Born in Wilson, NC, he was a Parade All-American who also won a track state championship running the 4×200. He continued his athletic career at UNC where he was a dual-sport athlete, playing for Bill Guthridge’s nationally ranked basketball team. Then, the stars aligned and the Carolina Panthers had a chance to draft him #2 overall in the 2002 draft.

In only his second season with the team, the Panthers went to the Super Bowl, narrowly losing to the New England Patriots, and what should have been the start of an iconic career was instead a the beginning of a tragic fall. Peppers always stayed out of the limelight, often ignoring reporters, and rarely associated with his teammates. Despite his production on the field (he’s been to the Pro Bowl five times), some fans felt he had a habit of disappearing for several weeks at a time.

When Panthers captain Mike Minter retired prior to the 2007 season, Panthers owner Jerry Richardson called for a meeting with his head coach and his best defensive player. At the meeting Richardson challenged Peppers to become the leader of the defense, and went as far as pushing Coach Fox to name him a defensive captain. Peppers never embraced this role, and performed miserably in 2007, putting up a career-low 2.5 sacks. Peppers was replaced as captain by second-year player Jon Beason, who embraced the role.

Tired of the expectations placed on him by Richardson and Fox, Peppers demanded a trade to escape the spotlight that comes with being the hometown hero. The Panthers weren’t about to give up their best player without compensation, so they exercised the franchise tag and attempted to move him in a deal similar to the one the Chiefs got for Jared Allen the year before. The market for Peppers never developed the way the Panthers anticipated, and the best offer was one centered around a New England second-round pick.

The Panthers elected to pay Peppers the value of his franchise tag (over $1m per game), with the intention of re-evaluating the market after this season. Peppers performed as he always has, flashes of brilliance interspersed with long periods of complacency. At this point the Panthers elected to make only a courtesy last-minute offer before saying good-bye to the player whose potential is unmatched in the league.

Bears fans who know Peppers only from NFL Live will undoubtedly be excited about a player with Peppers’ highlight reel, but check back in a year and let me know if the aloof DE was worth the exorbitant price-tag he will command. Consider this a fair warning.

But whatever team drafts him will be vastly overpaying for the former star of Stillwater, OK. This principle is easy to illustrate with the 2007 number 2 overall pick, Calvin Johnson.

Johnson has been nothing short of electric during his time with the Lions, racking up stats no Detroit receiver since Herman Moore has approached. But the Lions have remained in the cellar of the NFC North, and are paying Johnson 64 million over 6 years with 28 million guaranteed.

Retroactively, it’s easy to see the Lions would be better off with a cornerstone LT taken one pick later, Joe Thomas of Wisconsin. Free agent LTs earn wages more in-line with the deal given to CJ, a contract that was an albatross on the Lions books the day it was signed.

According to recent NFL mock drafts, and cap gurus, the St. Louis Rams are in a tight bind with their number one overall pick. The top guy on their board, Ndomokong Suh, is clearly an elite player and one of the best prospects to come out of college in several years. If the NFL’s rookie salary slotting system worked more like the NBA’s, there’s no question that the Rams would make Suh their pick.

Unfortunately in the NFL, the top overall pick will earn compensation that will place him among the highest paid players in the game. The Rams, who have spent 3 of their last 4 first round picks along the defensive line, can ill afford to invest more cap room into the position, especially given their glaring need at QB.

According to Daniel Jeremiah at MoveTheSticks.com, Bradford measured in a shade over 6-4 carrying 236 pounds on his frame. If team doctors give him a clean bill of health, expect the Rams to nab their QB of the future with the pick.

During high school he was one of the most highly recruited players in the nation who chose Florida State over a host of other schools, but never made it to Tallahassee. Now, five years and a sanitation management job later, Andy Staples at SI.com takes a look at Mr. Bright and his NFL dreams.

Speaking of the sanitation job, Bright had this to say “Actually, it’s better than other jobs. You work from 7 to about 11, but you get paid until 4. The sooner you get done, the sooner you go home. You get full benefits — dental, health.”

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/andy_staples/02/24/bright/index.html#ixzz0gbG2WQqS

Cox has displayed world-class talent at times including his performance earlier in the season against UGA’s AJ Green (viewable below). His off-the-field decision-making has been questionable, however, and his postseason workouts (including the Senior Bowl) will determine how early he comes off the board in the draft.

In Mobile last week Cox started the week relatively anonymously, not making a name for himself in positive or negative ways. As we shifted to team practices later in the week, however, he was able to display the skills and instincts that made him a Thorpe award semifinalist successfully jumping several routes, and making himself an overall nuisance to the opposing QB.

Cox has shown tremendous versatility, and will be a great corner in a system where both man and zone schemes are featured equally. Due to his size (5′10.5″), he will probably not be a fit for any of the teams still running the vintage Tampa 2.

If Cox shows up to the combine and runs the times he’s capable of he will be a great pick late in the first round. If he slips up and his 40 time isn’t where it needs to be, expect someone to get a great value in the second round. Cox is a blue-chip CB who will be an immediate impact corner in the NFL.

Look forward to an upcoming series of articles evaluating the highly regarded prospects for this upcoming NFL draft.

This is an exciting time here at 3PC, and we thank all our loyal readers and hope you’ll find his analysis as interesting as I have over the years.

This documentary focuses on the player attrition from Kentucky in the wake of John Calipari’s hiring.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4782616&categoryid=2378529

So Urban did the right thing, he decided to leave coaching, to take it easy and spend time with the kids. He had a health scare and he wanted to spend some time at home, after taking Florida from SEC power to National power. The response was overwhelming, the pundits were out in force, and the college football universe was shocked. As Meyer and Florida AD Jeremy Foley watched, SportsCenter decided to air a one-hour special on the Urban Meyer story. The response was titanic, and far greater than anticipated. This began to hurt the program, a program already searching to replace its Defensive Coordinator, and losing (potentially) quite a few top flight NFL draft picks off the defensive side of the ball, not to mention “the greatest leader to ever play” from the offense. Meyer has recruited extremely well to Gainesville in the time that he’s been there and there is no reason to expect the underclassmen won’t perform, but if he was going to walk away from that mess less than 6 weeks from signing day it would have left the program in a tough bind.

I believe that Meyer and Foley then reconsidered their plan, and determined that Meyer would be fit to continue as head coach, but more in the role of General Manager, rather than Head Coach. Meyer would begin to play the Bobby Bowden/Joe Paterno role, closing on big recruits, calling out generally impertinent tidbits on the sidelines, and answering media inquiries while the assistant coaches handle the day-to-day coaching of the football team. It is obvious that Meyer needs to tone down his on-the-job intensity a few ratchets, but can the super-competitive Meyer ever be satisfied turning over the keys to Ferrari he built? Especially the first time he sees a game, or even a call, he didn’t like? If Florida expects this transition to go smoothly, they need to bring in a very good defensive coordinator hire, a self-motivated hard working individual who Meyer will trust with his program. The only problem is, that guy just got hired at Louisville to be their HC and he’s not coming back to Florida for anything short of the head job. Same goes for Dan Mullen, who had an excellent first season at MSU, and is putting together an impressive recruiting class.

He’s already made his run at Bud Foster from Virginia Tech, who turned him down. Look for Meyer to go after more accomplished defensive coordinators who have been in the running for HC gigs at lesser schools. Brent Venables of OU would be an ideal choice and it will be interesting to see if UF will pull out its SEC pursestrings for this hire, which, for the record must be an absolute home-run.

Texas Tech will not hire a coach who can be as successful as Mike Leach. Lubbock, TX is a desert devoid of all hope and life; a recruiting nightmare for a college coach. Leach took an innovative system, coupled with a Big 12 membership and turned Texas Tech into an outside contender for the National Championship in 2008. If you were interested in the success and maintenance of the TTU football program, wouldn’t you take some time to investigate these claims before dismissing the greatest coach in your program’s history? There are several factors at work driving Leach’s immediate dismissal. Firstly, Leach and AD Gerald Myers have never gotten along, reportedly as far back as 2001 when Leach’s parking spot was reassigned to Bobby Knight. This has festered over the years and has turned into a full-blown feud. The second reason for the immediacy of the firing is the $800,000 bonus due Leach if he were the coach of the Red Raiders tomorrow. To me it seems like TTU made a rash decision based on short-sighted economics and personal feelings, without weighing the positives that Mike Leach has brought to the university.

If I were a fan of the Red Raiders, I would implore the President of the University to take a closer look at this situation. While it seems apparent that one of these men must go, perhaps the wrong one has been shown the door. Mike Leach has earned the right to remain the coach, until these accusations are proven to be more than that. Even if they are, Leach deserves some type of punishment, but it is a rash overreaction to fire the man. Amid the media turmoil, don’t be surprised if Leach sits out a season or two, while the controversy dies down. During his downtime, the Juris Doctorate holder can begin the courtroom battle with the university over the proper compensation due to him. In a couple of years, some new BCS caliber team will be happy to have the captain of the pirate ship patrolling their sidelines.