Seen 'em all – 132 FBS teams in action. Two newest to be added. All divisions: 681 games since 1979! Get my new book now available on Amazon.com in Kindle and in Paperback: Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun and the Ugly! Featuring essays: "Vision of the Future" and "For the Love of the Game."
Below we featured action photos of players touted for the 2020 draft who we saw play during their careers. See who went where and when. After the draft, we’ll feature some more – amazing, a lot more. Having seen LSU and Alabama play CFP games the last two seasons, we certainly saw a lot of players heading to the NFL. We called it right for a few players on the very end of some wish lists as well. Come back and check us out after all the dealing is done.
Must-see TV
Finally! A live sports show to watch on TV this spring! The NFL draft starting on the evening of April 23. For sure the highlight of social distancing TV season. We look forward to the NFL draft every year to see names come up among all the players we’ve seen in action over the past few years to see who is good enough to continue playing football on Sundays. It’s great to be able to say we saw this great player perform or that one. It thrills us even more to say, we remember this one particular player for a great performance, or a great play, or may have played for a team in a lower division who we just thought was special, and then he shows up making it big when nobody else even heard of the guy before.
When we go back and peruse the pictures of plays we took and see a player considered as a potential draft pick, it makes it that much more fun each spring to reminisce about games we attended and players we saw and recorded for memorable moments to share with others.
Seeing is believing
Researching our many photos of game action over seasons in our recent past, we present our collection of memories to share with you. Some players are already household names. Some are known just to their school’s fan base. Others bring to mind a particular highlight seen in the past. And a small group will make you think, who the heck is that and why is he here? That’s he fun of all this.
Seeing these players in game action provides the truest evaluation of a football player. You can watch the players run sprints, lift weights, jump their highest. Reports will come out that an individual is too slow, or this one’s arms are too short to be an effective blocker or tackler. From the opposite perspective, the remarks state that he’s a QB who’s going to be around along time, or that this player is a top five pick. We’ve seen players over the years earn such reputations on both sides and wondered what the so-called experts see that we don’t. Seeing players in action provides a better perspective than all the off field analysis we hear about. “Seeing is believing” is what we think makes for the best judgment. Whether the players we display below make it to the next level or not, from what we’ve seen, these guys could play on our team any day,
Enjoy!
We start right at the top with No. 1 pick LSU QB Joe Burrow who threw seven TD passes against Oklahoma in the CFP Peach bowl when we saw him perform. Burrow went No. 1 to Cincinnati as expected, but many of his teammates followed him in later rounds including OT Lloyd Cushenberry III (79) who went 83rd to Denver.The second QB most likely to be drafted, Alabama’s Tua Tagliavoiloa, unleashes under pressure against The Sooners in Bama’s CFP win in the 2018 Orange Bowl. Tua went to the Dolphins at No. 5. He may have the opportunity to play again against Oklahoma DT Neville Gallimore (90) who was chosen by the Cowboys at No. 82.Wisconsin Badger RB Jonathan Taylor breezes downfield for a 71-yard TD romp against Penn State. He looks to churn out yards for some team on Sundays in 2020.The Colts picked him 41st in the second round.In 2018, Liberty WR Antonio Gandy-Golden impressed us with this sideline catch as well as others here against UMass and CB Isaiah Rodgers. Look for Gandy-Golden to go early in the draft. Rodgers could go in the late rounds or as a free agent to make it as a pro roster special teams player as well.Gandy-Golden went to the Redskins at No. 143. The analysts seemed to hail him as a steal who will be around quite a while.As predicted here, Rodgers went at No. 211 to the Colts. Joe Reed of Virginia en-route to a 92-yard kick-off return for a touchdown against Georgia Tech in 2017. Later that season in the Military Bowl, we saw him return the opening kickoff 100 yards against Navy for another TD . He may play as a special-teamer for some NFL team in the future. This wide receiver with five career kick-off returns and record receiving yardage at UVA was taken at No. 151 by the Chargers.Penn State CB John Reid will look to step up and make sure tackles on ball carriers at the next level like he did here against Wisconsin.At No. 141, he was drafted by former Penn State Head Coach Bill O’Brien for the Houston Texans. These Sun Dolls from South Florida always seem to be sneaking onto this site.It’s ok. Anytime!Temple LB Shaun Bradley (5) foils a Georgia Tech scoring attempt. Look for him to bring some tenacity wherever he finds a spot in the NFL. He can possibly keep his address and even his locker as the Eagles selected him at No. 196 so he can continue to play at Lincoln Financial Fieldin Philadelphia where the Owls play their home games.BC’s AJ Dillon runs with speed and power for the next level.The Packers chose him to develop their running game late in the second round as pick number 62.Vanderbilt’s WR Kalija Lipscomb hauled this one in for a score against South Carolina. Despite a lot of great receiving talent in this year’s draft, he should get taken in the late rounds.Not selected, things worked out well for him as a free agent.Signed by the World Champion Chiefs!Big Wisconsin offensive linemen like Center Tyler Biadasz (61) will add power and protection where needed in the pros. The Cowboys selected him to fill their void at Center as the final selection in the fourth round.North Dakota State DE Derek Tuszka (91) latching on to Delaware QB’s leg has scouts saying he’s ready to make the leap from FCS national champs to NFL as did fellow Bison, QB Carson Wentz.Denver selected him at No. 254, next to last in the draft.A kicker? We got an eye on one – Tyler Bass of Georgia Southern here in action at Coastal Carolina.Evidently the Bills did, too, and selected him as No. 188.
Louisville’s Mekhi Becton (73) seals off Wake Forest defense in 2017 as Lamar Jackson uses him to his advantage. Scouts consider him a top pick in this year’s draft.The Jets did in particular taking him as the eleventh selection overall.Penn State’s KJ Hamler (1) will become a nice speedy addition with great hands to any team’s receiving corps.KJ went to Denver as draft pick No. 46 joining who we considered the best receiver in this year’s draft from what we’d seen! See below.With all the rushing yards Navy’s QB Malcolm Perry (with football) compiled for the Mids, some team is going to give him a shot to play pro ball.The Dolphins drafted him as a wide receiver as No. 246 in the seventh round.North Carolina’s OT Charlie Heck (67) at 6-8, 315 lbs. who played four years for the Heels with a senior year under Mack Brown should be ready to excel at the next level. He will be heading to the Texans as the 126th pick of 2020.Someone keeps sneaking cheerleader pictures in here among all these exciting game action photos of top players. Guess we’ll have to feature another round of “Beat the coronavirus blues blahs” photos before the draft. After the draft, we’ll have photos of other players who actually got selected in the 2020 draft!TE Thaddeus Moss of LSU (81) follows in his old man Randy’s footsteps to the NFL.Well he didn’t get drafted, but the Redskins signed him as a free agent.Alabama WR Jerry Jeudy demonstrated bursts of speed to smoke the OU secondary like none ever seen before. DBs beware!At No. 15, we think Denver got the best receiver we’d seen in college football over the last few years.South Carolina Gamecock WR Bryan Edwards is a middle round prospect who can excel at the next level.Viva Las Vegas! The Raiders selected him to join them in the desert at No. 81.Penn State DE Yetur Gross-Matos (99) will bring power and speed to pressure QBs and go the distance when a play doesn’t come his way.As the 37th selection overall, he’s headed to Carolina to play for first-year HC Matt Rhule, a former Penn State Linebacker.Wake Forest CB Essang Bassey (21) demonstrated effective coverage that could give him some consideration in the lower rounds. Bassey was one of seven signed as an is undrafted free agent by the Denver Broncos.Minnesota RB Rodney Smith (1) scores one of his eight TDs in 2019 against Rutgers with 1,163 rushing yards. We expect to see him taken late in the draft, but he came up short. He signed on as a free agent with the Panthers. Come back soon so we can help blow away the coronavirus blues!However, we got a lot more pics to share. We can’t believe how many draftees we’ve seen play and caught on camera even when we focus on scenes like this along the sidelines.
