- 2010 NFL Draft Player Rankings by Position

In High School in Decatur, Alabama, Rolando McClain was a star athlete. McClain stared on the basketball team and played almost every snap on the football team. He was an All-State tight end on the offensive side of the ball and ran their defense as a linebacker. McClain was named on everyone's top 25 list coming out of High School and was named the top player in the State of Alabama; he was also a Parade All-American.

There are a lot of people that could learn from McClain's dedication and ethics. He committed to Alabama while Mike Shula was the Head Coach. After Shula's firing the University of Alabama was wondering what McClain would do and if his commitment would still be there. After the Offensive-Defensive All-American game he was quoted as saying "Well you see it on my hat, I have an Alabama do tag on and I have an Alabama undershirt on to." This was just McClain being McClain. Once he committed to Alabama, it didn't matter to him who the head coach was going to be because he had already committed to go there and would not back down from his commitment.

Nick Saban and McClain arrived at the University at the same time and have made a great combination the past three years. His freshman year at the University of Alabama McClain started 8 of 13 games and recorded the 4th most tackles on the team with 75 also recording two interceptions and a sack. His most impressive game was the Iron Bowl against Auburn, recording 15 tackles; he was a complete terror.

While the Auburn game may have been his best performance of the year, in the Petro Sun Independence Bowl he showed just how tough he really is. He broke his thumb when he intercepted the ball in the first half and played the whole second half of the game with his had in a make-shift cast helping the Crimson Tide win the game 30 - 24 over Colorado. This was the start of a phenomenal college career.

As a sophomore McClain improved and became more of a defensive leader recording 95 tackles and 3 sacks. Offenses started having to game plan to try and block McClain in particular and for the most part were unable to do so. Ole' Miss head coach Houston Nutt was quoted as saying that McClain was "unblock-able."

McClain's junior season was his best, recording 105 tackles on the Nation's number one defense. He is the field general and anticipates every play better than any middle linebacker in college football. When a QB changes the play at the line of scrimmage, he is on it like a hawk. McClain manipulates the offense like no other player in the game changing the defensive play during the snap count as he anticipates what the offense is going to do and rarely makes a mistake.

McClain is bright both on and off the field. Coah Saban runs a complicated defensive scheme and McClain both understands and implements Saban's system and scheme to a T.. His job is to know what the opposing team is going to do on every play and like a field general put his defensive counter parts in the right position to stop them.

As everyone expected, Rolando McClain declared himself eligible for the NFL draft after his junior season. He is by far the best inside linebacker in the draft and one of the overall best players in the draft.

Many ‘draft experts' have McClain going either eleventh to the Broncos or fifteenth to the Giants but I really don't believe he will be on the board when pick eleven comes around. This will be a defensive draft and don't be surprised if you see teams moving up in the draft to try and get him.

McClain is a very safe pick for any team because teams don't have to worry about what he will do on or off the field. He will be a leader in the locker room his rookie season in the NFL and should be a candidate for Rookie Of The Year.

Personally, I would like to see my team, the Atlanta Falcons, move up in the draft to get him but I don't see that happening as they traded away their second round pick last year to get the All Pro Tight End Gonzalez.

McClain may go as early as third to Tampa Bay or as late as eleventh to the Denver Broncos but there's no way he gets past the Broncos at eleven. Whoever does draft him will have one hell of a player for many years. - Bob Bearden

Bob is a regular guest contributor on sports talk radio in the Southeastern United States. Bob's views and opinions on professional and college sporting events can now be found right here on the MC3 Sports Media's family of websites.

• For more player profiles and complete coverage of this Year's NFL Draft, visit our NFL Draft Prospects Home Page with new profiles being added each week.

If you haven't voted in our polls on the site yet please do so. We are trying to get a feel for how our readers are looking at Football so we can write about things they want to hear. The poll questions are:

"Do you think the NCAA should have a Playoff to determine the National Champion rather than the BCS / Bowl System?"

and

"Should the NFL adopt the NCAA method of Overtime or continue to flip a coin for possession and have sudden death?"

Have a Fantasy Football or Rotisserie baseball question? Want to know who to pick up, who to activate and who the hot prospects are? Ask Dr. Roto. Let Dr. Roto guide your team to a league championship.

Comments (1)

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

Add Comment