Carlton Davis: Zyon McCollum Is Like An SEC Corner
June 12th, 2022
Rookie talk.
This will allow some Bucs fans to relax.
Joe knows a lot of guys out there get irked that Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht will draft small school players. Joe gets the texts and the e-mails and the angry phone calls and sees the angry comments on this here website.
Most folks, notably SEC fans, are triggered when Licht will draft a guy from Hobart College or Humbolt State or East Cornfield State or West Soybean Patch Tech.
They throw down what’s left of their Bromosa and slam their empty pints on the bar and holler, “What about Arkansas or South Carolina, don’t they have football teams, too? By God, they play in the SEC!”
Licht has been pretty damn good with small school draft picks. So when the Bucs drafted rookie cornerback Zyon McCollum out of Sam Houston State, which happens to be a Division I-AA power, Joe knew people would freak, even though McCollum looked like a man playing with boys there.
Bucs stud cornerback Carlton Davis is an SEC product (Auburn). He too you could say has an SEC bias. And after seeing McCollum through minicamp, Davis said Thursday that McCollum could easily hang in the SEC.
“Even coming from Sam Houston, he still plays as if he was in the SEC,” Davis said. “There is no [drop]-off because of his school. He makes plays and he is a good corner.
“He is going to be a good young corner for us, and I’m going to do everything I can to help him along, help him learn the defense and help him develop as a corner because he has a lot of potential.
“I like him a lot. He’s a long corner. He’s quiet, but he’s vigilant and he understands the game.”
Joe doesn’t know why McCollum wound up at Sam Houston State, just like Joe has no idea how Ali Marpet ended up at Hobart College. (Yes, Joe has heard Marpet try to explain it.) Go look at his high school tape on YouTube and try to tell Joe how Marpet didn’t end up at Penn State or Syracuse or Boston College or Rutgers. Just crazy.
Here is what Joe does know: McCollum balled out where he played. At the end of the day, that’s all that matters: Can you play? It doesn’t matter a damn bit where you played at, but can you play?
Davis believes McCollum can play.
Joe is game-ready.
Thank you, Publix.
Thank you, @BigStormBrewing pic.twitter.com/Tvd7bN360A— JoeBucsFan (@JoeBucsFan) June 9, 2022
June 12th, 2022 at 10:11 am
You know who looked like a man amongst boys at a 1-AA team in college? Randy Moss. I was a student at fellow 1-AA powerhouse Georgia southern at the time and he single-handedly destroyed us.
June 12th, 2022 at 10:22 am
Sorry Joe, some of the paranoid Bucs “fans” would rather talk about Ross Cockrell. Why? I have no idea.
June 12th, 2022 at 10:41 am
There is a thin line between good and great.
June 12th, 2022 at 10:44 am
Joe.. post your email address and phone number 😇
June 12th, 2022 at 10:46 am
I don’t expect anything from him this year, maybe in the return game, but I am very curious to see how he develops over the next two years
June 12th, 2022 at 10:48 am
7% ALC ewe!
June 12th, 2022 at 10:58 am
We must give a shout out to our Tampa Bay Lightning !!!
In the last 8 years-
6 Eastern conference finals.
4 Stanley Cup finals.
Back to back Stanley Cup CHAMPS
Going for 3 in a row.
One year they tied the most points in NHL history.
Win a third in a row they are amongst the greatest NHL teams ever!
June 12th, 2022 at 11:10 am
Well there is prejudice against small school guys, it falls into two camps:
1. Most of the fans here are in SEC territory. The SEC has the most competitive college football in the country. Some of the fans follow their favorite college teams and give the local players a “halo effect” where they go into full-homer mode. But some also know that due to the SEC’s recruiting power, lots of quality athletes matriculate to those schools.
2. There is a real risk in drafting small school players, and it isn’t perceptual. Some guys just look great playing against lesser talents, but not so much when surrounded with NFL talents. Other times a small school guy is fine at Fugazi State in Hicktown, USA, but when they have to play on the big stage, bright lights in a big city with a humongous stadium, they just fold like a cheap suit. I don’t wish the man ill, but Jaelon Darden might prove to be a part of that cautionary tale.
June 12th, 2022 at 11:43 am
This has to be kept in perspective…….we spent a 4th round pick next year for a 5th round pick on Zyon this year…..
So….he’s a 5th round pick…….you aren’t going to get a top SEC CB in the 5th round….
For me, this draft wouldn’t have been complete without a CB….
The more I study this year’s draft, the more I really like it.
June 12th, 2022 at 11:53 am
PassingThru Says:
June 12th, 2022 at 11:10 am
Did not get your 2nd point.
Are you saying that North Texas is somehow a small school. It is a conference USA school. Certainly conference USA is a step down from the SEC but there are a decent number of conference USA guys in the NFL.
As of 2020 NFL players:
SEC 348
Big Ten 264
ACC 208
Pac-12 195
Big 12 133
American 94
C-USA 75
Mountain West 70
Independent 51
MAC 39
Sun Belt 24
Some current Bucs from lesser schools obviously leaving out retired Marpet:
Brate – Harvard
SMB Central Mich
Akiem Hicks – Regina
Ryan Jensen – Colorado State
Scotty Miller – Bowling Green
Aaron Stinne – James Madison
June 12th, 2022 at 12:08 pm
How did the guy end up at SHSU?
If you think NFL draft and scouting is a crap shoot, I can guarantee you scouting HS is even more difficult outside the “blue chip” players.
An NFL scout sees a man, not a boy, and makes a projection. A college scout sees boys and tries to figure out what kind of physical man he’ll be.
That’s even more of a crapshoot.
June 12th, 2022 at 12:17 pm
Lt. Dan is thrilled to hear Davis’ remarks about McCollum but Lt. Dan s still pissed that he cannot find Tangerine Bromosa in Virginia!
June 12th, 2022 at 12:21 pm
Excellent point Cobraboy. ‘Crapshoot’ sounds about right.
Been a huge Bama fan for many years (OK, I know it’s not a small school). What impresses me so much each season is how Nick Saban will get 2nd, 3rd & even 4th string guys experience in the 2nd half instead of just running up the score like some do. Pays huge dividends IMO during the season when injuries strike (and they always do) as well as in follow-on seasons when those guys become starters themselves.
Most NFL games aren’t runaways I know, but I’d really like to see the Bucs get some of our non-starters some playing time where we can. I know that Tom Brady hates to come out, but once we’ve got the game in-hand, keeping him in means that we’ve got to keep our other starters in too. So we end up missing the opportunity to get some of these guys playing time, as well as increasing the risk that Brady AND our other starters will get injured in a game we’ve already put away. It’ll be interesting to see if Todd Bowles handles those situations any differently than BA did.
June 12th, 2022 at 12:27 pm
Big Storm is in Jersey?
Where you at in Virginia, Lt. Dan?
June 12th, 2022 at 12:49 pm
If you can play the NFL will find you. This is a silly thread when you see how many players from small schools become great players. Anyone who thinks they know more more then the scouting departments in the NFL are fools.
June 12th, 2022 at 12:56 pm
It’s in Jersey, but not Live Oak (Publix)!? Criminal!! GO BUCS!!!
June 12th, 2022 at 1:26 pm
My girlfriend is at Publix.. gonna try bromosa
June 12th, 2022 at 1:53 pm
Vernon Hargeaves was also an SEC corner. Means nothing
June 12th, 2022 at 2:02 pm
You’re name is Donald Dechico, you went to Hobart college.
June 12th, 2022 at 2:02 pm
Your
June 12th, 2022 at 2:55 pm
@Geno
Conference USA is the college football equivalent of a “mid-major” conference. The legit college powers “the majors” come from the SEC, Big 10, PAC 12, ACC, and Big 12. Those conferences recruit the best high school talent, and have by far the largest budgets to develop and pamper them. Hell, my high school has graduated more noteworthy NFL players than North Texas.
June 12th, 2022 at 3:24 pm
Last year we drafted a corner with sub 4.4 speed at 6’2 or 3″ and he didn’t even make the practice squad.
Bring on the preseason.
June 12th, 2022 at 3:57 pm
“Davis Island” is impressed… ZM tested extremely high at the combine. Obviously he has the goods.
I’m sure he will see plenty of action during preseason. Can’t wait to get some NFL film on this kid to watch.
June 12th, 2022 at 4:27 pm
200 lbs, 6-3, 4.3 speed DB has me excited as hell
June 12th, 2022 at 5:44 pm
I looked up who last year’s corner pick was: Cris Wilcox.
I have to admit: draftniks have mostly good things to say about ZM, but none cared much for CW. Well except they praised his size and straight line speed.
Hopefully ZM works out.
June 12th, 2022 at 6:19 pm
I’m watching the Bandits/Breakers game today and lo and behold, a Bucs/Saints game broke out.
June 12th, 2022 at 8:52 pm
Scotty in Fat Antonio Says:
It looked like a Bucs-Saints game, too, with the Breakers D living in the Bandit O backfield…
June 13th, 2022 at 8:19 am
@ATL, Yeah the Bromosa is a little strong but many of the Big Storms are are in the normal 4% ball park like Tropic Pressure and the Bay beer. They all taste great.
June 13th, 2022 at 7:42 pm
@Joe
He was had an agreement to Utah, but per his twin brother Tristan:
“Utah is very far away, and we knew that staying in Houston would be a huge plus. The way that the teams and coaches treated us played a huge factor in our decision. Sam Houston really, really wanted us, and we ultimately wanted to go to the team that was feeling us the most.”