Number 3 on our Bowl Roster is the San Diego Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. For a meaningless bowl game, it was actually a pretty good game. It came down to the very end, where an upset was a good possibility. As for future NFL prospects, it was a battle of ILBers. For TCU, there was Tank Carder, and for Louisiana Tech, there was Adrien Cole. The Jets could use some speed and coverage skills to replace Bart Scott in the near future.
TCU
Tank Carder ILB: Besides having a great name, Tank is a decent ILB prospect. Carder was all over the field, and in on more plays than not. At 6'3" 235, he is a bit under sized, but it didn't slow him down. He was coming off blocks left and right to get in on plays. He plays bigger than he actually is. I thought his best play of the day, was on a screen pass. He very quickly diagnosed the play, and was quickly in on the receiver to blow up the play. When Tank dropped back into coverage, he did his job, and wasn't really thrown at much. At the end of the game, Tank had 4 tackles and 1 pass broken up. His stats for the year are: 70 Tackles, 4.5 for a loss, 2 INTs, and 3 passes broken up. The GGM Round Prediction: 3-4
Louisiana Tech
Adrien Cole ILB: The other ILBer in this game was Adrien Cole. Adrien is a whopping 5'11". Cole did not play up to his 2011 stats. He had some valuable tackles to save potential TDs, but there wasn't much else to praise. Against the run, Cole was taken out of every play. Whenever he was engaged with a bigger blocker, his play was over. Unlike Tank, Cole was not able to break away from defenders to make plays. He is projected to run a 4.7 40, but he looked quicker than that. I have to think he just had a bad game. He ended the game with 7 tackles. His stats for the year are: 127 Tackles, 13 for a loss, 2 sacks, 5 passes broken up, 4 QB hurries, 1 FF, and 3 punts/kicks blocked. The GGM Round Prediction: 5-6
Next bowl game to watch: Maaco Bowl
Boise State VS. Arizona State
Guys to watch: Vontaze Burfict ILB, George Iloka S, Shea McCellen OLB/DE, Nate Potter OT, Doug Martin RB
When/Where: Thursday December 22nd, 8 PM ESPN