As NFL draft season gets into high gear, analysts are getting into college tape for prospects in this year’s class. Kurt Warner began his work on this year’s quarterback class, and the Hall of Famer made an observation about college football that is sure to annoy some fans.
Warner, who spends each fall as an NFL analyst, criticized the quality of play at the college level for quarterbacks.
“I know many of you LOVE college football, but as I start to dive into these college QBs, it’s hard for me to even watch,” he said. “very few play on schedule, the pass concepts are a mess most of the time, they run the same play over and over, a million bubble screens, can’t find many concepts that translate to [the] next level.”
I know many of you LOVE college football, but as I start to dive into these college QBs, it’s hard for me to even watch: very few play on schedule, the pass concepts are a mess most of the time, they run the same play over & over, a million bubble screens, can’t find many…
— Kurt Warner (@kurt13warner) February 23, 2024
Warner then used Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud as an example, as the former Ohio State quarterback and 2023 Offensive Rookie of the Year did way more in the NFL than he was asked to do in college. As a result, Warner said he didn’t recognize Stroud would be so good in the NFL.
“They didn’t ask him to process and get [the] ball out as quickly as he did last year in Houston,” Warner said. “I had no idea he would be so good at processing so fast! He’s better in [the] NFL than what we got to see in college, but many times you just don’t know until you know!”
Warner’s take on college football is just another example of how hard it is to analyze prospects without knowing how they will translate to the NFL. However, college football fans probably don’t care as long as the product is entertaining.
