All of our teams suffer from this affliction. Here is how some of the Irish have fared who left South Bend with eligibility left for fame and fortune in the league where they play for pay. George Atkinson, Jr.: Practice squad for the Oakland Raiders Stephon Tuitt : 1 tackle with the Pittsburgh Steelers Louis Nix: on the bench for 3 games. Put on IR after . Houston Texans Troy Niklas : i catch for 16 yards on the year for Arizona Cardinals
Tough road to follow George! Many players never make it from the getgo, but others survive and flourish. The lust for big money is hard to resist. :cry:
On GAIII, I think he probably looked at the guys coming back and figured he'd get fewer carries as a RB this year than he did last year. And he's right, even though our RB's/Running game has been poor he is not the type of runner who would have done anybetter than the guys we have are doing. You read about guys who play faster than they are or bigger than they are, he's a guy who played smaller than he was. If he is to make it he's going to have to first make it as a gunner on ST and kick returner. On Tuitt: I think he'll be ok, he won't be JJ Watt, but he'll do fine. Plus I'm not sure he's 100%, he was never a 100% last year after the sports hernia surgery and then I think in his workouts pre-draft he injured his foot. On Nix: I think Irish Chocolate has a lot to learn about work ethic. He arrived at ND an overweight ball of potential and he had to be pushed to get into shape. When he had a great year in 2012 he became a local/campus celebrity and clearly he enjoyed that role if you ever watched any of his Youtube videos. He's a Pro now and he's never been 100% since his surgery late last year that took him out for the rest of the 2013 season at ND. He's had another surgery since then, but O'Brien has commented several times that he hasn't learned how to practice like Pro. I think that is why they put him on the IR, they gave up on him for the year and didn't want him taking a spot on the roster while he grows up. Next year he better be ready or it will be cut city for him. I'll bet when he left ND, he was happy to leave behind college and be a Pro. I'll bet right now he sort of misses being a big deal on campus. On Nicklaus: It's tough for WR's and TE's to make much of an impact in their rookie years, routes have to be run much better than in college and the offenses are more complex. Michael Floyd wasn't an instant star and neither was Golden Tate. Took them a year or so to find their way, it'll be the same for Nikklas. I have read that one of the reasons that he came out early was that he's had a couple of concussions and the family was afraid that if he came back and had another concussion or two this year it would markedly affect his draft status. Plus in the Kelly offense a TE like him wasn't going to get Tyler Eifert type of stats to move him up in the draft. Look at how many balls are thrown to Ben Koyack..well he did get one pretty big catch recently.