Jays may sign Alford after all - let him play FB

[satyr9]

BTW, I've done a bit of background on him as an FB prospect...he's a 4-star recruit, but nowhere near where he's ranked in baseball.

He was absolutely one of the top QB recruits in last year's class.

This is a good risk signing, but its hard to really imagine how well it will work out. Letting him play football will hurt his development (these football/baseball things rarely work out), and what really hurts is that he actually ended up at a far lesser football school than his skills suggest. Realistically you'd hope that he'd eventually give up football and play baseball full-time, but the fact that he signed with USM means that he is almost a shoe-in to start and play early. He is their best football sign in years and USM plays in a mid-major conference. Had he ended up at LSU or Alabama he realistically could have rode the bench and been more inclined to give up football.

Yeah best case for something like this is probably Samardizja (sic) where he starts his after h.s. baseball career at 22ish and you end up with a pretty nice controlled player at 26-27. Nothing wrong with that for a 3rd rounder, but that does feel like best case (BTW, I'm sure there's a better case, but that's just what I thought of). Anyway, spending on high upside gambles is totally fine with me. You take enough spins you're gonna hit eventually and the ones that do pay off like crazy.

[Garmfay]

Also Kyle Parker (#4th rated QB recruiting class) Rockies 1st round pick in 2010 gave up Clemson QB job for baseball.

[Homer Jay]

Very few pick Football over Baseball. Non-guaranteed contracts, shorter careers, much more injury risk. An agent will steer him in the right direction.

[torontoaces04]

BTW, I've done a bit of background on him as an FB prospect...he's a 4-star recruit, but nowhere near where he's ranked in baseball.

He was absolutely one of the top QB recruits in last year's class.

This is a good risk signing, but its hard to really imagine how well it will work out. Letting him play football will hurt his development (these football/baseball things rarely work out), and what really hurts is that he actually ended up at a far lesser football school than his skills suggest. Realistically you'd hope that he'd eventually give up football and play baseball full-time, but the fact that he signed with USM means that he is almost a shoe-in to start and play early. He is their best football sign in years and USM plays in a mid-major conference. Had he ended up at LSU or Alabama he realistically could have rode the bench and been more inclined to give up football.

He was the #10 ranked QB by scouts.com, overall he was #135, so he's not a "can't miss" prospect by any definition. Also, a 6'1 QB is the equivalent of a 5'9 starting pitcher in baseball. He does have the inside track to the starters job with Austin Davis leaving, but it's far from a given. Although I'm sure everyone has heard of USM's most famous Alumni, Brett Favre, they are far from a football powerhouse.

He's a great football player, but he's a terrific baseball player...and being 6'1, he's not getting signed for anywhere near what he'd make in the MLB, if at all. The heights of the top 7 QB's drafted last year; 6'4, 6'2, 6'4, 6'4, 6'7, 6'3, 6'5. The QB who was 6'2 was RG3, who was a phenom...

To make a long story short, he's choosing baseball.

[-MetA4-]

He was the #10 ranked QB by scouts.com, overall he was #135, so he's not a "can't miss" prospect by any definition.

College football and recruiting is my other sport obsession and I just so happen to be a die-hard Auburn fan, which is incidentally right in line location/conference/area-wise to Alford. He was absolutely a top football recruit; top-level SEC caliber. What you have to take into account when trying to analyze his football recruiting ranking is that there are 30 MLB teams in comparison to 120 Division 1 football programs. What does that mean? It means that being a Top 150 football recruit is more or less the equivalent of being a "1st round talent" if you were to apply the draft principle to football recruiting.

Also, a 6'1 QB is the equivalent of a 5'9 starting pitcher in baseball.

No its not. 6'1 is subpar height; but to compare it to being a 5'9 pitcher is absurd. Being shorter simply means that he'll have to possess other tools...which he does: his absolutely elite athleticism for the position.

To make a long story short, he's choosing .baseball

Sorry, but if he likes football better then thats likely what he will choose. Russell Wilson chose football over baseball and he's a sub-5'11 QB.

[torontoaces04]

He was the #10 ranked QB by scouts.com, overall he was #135, so he's not a "can't miss" prospect by any definition.

College football and recruiting is my other sport obsession and I just so happen to be a die-hard Auburn fan, which is incidentally right in line location/conference/area-wise to Alford. He was absolutely a top football recruit; top-level SEC caliber. What you have to take into account when trying to analyze his football recruiting ranking is that there are 30 MLB teams in comparison to 120 Division 1 football programs. What does that mean? It means that being a Top 150 football recruit is more or less the equivalent of being a "1st round talent" if you were to apply the draft principle to football recruiting.

Also, a 6'1 QB is the equivalent of a 5'9 starting pitcher in baseball.

No its not. 6'1 is subpar height; but to compare it to being a 5'9 pitcher is absurd. Being shorter simply means that he'll have to possess other tools...which he does: his absolutely elite athleticism for the position.

To make a long story short, he's choosing .baseball

Sorry, but if he likes football better then thats likely what he will choose. Russell Wilson chose football over baseball and he's a sub-5'11 QB.

I think we're both making a lot of assumptions. I'll agree to disagree on the height aspect, because I wholeheartedly believe his height is a HUGE disadvantage.

Let's just both hope he chooses baseball..

[dagger]

It's interesting that he went from "don't draft me" to "i'll sign and decide later". That could have been his position all along, but it wasn't. And surely, everyone knows the two-sport precedents from past drafts.

I'm not sure the dollars changed his thinking or that AA/Tinnish were that persuasive. But some time has gone by since his commit to S. Miss, and there has been an awful lot of bad publicity for football because of head injuries. There has been the bounty scandal in New Orleans, and lots of stories about dead and dying retired players. if I were his father I'd be urging him to hedge his bets and give harder look to that safer, more lucrative sport of baseball he must also like playing. And maybe the Jays gave him the out to do just that and lock in some nice bonus money.

[Al_Oliver]

Brees is the only successful, current QB in the NFL that is around 6'. I can't think of any others.
If you aren't 6'3" at least, a lot of teams won't even give you the time of day

[satyr9]

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I think where you're disagreeing is more about his prospect value after NCAA vs. his prospect value for the NCAA. Being a 100ish ranked prospect does make a first rounder equivalent for 120 div I schools, but being the 10th best QB in a single year, under-sized, and going to a mid-major does not give you a great chance of being a high-end NFL QB draft prospect. Of course no one of those things means he can't play pro-ball, but he does have enough in his way, when it's already a pretty tough haul, that imagining he'll end up in baseball professionally isn't that crazy a notion. He could have 3-4 great years starting at USM and still have almost no shot at pro football, 'cause the competition for QB jobs in the NFL is pretty darn steep. I'm not saying I know anything, just that aces04 seems to be talking about Alford's professional prospect status not being elite and met is talking about his NCAA prospect status being elite, which IMO it appears that both of you are right. For instance, were 10 QBs selected in the last pro draft? Does anyone have any belief we'll see much of more than 1 fluke guy drafted after the 3rd round (QB specifically, not all positions)? Sure there are Brady freak picks and more commonly Cassel types (and I hate the Pats), but they're like 8-10 round MLB picks, maybe 1/30 actually amount to anything.

I will say 6'1" isn't that insurmountable a problem IMO. If he plays well enough to have a legit shot at a real pro football career, being 2-3 inches under ideal won't stop him (as long as he's a legit 6'1" and not really 5'11", but that's a matter for the combine). Also, it's not exactly unheard of for an 18 year-old to grab another inch or two before he's 22 and would render the point totally moot, unlike say a 5'9" college guy who isn't ever going to be anything but a midget for his position, who still went in the first round anyway 'cause he can bring it.

[polo007]

http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/arti ... otball-USM

Alford is expected to report to the Blue Jays’ minor league facility in Dunedin, Fla., today, where he will undergo a physical before attending mini-camp.

He’ll spend the next two weeks in the Blue Jays’ instructional league before returning to Hattiesburg on June 23.

Every summer after this year, Alford will spend 4-7 weeks in the Blue Jays’ minor league system.

“I discussed everything with my family and all of my coaches for quite a while,” he said. “Basically, I came to the conclusion that this is what is best for me and my family.”

The former Petal star quarterback, who led the Panthers to their first-ever playoff victory during his senior year and a Class 6A South State title, said he had many discussions with the Golden Eagle football coaching staff before coming to a decision.

“Coach (Ellis) Johnson and I, we talked,” Alford said. “Coach Johnson was all for it.”

Alford declined to comment on the terms of the deal he reached with the Blue Jays, but according to a Baseball America report, his contract will be worth close to double the $424,400 value assigned to the 112th overall pick.

[Moxie]

Hmm. I was hoping they'd have him longer than 4-7 weeks per year...

[Schad]

Hmm. I was hoping they'd have him longer than 4-7 weeks per year...

It's a gamble that he'll quit football in the next year or two, essentially. If he does, we get a prospect who wasn't expected to sign at all for $1m or less.