Nice little article on Ryan Kelly

[PeterBowman]

http://www.espn.com/blog/indianapolis-colts/post/_/id/17502/nick-sabans-emphasis-on-details-helped-prepare-colts-rookie-ryan-Kelly

 

it's not often that when you don't hear much about a player being a good thing....but seems like the coaches aren't worried about him much at all.

[IndyD4U]

What's even more shocking is that this is a positive Mike Wells article about the Colts. 

 

Good read on Kelly 

[Smonroe]

I'm going to make an observation that is not going to be very popular.  It isn't very popular in my own home where everyone but me is a Bama fan and I have a kid attending there.

 

IMHO Saban is a great, great coach especially in his ability to get the most out of a kid.  And sometimes that is the most the kid has.  I'm sure there are exceptions to that observation, guys who were even better as pros.  Obviously, we had a couple guys on our team, Trent and Chapman, who fit what I'm saying.  Guys who peaked or never reached their expected potential.

 

To be clear, I'm not saying that's going to happen to Kelly.  I'm just trying to slow my expectation roll.  If he doesn't make the pro bowl this year, I'm not going to complain.   

[PeterBowman]

Just now, IndyD4U said:

What's even more shocking is that this is a positive Mike Wells article about the Colts.

 

Good read on Kelly

yeah it must be good if Wells is being positive about it lol

[21isSuperman]

13 minutes ago, Smonroe said:

I'm going to make an observation that is not going to be very popular.  It isn't very popular in my own home where everyone but me is a Bama fan and I have a kid attending there.

 

IMHO Saban is a great, great coach especially in his ability to get the most out of a kid.  And sometimes that is the most the kid has.  I'm sure there are exceptions to that observation, guys who were even better as pros.  Obviously, we had a couple guys on our team, Trent and Chapman, who fit what I'm saying.  Guys who peaked or never reached their expected potential.

 

To be clear, I'm not saying that's going to happen to Kelly.  I'm just trying to slow my expectation roll.  If he doesn't make the pro bowl this year, I'm not going to complain.   

Yeah, Alabama has a history of great college players being very average in the pros.  Courtney Upshaw, Trent Richardson, Terrence Cody, Dre Kirkpatrick, Mark Barron, Dee Milliner.  Of course, they do have a lot of players who have become great NFL players, like Julio Jones or Amari Cooper.  But I understand what you mean about tempering expectations with Alabama guys.  With that said, I think Kelly will be solid for us.  I expect him to be our starting C for the next decade, barring major injuries, and I think he'll do a really good job of it too.  All reports have been that he's been very impressive with his knowledge, leadership, and physical skills.

[Valpo2004]

1 hour ago, Smonroe said:

I'm going to make an observation that is not going to be very popular.  It isn't very popular in my own home where everyone but me is a Bama fan and I have a kid attending there.

 

IMHO Saban is a great, great coach especially in his ability to get the most out of a kid.  And sometimes that is the most the kid has.  I'm sure there are exceptions to that observation, guys who were even better as pros.  Obviously, we had a couple guys on our team, Trent and Chapman, who fit what I'm saying.  Guys who peaked or never reached their expected potential.

 

To be clear, I'm not saying that's going to happen to Kelly.  I'm just trying to slow my expectation roll.  If he doesn't make the pro bowl this year, I'm not going to complain.   

 

To be fair, I don't know that much was really expected of Chapman.  He was a 5th round pick and his highest individual award was 2nd team All SEC one year.  

 

I think he was played up a bit because he played for Alabama.  But the individual awards, draft status and everything is just not there.

 

I'm also noticing that no one has taken a flyer out on him or invited him to their camp this year after the Colts let him go.  As terrible as Trent was with the Colts, 2 teams brought him into camp after Indy let him go.  That's because his great college career brought him some 2nd chances.  

[ReMeDy]

If he does better than Samson Satele, I say we found ourselves a real gem, which isn't saying much.

[Steamboat_Shaun]

2 hours ago, Smonroe said:

To be clear, I'm not saying that's going to happen to Kelly.  I'm just trying to slow my expectation roll.  If he doesn't make the pro bowl this year, I'm not going to complain.   

 

Especially if he misses the Pro Bowl due to the fact that he's playing in the Super Bowl ; )

[Smonroe]

51 minutes ago, Valpo2004 said:

 

To be fair, I don't know that much was really expected of Chapman.  He was a 5th round pick and his highest individual award was 2nd team All SEC one year.  

 

I think he was played up a bit because he played for Alabama.  But the individual awards, draft status and everything is just not there.

 

I'm also noticing that no one has taken a flyer out on him or invited him to their camp this year after the Colts let him go.  As terrible as Trent was with the Colts, 2 teams brought him into camp after Indy let him go.  That's because his great college career brought him some 2nd chances.  

 

Right.  My point is that a lot of Bama players either don't play as well as some thought they would, or just don't improve.  Some, like Julio and Cooper, were great at Bama and in the NFL.  Ingram has had an up and down career after winning a Heisman.  Barrett Jones was a very good center, but hasn't made a splash in the NFL (not that many expected him to).

 

You could say that Saban is great at getting the most out of his players, and he does a pretty good job of preparing them for the NFL.  Maybe what you see out of them in college is the best you're going to get.  In Kelly's case, that would be fine.

[Steamboat_Shaun]

1 minute ago, Smonroe said:

 

Right.  My point is that a lot of Bama players either don't play as well as some thought they would, or just don't improve.  Some, like Julio and Cooper, were great at Bama and in the NFL.  Ingram has had an up and down career after winning a Heisman.  Barrett Jones was a very good center, but hasn't made a splash in the NFL (not that many expected him to).

 

You could say that Saban is great at getting the most out of his players, and he does a pretty good job of preparing them for the NFL.  Maybe what you see out of them in college is the best you're going to get.  In Kelly's case, that would be fine.

I think this is especially true of his RBs. He puts an absolute beating on those guys over the course of their careers at Bama. Eddie Lacy is the only one of recent memory that has truly "panned" out, and even that hasn't necessarily been a thing of beauty.

[NewColtsFan]

3 hours ago, Smonroe said:

I'm going to make an observation that is not going to be very popular.  It isn't very popular in my own home where everyone but me is a Bama fan and I have a kid attending there.

 

IMHO Saban is a great, great coach especially in his ability to get the most out of a kid.  And sometimes that is the most the kid has.  I'm sure there are exceptions to that observation, guys who were even better as pros.  Obviously, we had a couple guys on our team, Trent and Chapman, who fit what I'm saying.  Guys who peaked or never reached their expected potential.

 

To be clear, I'm not saying that's going to happen to Kelly.  I'm just trying to slow my expectation roll.  If he doesn't make the pro bowl this year, I'm not going to complain.   

 

You're not alone in that view......    that kids coming out of Alabama have been so well coached-up,  that there's just not that much room for improvement with them.      Are they really going to get that much better?

 

I know that was the view with a number of USC players during the Pete Carroll era.....

 

I'm not worried that Kelly will be one of those.   Offensive lineman are a different breed,  and Kelly seems particularly focused and driven to be as good as he can be.

 

 

[BOTT]

2 hours ago, Smonroe said:

 

Right.  My point is that a lot of Bama players either don't play as well as some thought they would, or just don't improve.  Some, like Julio and Cooper, were great at Bama and in the NFL.  Ingram has had an up and down career after winning a Heisman.  Barrett Jones was a very good center, but hasn't made a splash in the NFL (not that many expected him to).

 

You could say that Saban is great at getting the most out of his players, and he does a pretty good job of preparing them for the NFL.  Maybe what you see out of them in college is the best you're going to get.  In Kelly's case, that would be fine.

I think you could say that about a lot of dominant programs over the years.  USC and FSU had tons of guys that were all but forgotten in the pros.  I'm not sure it has anything to do with Saban...just hard to judge when a team has tons of talent.

 

plus, Dareus, Hightower, Clinton Dix, Landon Collins, Fluker (be a better guard IMO), CJ Mosley are all pretty damn good.

[Valpo2004]

20 hours ago, Steamboat_Shaun said:

I think this is especially true of his RBs. He puts an absolute beating on those guys over the course of their careers at Bama. Eddie Lacy is the only one of recent memory that has truly "panned" out, and even that hasn't necessarily been a thing of beauty.

 

I tend to believe that they run behind O-lines that are just so dominate that they just go overrated.  I'm not sure it's so much the beating they take because it seems like Alabama graduates a new top RB every year so it's almost like they only act as the primary back for 1 year, 2 at most.  

 

I've noticed it with Wisconsin RB's as well.