Young unfazed by passing questions

The only person who doesn't seem perplexed about where Vince Young should be selected in the draft is Vince Young.

Should the former Texas quarterback be the top overall pick? Should he be the No. 2 choice? No. 3? Is there a chance he actually could take a fall out of the top 10?

I won't go as far as to say that Young is indifferent about his draft status. He certainly cares plenty about where he will be chosen because the difference is measured in millions of dollars. No player could honestly say, with a straight face, that it doesn't matter if he is taken first, because it always matters.



It's just that Young isn't fretting about whether he has the arm to match the feet that have done the most to make him a potential top-three pick. Unlike the rest of us, he doesn't see an issue with his throwing motion, which can be best described as sidearm style. Furthermore, he insists that, based on what he has learned while being at the Scouting Combine, NFL teams aren't worried about it, either.

Sitting down with some of the coaches now, hearing the different things they've been saying about my throwing motion, is that there's nothing really wrong with it," Young said. "The media, that's who keeps talking about the throwing motion. There's nothing wrong with the throwing motion."
Certainly, the manner in which he delivers the ball didn't hurt him in the Rose Bowl, which, up to now, is the defining moment of Young's football life. He threw for 267 yards and ran for 200 more, including the winning touchdown, to lead the Longhorns past USC and to the national championship.

Everything changed that night.

All of a sudden, the automatic presumption that Trojans running back Reggie Bush, the Heisman Trophy winner, would be the top choice wasn't so automatic. All of a sudden, the automatic presumption that the other Rose Bowl quarterback, Matt Leinart, was the top quarterback in the draft wasn't so automatic, either.

Young displayed talent so rare, a lot of football observers began to conclude that he might very well have no peers among the rest of the players at his position or in the 2006 college crop in general. He is big (6-foot-5 and 229 pounds) and strong, yet can run as well as many halfbacks -- and probably better than many others.

"That guy is a freaky runner," Leinart said. He meant it as a compliment.

But compliments for the way Young throws the ball haven't come as readily. When you look at scouting assessments of his college career you see terms like: "shows only an adequate arm … must develop better mechanics … sidearm delivery might lead to batted-down passes in the NFL."

Young treats the comments like the enormous pressure that he faced in leading the Longhorns to their winning score in the Rose Bowl. He is unfazed by them. He is so unfazed, it seems, that he isn't even bothering to take part in throwing drills here. He will throw for NFL team representatives at the Longhorns' Pro Day on March 22 on the Texas campus.

It does not look like a case of Young being in denial. The kid truly believes in himself and in what he has done up to this point to be a highly regarded NFL prospect.

Still, it is legitimate to think that some of the throws he has been able to make at the collegiate level won't work in the NFL. Sidearm passes do tend to travel lower. And, working from shotgun formation as he did for most of his time with the Longhorns, he is going to require some training in how to work from under center. He might need basic training than other quarterbacks in taking a snap at the line, dropping back, setting up to throw, or pivoting and making handoffs.
As a run-oriented quarterback, Young also struggles at times with showing enough patience in the pocket and reading coverages.

Of course, all of the flaws, including his throwing motion, are correctable. The right coaching will help, but the way Young sees it, the onus is mostly on him to develop into a successful NFL player.

"It depends on myself," he said. "How much you don't see behind the scenes -- watching film and how much work and how much effort I put into wanting to better myself on the next level. It's all on myself."

The question is, does a team want to invest a top-three pick in a player who requires what could end up being a prolonged learning process in a league where there is so much emphasis on instant results? Maybe so. Plenty of teams have done it before.

But if it came down to choosing between Young and a more polished Leinart, who has extensive background in a pro-style environment at USC, it would stand to reason that a team might go with Leinart.

That's where the guesswork comes in. The Houston Texans, who own the top overall pick, might want to take Young, who would be a popular local choice. However, the Texans don't figure to be in the market for a quarterback because they recently gave a lucrative contract extension to David Carr. Therefore, it is widely assumed they will select Bush.

But perhaps the New Orleans Saints or Tennessee Titans, who pick second and third, respectively, and who each would like to land a quarterback, will make a trade with the Texans to move to the top and select Young or Leinart.

Someone asked Young whether he felt as if he were trying to move ahead of Bush for the No. 1 pick.

"No, not really," he said. "If he's the No. 1 pick, he's the No. 1 pick. All I know is I just want to play football. Whatever team picks you, picks you.

"You still got to go out and play and perform. You still got to do different things to better yourself and your teammates and (earn) respect of your teammates. (Bush) has to do it the same way."

That's a sound, rational approach by quarterback whose extraordinary blend of skills and top-three draft potential have caused a great deal of commotion among the rest of us.