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Message: [QUOTE="OttoinGrotto, post: 2682525, member: 297"] Great post. Really, you need to be writing these for a website or something. Anyway, I interpret the lack of NFL draft picks as evidence of the reality that [B]for decades, the vision of our football program was mismatched to the resources at our disposal, and the vision was fundamentally wrong.[/B] How does a college football program with a unique advantage like the Dome, ie an environment completely free from the elements and therefore ideal for undisturbed offensive performance, fail so miserably to attract and develop NFL talent on the offensive side of the ball? [B]A big part of the answer is by attempting to build a program with a defense first mindset. [/B]That was the vision Gross stated. That was Robinson's area of expertise (hehe). Marrone seemed like he'd be an offensive guy, but reportedly slanted the talent on his roster toward his defense, and didn't really guide a powerhouse offense until his last season. Shafer preferred seeing his defense on the field, and coached accordingly. The Babers hire, even if it proves to not be successful, at least suggests that we're thinking about our program the right way. Time will tell if Babers can be what we hope he will be, but if we think we're following the Baylor/Briles blueprint, there are reasons for optimism, and [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Baylor_Bears_in_the_NFL_draft']the talent pipeline to the NFL looked a lot like our own[/URL]. Baylor had a total of 6 players drafted in the NFL between 2000-2007, with one selection in the 2nd round, one in the 4th, one in the 6th, and three in the 7th. So we're not exactly talking about guys being deemed worthy of top selections since 2/3 of those picks were in the last two rounds of the draft. Things popped for Briles and Baylor NFL wise in 2011 and 2012, with 9 total draft picks. Sure, four of them were picked in the last two rounds, but four of them were also 1st round picks. The sheer quantity of players drafted is impressive though considering what was at that time their recent history. I suspect that Baylor had more refined "talent" waiting for Briles and in his immediate recruiting hotbed than Babers has experienced with Syracuse, so we might still be a little ways away. I maintain that offering an offensive system that takes advantage of the unique conditions offered by the Dome provides us with a recruiting advantage that appeals to higher level talent than what we've unfortunately become used to seeing. The NFL draft picks will follow. [/QUOTE]

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