We have so much riding on our smaller college draft picks

[rayzor]

once they get in the league, where they played doesn't matter.

if they struggle, esp. silatolu, it has mostly to do with him being a rookie and mostly nothing to do with how big his school was.

[Ivan The Awesome]

To be honest, I'm least worried about the small school guys that the big school guys.

1. They have a chip on their shoulder.
   
2. Different mentality than the big school kids.
   

Frank Alexander and Joe Adams worry me a little more than Norman and Amini.

[iamhubby1]

Some guys play as rookies, some take 2-3, and some never get it. I do however believe that Rivera and Co. are counting on Amini, as a 2nd round pick, to solidify the left side of the line. If you are going to plug a rookie into the line, what better place than between Gross and Kalil? He is known for having great footwork to move through traffic. He can be All Rookie. Why not?

Now as for Norman and his 5th round status. He has his work cut out for himself. I will say that he picked a good position to be a 5th round pick. He shows something. Can he build on that? I am in his corner.

[Marguide]

One more thing regarding guard play...I think I'm more worried about Hangartner at RG than Amini at LG. Geoff had a couple of pretty rough outings late in the year.

Some of the criticisms directed at Bell should have been leveled at Geoff, as he was a swinging door at times.

[jasonluckydog]

Armanti Edwards will lead us to the promise land....

[Tarheels23]

At the end of the day it's still Football!

Oh and Jerry Rice says hi!

[jtnc]

One more thing regarding guard play...I think I'm more worried about Hangartner at RG than Amini at LG. Geoff had a couple of pretty rough outings late in the year.

Some of the criticisms directed at Bell should have been leveled at Geoff, as he was a swinging door at times.

I saw Geoff help Bell a lot at times, sometimes Bell would get overpowered and Geoff would have to help him.

[Guest Bwood]

Amini Silatolu is the next Larry Allen.

[Marguide]

I saw Geoff help Bell a lot at times, sometimes Bell would get overpowered and Geoff would have to help him.

Absolutely true. More times than not, Geoff was helping Bell. However, he had a couple of games where he was totally dominated. As it was late in the year, it may have been fatigue or an unreported injury, but Geoff was much better earlier in the year.

[Herbert The Love Bug]

amini puts dude in the dirt

[PantherPhann89]

I'm not worried about Kuechly or Sim. They both have natural talent and played at impressive levels in college will displaying great instincts. They'll be fine, especially Kuechly!

[CatMan72]

It is a bigger risk to take a guy from a small school because of the level of competition, but we were willing to take Silatolu because he totally dominated the competition.

[Panthro]

I hope picking Amini over Cordy Glenn was the right decision

[jarhead]

Its not to say they cannot be good .....there are many playing in the league now but if you look at the speed of the game and coupled with the level of competition its quite a bit different than the NFL.