With the 2010 NFL now in the rear view mirror, the time has come to look forward towards the next stage in the season; the 2011 NFL Draft. We begin looking at this year's draft class by taking a glance at the most important position on the football field, quarterback. In all the prior recent draft classes, there has always been a surefire, NFL-ready signal caller at the top of the board, however, with Andrew Luck's decision to return to Stanford for another year, the 2011 draft is without one. So we chose to to look at one of the guys that could be the first QB called in April, Blaine Gabbert.
Having chosen to forgo his senior year at Missouri, Gabbert has leaped into the conversation as the top QB prospect. At 6-5/235, Gabbert has the ideal NFL frame that most scouts love. In his two years starting in the Mizzou spread offense, he threw for nearly 7000 yards and 40 TDs against only 18 picks. Gabbert is accurate for the most part and has a big arm. Everything sounds positive for this former Tiger, however the issues arise from the offense he played in at Mizzou. Being a spread, Gabbert's stats may just be a product of this system and the QB has taken the vast majority of snaps from the shotgun. Gabbert will have to adjust to the pro-style offense and learn to take the ball from under center. 18-8 as the signal caller for the Tigers, Gabbert has experience as a winner though his inability to win the games will be looked down upon, especially his 0-2 record in bowls. In this relatively weak quarterback draft class however, Gabbert should be the one of if not the first gunslinger chosen. Unless any of the others can step it up between now and April 28th, the future looks bright for this young man.
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