There you go Aramanti!! Tell them what’s up. Don’t need no stinkin “FBS” school. The “FBS” I’m referring to here is “full of bull spit” school. hehehe.

Yes, but you’re missing the point. If Armanti was playing at App (as an FBS school), the question would not have been asked and he would be looked upon more favorably.

There’s always the “Yes, but he did it against weak competition” issue.

Let’s face reality. No one respets the FCS. Time to move out of mom and dad’s basement and get our own pad.

So you are saying if he played at a FBS school (or if he played at App as an FBS school) he would magically be 3-5 inches taller and 20 pounds of muscle heavier?
The combine is like a meat market, all they are looking at is the numbers.

If he had played at an FBS school, he’d probably be at the combine as a DB. Complete BS question, who asked him that, Midwest?

HYPOTHETICAL:

2 min warning, game is on the line, out of the qb’s in this draft who would want lining up?

combine can show how a player may be in pratice but game tape shows how a player will react to pressure. i’ll throw AE up against anyone in that category. the man makes miracles happen on a consistent basis.

All I can say is I love AE!

One of the announcers doing the broadcast yesterday repeatedly said that AE had ’some magic about him’.

That is the most ridculous statement I’ve ever heard midwest. Your FBS desires are taking over the logical side of your brain.

I believe that took place a long time ago, herbie. It’s to the point now that it’s comical and, for the most part, ignored.

One thing is for sure. None of those other guys standing with him have two consecutive NCAA legitimate championships, and none of them have played in a playoff format, which to my recollection is how the Super Bowl winner is decided.

None of them put up numbers like he did, weak or strong competition, it takes talent to put up those kinds of numbers especially at his size.

It’s possible if he was an FBS, he would have not started until his Senior year and Michigan would still have some pride.

Just saying.

I hate that AE didnt get to run at the combine. I think that ability would have helped him distinguish himself from the others. I didnt really think just throwing would prove to much. All these guys can throw or they wouldnt be there.

i think him not running in the combine will only help him get looked at as more of qb anyways. nobody really questions his athleticism.

i actually think the hamstring was really just an excuse not to run. even if it is real i doubt it’s much of an issue.

Dont think the combine did anything to hurt or better his chances. I’m still thinking he will be a late round pick and a steal for some team. I think having a kid at 18 and his father being in jail for a lot of his youth has really helped him in the maturation department. I hope teams don’t overlook some of his personal qualities that go along with armanti edwards, the player. that kind of stuff i believe gives him a step over some other “big boys” who’ve been papmered their whole lives.

I know it’s an AppFan blog, but I was curious if anyone knows how andre roberts from citadel stacked up with the big time WRs???? I think he and Armanti were the only 2 SoCon players at the combine…and me personally I always will root for FCS players in the pro’s especially SoCon…(even Jerome Felton)

NOT DOGGIN’ IT. Per request, El Cid’s Roberts seems to have done himself good by “posting the fifth-fastest time in the 40-yard dash among wide receivers.”

Also if AE had of played FBS he would had better OL protecting him and better WR to throw to. Just saying.

His footwork looked good….I think he needs to run a 4.4 forty to move into round 4 or 5…I am a huge Steelers fan and they are in need of a 3rd. string QB,a back up KR,PR type guy and a 5th WR….If he runs a good time and shows some ability in catching the football I think he can go in the 4th…..

Guys,

Stop drinking the kool-aid. If we were playing in FBS and Armanti had beaten some formidable teams, more NFL teams would be interested in him. The combine may treat him the same, but the “Yea, buts” would be “Yea, we know he is small, but he beat some big time teams and he is a winner.”

The bottom line is that most people don’t view the FCS as big time football. Like it or not, that is a reality.

Create the vision and they will come.

ASU7, that’s if he would even get a look as QB in the FBS. Take Flacco for example. Wandstadt gave him the axe so he transferred. Now who looks like the fool. Most FBS coaches are going to go on height, weight and build before ever looking at abilities anyway. We all think AE could have put up huge numbers as a QB with bigger and better teammates but what’s the reality of he being a 4 year starter in FBS.

6′0-6′1 220 coming out of high school and we possibly would have never known who AE was. He would have gotten lost in the FBS numbers game. He made a wise choice in coming to ASU. His head skills should count in the draft for something.

Create the TPS pill and midwest will buy it.

If Edwards can’t get the chance to play qb in the nfl – i hope he plays qb in Canada

I agree with that, louie. If he did well in the CFL, there’s always a chance he’d be able to move to NFL within a few years. That approach worked for Warren Moon, and less well for Doug Flutie (who is even shorter than AE).

Didnt AE say the CFL was not an option for him?

Yes Freeman, he did say that. Midwest, do you not think that Dan Lefevour has to deal with the same biases about competition that AE does? The difference is that Lefevour is bigger. I doubt NFL scouts have the same unfounded biases against non-big 6 players as the talking heads on ESPN.

Guys, the NFL doesn’t give a rats @#% where you played in college. If you have the measurables they are looking for then you will get your shot (see Flacco, see our own Dexter Jackson).

At the end of the day AE is still shorter than they would like. He is still lighter than they would like. And his arm strength is not elite NFL level.

He’s an outstanding athlete who will be given an opportunity in the league by someone to make a team. But he is not the ideal qb the scouts are looking for. We would all love it if he proves them wrong, but his best chance to make a team is as an athlete.

It seems to me that what NFL teams would want to do/ are looking at doing with his holyness is similar to what we are doing with our very own Travaris Cadet. Rather than leaving Armanti as somebodys #2 or #3, put him in a position where he has the potenital make a difference every game. Id rather see him as a 3rd WR than a 2nd QB. And then ill just cheer for him to go the Julian Edelman route (FYI listed on his pro day at 5′10″ 190)

cadet can’t throw. aramanti can.

arm strength is good and ae has it but what sets him the “elite” status is his accuracy and decision/play making.

I dont understand this “Armanti lacks the arm strength needed.” If he was 6′2 and about 210 he would be second round pick. Hes got the arm and the fight and hes definately got some magic. Its a shame how nobody gives him a chance

Bob, somebody will give him a chance. And he has a good arm but not a great arm.

We can play the “what if” game all day long. But the fact remains he is what he is.

AE will get a Shot to play in the NFL….

If he runs sub 4.5 when tested in Boone …it will improve his chance of being Drafted…but he will get a free
agent contract even if runs 4.85 or more…

Many, Many FCS players have a good or even
great career in the NFL…Hope AE is one…

Two comments:

1) Tebow would be lucky to get “some of his tosses” to three-quarters.

2) I don’t trust any combine reporting service that can’t spell “intriguing.”

“Create the vision and they will come.”

I have a vision, Midwest. You live in Chicago if I remember correctly. Just how big a deal is Northern Illinois football there? They’re in a league (the MAC) which would be very comparable to a league we’d be in as an FBS school. NIU’s popularity where you live probably ranks right behind the Cubs, White Sox, Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Northwestern, DePaul, Illinois, Notre Dame, the Chicagoland NASCAR race, the MLS Fire team, and Chicago area high school football and basketball. Not to mention all the other things in Chicago which people find more interesting. As an FCS team, that’s about where we lie on the totem pole in our own state.

In other words, NIU has already created the “vision” of being a big, bad FBS school, but “they” ain’t comin’.

I doubt that YOU know or care a thing about Northern Illinois sports despite the fact you live just an hour from the school, and despite they’re in an oh-so-amazing FBS conference.

So there’s nothing magical about becoming FBS. People in Nashville don’t care about MTSU. They care about Vandy & UT. People in Miami don’t care about FIU or FAU. They care about the Canes, Noles, & Gators. We at least draw some degree of respect, albeit limited, from people in our own state.

In the end, it won’t matter that AE didn’t go to an FBS school anyway, even when it comes to his NFL career. If he shows his athleticism & leadership can translate in the NFL, there are enough smart NFL scouts out there for someone to notice and get him. Heck, he may end like other FCS QB’s, Warner and Romo, overlooked early in their 20’s but, through hard work, ended up being far better QB’s than so many of those first round busts.

Hey naysayer, since you once again have to pick on Tebow when he’s not a part of the discussion I am really thinking you have a serious man-crush on the kid.

Would it make you feel better if we arranged a spelling bee between the two of you? That’s probably the only thing you could beat him at, but I am sure you would feel really proud of yourself and could then tell him how much better you are than him.

That top pic does show the leg difference between he and the others. I’d say some look at his lower legs and wonder how he didn’t break them. They look like toothpicks to the other guys.

Also, can’t believe how much emphasis the 40 has. You would think that was the only thing tested at the combine. Let’s have all these guys show up in one location to run 40 yards and judge their skill and ability on that. Ridiculous.

I can understand the reason for that drill but not the emphasis.

I’m not from the midwest, so I don’t appreciate NIU the way some around these parts do.

Consider that NIU has 25,000 students (larger than UNC). Last year, they beat Purdue and played a very good Wisconsin team to within a TD (at Madison). I’m not sure what their schedule looks like this year.

at Wisconsin Madison, Wisc. L, 28-20
09/12/09 vs. Western Illinois DeKalb, Ill. W, 41-7
09/19/09 at Purdue West Lafayette, Ind. W, 28-21
09/26/09 vs. Idaho DeKalb, Ill. L, 34-31
10/03/09 vs. Western Michigan (HC) # DeKalb, Ill. W, 38-3
10/17/09 at Toledo # Toledo, Ohio L, 20-19
10/24/09 at Miami (Ohio) # Oxford, Ohio W, 27-22
10/31/09 vs. Akron # DeKalb, Ill. W, 27-10
11/05/09 vs. Eastern Michigan # DeKalb, Ill. W, 50-6
11/12/09 vs. Ball State # DeKalb, Ill. W, 26-20
11/21/09 at Ohio # Athens, Ohio L, 38-31
11/27/09 at Central Michigan # Mt. Pleasant, Mich. L, 45-31
01/02/10 vs. USF Toronto, Canada L, 27-3

If the subject is about Armanti, could we ease up on the FBS stuff?

Its his size and offensive system that teams are concerned about. Not his school.

If he was a 2 time National Champion/2 time Walter Payton winner that was 6′5″ 230, he’d be a first/2nd rounder.

He’s not going to be drafted as a pure QB. That doesn’t mean he will never play the position again.

And he’s on record saying he’d rather be a receiver/returner in the NFL than a QB in the CFL.

AE’s legs aren’t that much, if any, scrawnier(naysayer,that’s just Southern colloquialism ) than QB #10 and if the others pulled their socks down a bit theirs wouldn’t be much bigger either. Even if he doesn’t get drafted I say he’s gonna surprise some folks(none of us, mind you) in training camp this summer.

Michael, your post makes sense but the fact that the Chicago area has so many professional sports offerings makes NIU an unfair comparison. The entire state of NC doesn’t have that much professional sports competition, though I would admit the college competition would have a similar effect on us. But I will also admit that I don’t think we get the kind of respect that some of us think we get or should get. I don’t think Midwest is saying we would automatically become to the big dog on the block and I doubt that’s what drove NIU to make a move up. And I also don’t see many FBS teams knocking on the door to move back to FCS(I know there are many arguments to why an institution would never do that, but still.)
Midwest is just passionate about the direction he thinks ASU football should go and, though sometimes a little overzealously, he makes some good points.

My primary motive with pushing the “go FBS” agenda is to see us reach our full potential. I really do believe we can compete at a much higher level. If I thought we would only win 1-2 games a year in FBS, I would not be pushing the agenda.

JonMac is correct about NIU. It is based in the suburbs of one of the largest cities in the country so you cannot compare to Cubs, Bears, etc. In addition, you have Northwestern, Notre Dame, the Illini, Wisconsin, and Iowa in the backyard. all of these schools have very large fan bases in Chicago. (kind of like Auburn/Alabama fans who live in the Atlanta area…there’s a bunch of them).

The two issues i have with Michael’s post.

1.) Certainly your not advocating we’d lose fans if we went up a division.
2.) If we had our record in the upper division (i.e. Central Michigan, Ball St., Buffalo, etc)… we would get some more notoriety and the occasional… hold your breath… tuesday night game on espn. That makes FBS so worth it.

From what I can tell, those who run the NFL combine are much like the vaunted “money ball” crowd in MLB. These are guys with degrees in stats and some interest in the sport who carry around laptops and plug in their formulas. Hence, no one under 6 feet, check the 40, hand size, arm length, bench repetitions for linemen etc. It’s a tried and true system that’s right far more than it’s wrong (just as the baseball nerds discovered that number of walks is the most crucial hitting statistic for major league success). And the player personnel guys listen to them.

However, I think it’s a good sign that Armanti is listed among the “winners” by one combine report and that his arm is surprising those who see it. That’s the sort of thing it takes to get beyond the numbers.

One more thought. Any team interested in drafting him isn’t going to be singing his praises, lest his status go up. He may also be hurt a bit by the Dexter debacle. Take another chance with a second round pick? Maybe not. I would, of course, be happy to be proven wrong.

Oh, and you’re right Patrick. I’m attracted to Tebow, but only because he throws like a girl. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Careful! Someone will start quoting Leviticus.

As long as it’s not Romans. I prefer Deuteronomy and the advice against eating pork.

Strategically, running the 40 in Boone is a great idea. The altitude (less resistance) should be good for a 0.1s edge @ App’s altitude.

Why don’t teams go from FBS to FCS? First of all, it’s not that complicated, and secondly, it has nothing to with whether App should go FBS or not.

Switching from FBS to FCS would be one of the greatest admissions of failure a university could possibly do. Rice & Tulane a few years ago considered going to the FCS level, citing losing seasons, poor attendance, and huge losses of money.

In essence, switching from FBS to FCS boils down to the question, “Would our university be best served by admitting we can’t overcome?” The answer is ALWAYS, “No,” because too many people who support schools with FBS programs would withdraw their support, included rich donors. Alumni would rather see their schools try and fail than quit, which is what they’d view going from FBS to FCS.

Switching from FCS to FBS raises a completely different question. Hypothetically, App State would be saying, “We know we’re successful where we are. No one with any sense of reality could say otherwise. Now, taking all factors into account (and there LOTS of factors), is it worth the risk of leaving the FCS to find out if we’d be successful at the FBS level?” That kind of decision is irreversible.

I apologize for talking so much about the FBS thing on this thread, but I’m just sick of hearing these bogus reasons for App to go FBS. So I’d like to strike them down.

1) “We’d get to be like Ball State, Buffalo, other MAC programs, Sun Belt programs, etc.” BSU barely cracked 25,000 fans during their UNDEFEATED regular season. That would be a step BACK for ASU. Matter of fact, ASU’s attendance is on par or better than most MAC teams and Sun Belt teams, and about half of C-USA, the WAC, and even the Mountain West. Even if they’re on TV a little more often, those programs are getting lackluster local support compared to us. Why would we want to be like that?

2) “Our school would become a better university if we were FBS.” Give me a freaking break. That’s not even a valid reason anyone wants us to be FBS. At best, it’s a manufactured excuse.

3) “Our conference would have more interesting opponents.” That’s based on the assumption we’d get in C-USA. While App State alone can decide whether it becomes FBS, it has to get INVITED to a conference, and we CAN’T bank on C-USA. So we look at the only other conference which might invite us: the Sun Belt. As much as people b*tch about the SoCon, I do not see any of them saying, “Man, I’m so jacked up about our game at the Rock against Arkansas State this weekend!”

4) “We’d get better players.” Maybe, but there were a lot of MAC & WAC teams who lost to FCS playoff teams last year. We wouldn’t automatically get better players than we’re already getting.

There ARE valid reasons why fans would want us to go FBS, but those six reasons aren’t among them.

‘That kind of decision is irreversible.’

Like my rain jacket.

http://www.jbscouting.com/index.php/interviews/3-interviews/519-edwards-wk7
here is a link
How sweet would that be get signed on with the Panthers,
1)it would be like a home game with all the app fans
2)delhomo needs to be put in his place (the bench) even if AE is picked up as a returner or WR, we could still hope to see him take some throws in a game, and show the FCS naysayers whats up!!!
Best of luck
and i think his pro day is set to be at ASU on the 16th of March, maybe the athletic department will allow us to tailgate

AE will not make 10 teams want to put him at QB by doing well in the combines. He has to have the right team and will have to do well in the right time in an actual NFL season to get more opportunities. I hope he does really well in the combine, but it will really come down to finding the right team and opportunity.

Two guys with less talent that have made it that, to me, resemble the type quarterback/player Armanti is…One of them is Seneca Wallace, who playe QB at Iowa State and the other is Antwuan Randle-El from Indiana…AE will get a shot if those two did…Not sure how big Randle-El is, but Wallace is about the same size as AE if I’m not mistaken.

also check out the panthers web page they have a feed to A money

Come on guys who gives a sh*t about the FBS can we talk about something else, I played at ASU from 92-95 so I know that we stacked up pretty well against ACC Schools and we were no flunks when it came to beating up on Wake Forest every year until they decided they could not beat us anymore on a regular basis without being ousted from a bowl game, so I would think overall we have held our own in competing with the FBS teams although can you really call Wake Forest a legitimate FBS school?
AE will do what he has to do to make it on a respectable NFL Team, I do not think it matters what position he plays just to get a chance at making an NFL Team should be a blessing for any recruit that is attending the combine! He will represent Appalachian State University in all aspects I have no doubt! He will be missed next year at ASU for sure but I think we will be fine in the long run or at least I hope so!

As much as I’d like Armanti to be picked up by Carolina, I just don’t see the front office having that kind of vision.

I agree with dan … if anyone can play fake jake as long as we have then how do they have the brains to get AE?

I will always be a panthers fan and a fan of wherever AE goes or is but jake needs to go home.

AE>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>jake

Yep ship him back to Louisiana. Rotate Matt Moore and AE along with those strong RB’s and a dash of some Steve Smith, to run one heck of a wildcat offense.

I will say I don’t understand why most NFL teams use the wildcat the way they do. Isn’t the run percentage somewhere around 70%-80% out of that formation? Should at least toss the ball 40% of the time, if not 50%.

I am not a Panthers fan, so this is an honest question.. were the Panthers fans calling for Jake’s head when he took them to the NFC Championship game?

Thing is, the guy is a LEADER — plain and simple.. It’s just too bad he’s color blind and throws to the wrong team. He is the kind of guy I would want on my team, just as a back up..

Dan, the reason for that is because the NFL defensive players are a lot better at reading schemes, blocks, etc. and are faster than a typical college team. It would be difficult to get a pass off when there are several guys coming after the ball carrier

Take the flea flicker for example.. it fails more times than succeeds because the DBs usually dont pull on the run, and the defensive pressure is at the QB quickly causing a hurried through..

I am the rare Panthers fan that actually likes Jake. He took the team further than anyone else ever did at that spot. Still love the guy, I think he’s stand up as hell. That being said, I do think it’s time to bench him, thought so since about the 3rd or 4th game last season. Doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate what he did or think he’s the best QB the franchise ever had.

throw**

Had to edit before Naysayer pulled out his spelling police badge

I believe in Armanti. Thats all I gotta say

bench jake, or just make him the mascot that would be a better position for him, off the field and no distraction to the team, besides that way he can watch a true play maker at work AE!!!!

I have never seen Armanti fail at anything. Ever. He has had days where he looked like a mortal on the football field…but he never quit and he never failed. I am 100% convinced that young man can do anything.

Except, perhaps, win a one-on-one with a lawnmower.

there is hope after all, Panthers release Jake!!!!!!! hell yea