LDSCH00L]

"Hoping and praying for just a chance" at what?

I believe you're putting far too much emphasis on 60 minutes of action on the 26th.

Well, I guess that is according to where you are in the pecking order. If you are Fluker, it's all good. Then again if you are someone like Garrett Gilkey of Chadron State (or worse) if you were that 11th guy on the list of 10 Offensive Linemen that was supposed to get invited, then it's not good at all...

Terry, there have been many "off the radar" players that have really improved the position in the draft or just got noticed just by their participation and play in the Senior Bowl.

Why do you think DJ is there? He is there to improve his chances at being drafted higher and he might be taking someone's spot who really wanted to be there but was bumped and IS actually a Senior whose eligibility has actually expired.

The Senior Bowl is not for Great Junior players like DJ Fluker, it is for unknown Senior players like: Garrett Gilkey of Chadron State, and JC Tretter of Cornell IMO.

The week-long practice that precedes the game is attended by key NFL personnel (including coaches, general managers, and scouts), who oversee the players as possible prospects for pro football. At one point the Senior Bowl was the first chance its participants had to openly receive pay for participation in an athletic event. This was one reason that participation was limited to seniors whose eligibility for further participation in collegiate football had expired, and the game was also their first exposure to the slightly different professional rules.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senior_Bowl

Who plays in the Senior Bowl? Each year, the Senior Bowl rosters feature the nation’s top senior collegiate football players and NFL draft prospects on teams representing the North and South.

http://www.seniorbowl.com/faq.asp#faq6

Here is someone else who shouldn't be there sniffing around:

Ex-LSU star ‘Honey Badger’ Mathieu attends Senior Bowl practices


http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports...446_story.html

[planomateo]

I honestly don't care about the others who aren't there, so lets focus on the positive.

He doesn't look 355 lbs. Combine that with being 6 foot 4-7/8" and having a HUGE wingspan of 87".

[0LDSCH00L]

I honestly don't care about the others who aren't there, so lets focus on the positive.

He doesn't look 355 lbs. Combine that with being 6 foot 4-7/8" and having a HUGE wingspan of 87".

I am not trying to be negative at all. Like I have always said, I love DJ Fluker. This doesn't have anything to do with him, this is only about the Senior Bowl and the precedent they might be setting here by letting a Junior with eligibility left participate in the Senior Bowl.

If they start doing this for everyone where will it end? Where will it leave those unheralded Seniors who have always seen the Senior Bowl as their only chance to get noticed?

I will admit that I am obsessive about doing what's right and fair for everyone involved...

I am just sticking up for those guys...

[uagrad93]

This is just 1 more game where a kid will get 30-35 reps. A school's Pro Day and the NFL Combine will be where this little known kids jump out at scouts and coaches!

Mathieu was only there to watch. He isn't participating.