Blue White Illustrated

The news broke only hours before the ball was set to drop on New Year's Eve that Bill O'Brien had accepted an offer to become the Houston Texans' next head coach. Two days later, something else dropped: the hearts of all those Penn State fans who had hoped to see junior wide receiver Allen Robinson spend one more season in University Park. Those hopes were officially dashed when Robinson announced his intention to follow O'Brien into the NFL, forgoing his final year of eligibility as a Nittany Lion. In the time since he made that an- nouncement, Robinson has trained in Tampa, performed at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis and improved his marks at the Penn State pro day in March at Holuba Hall. All the while, fans have been left to wonder whether or not the decision to leave early was a wise one, NEWS & NOTES F O O T B A L L THE NFL DRAFT AT A GLANCE WHEN First round starts at 8 p.m. Thursday, May 8; rounds two and three start at 7 p.m. Friday, May 9; rounds four through seven begin at noon Saturday, May 10 WHERE Radio City Music Hall, New York TV ESPN/ESPN2 and the NFL Network will air all three rounds of the dra0 READY FOR HIS CLOSE-UP Robinson's biggest asset is his ability to outduel cornerbacks and make plays downfield, Kiper said. Robinson seen as second- or third-round pick John Beale especially considering the crowded field of wideouts in this year's NFL Draft class. That answer isn't likely to come until Robinson's name is announced at some point during the weekend of May 8-10. And as ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. re- cently pointed out, players aren't neces- sarily able to see the big picture when they are making up their minds about whether to leave school early. "Nobody knows how many kids are going to be coming out and… nine of the top 10 receivers [this year] are under- classmen," he said. "So it's a tough call when you're an underclassman coming out and you see everybody joining you. It's not the optimum situation. "But he's the kind of guy I think about as a second- or third-round pick. Prob- ably more of a three right now with questions about his speed, but he made a lot of big catches down the field." Kiper certainly won't get any argu- ment from Penn State fans on the latter point. Finishing with 97 receptions for 1,432 yards and six touchdowns, Robinson followed his record-setting sophomore season, in which he won Big Ten Receiv- er of the Year honors, with an even more productive junior campaign in 2013. Not only did he repeat as the conference's top wideout, he also received first-team All-America notice. And he played a central role in a game that is likely to go down in Penn State lore as one of the greatest of all-time, catching a Hail Mary pass from Christian Hackenberg to set up the tying touchdown in an even- tual triple-overtime victory over Michi- gan. Of course, heading into the draft, Robinson's competition is no longer in the form of Wolverines or Buckeyes. On the list that Kiper released in April of the top 100 players in the draft, a stunning 19 were wide receivers, includ- ing Clemson's Sammy Watkins, Texas A&M's Mike Evans, USC's Marqise Lee and Vanderbilt's Jordan Matthews. (Matthews, coincidently, was coached by Josh Gattis, who would have been Robinson's position coach at Penn State had he elected to return for his senior season.) "Had he gone back for another year, he probably would have been a late one or early two if he could have gotten that speed improved and could have gotten that 40 time up," Kiper said. "But right now, because of the talent level at the wide receiver spot and the overall depth, I'll say third round." Since making the decision to turn pro, Robinson has focused intently on speed. After he turned in a 4.60-second 40- yard time in Indianapolis, he was said to lack "elite top-end speed" according to the NFL's official Combine Player Pro- D R A F T N O T E B O O K B Y N A T E B A U E R Kiper envisions possible reunion in Houston Could defensive tackle DaQuan Jones be headed to Houston? Although scouts' evaluations of Jones vary wild- ly heading into the draft, analyst Mel Kiper Jr. said recently that any of Bill O'Brien's former proteges could end up finding a home with the Texans. "He coached a lot of guys at Penn State who are in the mix," said Kiper, referring specifically to Jones, receiver Allen Robinson and middle linebacker Glenn Carson. "And then there are the guys he played against, which would be [UCF quarterback Blake] Bortles, who went into Happy Valley and beat him. … They usually go back to the players they're familiar with, and that would be players he played against and the guys he coached at Penn State." CARSON UNDERRATED? With Penn State having produced some of the NFL's best linebackers over the past decade, the league might have made a mistake by failing to include Carson, a three-year starter for the Nittany Lions, on the list of combine par- ticipants, Kiper said. "The underrated inside linebacker to me is Glenn Carson at Penn State," he said. "Not invited to the combine, but I thought he had a nice career, a fairly productive career." URSCHEL RISING John Urschel im- proved his draft stock with a strong showing in March at Penn State's pro day. A two-year starter at offensive guard, Urschel recorded a 5.2-second 40 time while also turning in top per- formances in the bench press and ver- tical jump. In so doing, he put himself in position to possibly hear his name called during the draft. GILLIAM TALKS DECISION Penn State fans are no doubt lamenting the graduation of offensive tackle Garry Gilliam, who received a sixth season of eligibility from the NCAA but opted not to use it. The Nittany Lions will be extremely thin at offensive tackle this coming season and could have used another veteran at the position, but on Penn State's pro day, Gilliam explained his thinking. "I got my degrees. I had triple ma- jors, finished two of them, almost fin- ished the third," he said. "I got out healthy, so there was no point in try- ing to push an extra season. And I'm al- ready 23. I would have been 24 playing another season. So your risk of injury gets a little bit higher. I'm healthy, so I figured I'd take my shot now." DaQUAN JONES John Beale

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