2013 NFL Scouting Combine: Boston College’s Entries
By Joe Micik
Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Boston College football has spent the last several years being down and is hoping to build back up in the seasons to come. In spite of how the Eagles have performed recently, they’ve gone on a nice streak of getting someone drafted into the NFL every year. BC has had seven consecutive years of being picked at Radio City, but so far, the odds of it extending to eight years has not looked promising.
Enter the 2013 NFL Scouting Combine, where the three Boston College invitees will have a chance to impress and ideally work their way into the selections.
Those three seniors are OT Emmett Cleary, TE Chris Pantale, and OT John Wetzel. NFL.com has rated each one of the Eagles, and based upon their scouting analyses of these players, they believe that Cleary, Pantale, and Wetzel are marginal NFL prospects. The one of these three that has been rated the highest by a slight margin is Wetzel, with their report saying this:
"The next tall, strong lineman from BC flew onto scouts’ radar in 2012, showing off great strength in the run game. His footwork and balance in pass protection leave something to be desired, but his length and power should see him selected in the middle to late rounds."
Is Wetzel a draft pick? At this point, a full two months before the draft gets underway, there is only one major seven-round mock draft churning out names, and according to them, he is. Of course, there is a catch: Wetzel comes in at #252, in the compensatory picks section, and only two spots from being Mr. Irrelevant (and three from becoming an undrafted free agent). That’s not a very good position to be in when you consider some of BC’s recent draft history: in the last few years, there have been players for whom the conventional wisdom suggested they’d be drafted in the late rounds, but they were not. Just ask Mark Herzlich and Donnie Fletcher.
That’s why it’s particularly important that Wetzel, as well as Pantale and Cleary, make the most of their opportunity to shine. None of them seem to be starting from a favorable position and are very far from being considered locks.
Wetzel and Cleary are both offensive linemen, putting them in the first-day arrivals category. Pantale as a tight end fits into that category as well. Based off of the provided schedule, the three have already arrived in Indianapolis, undergone their pre-exams, and been measured. Today, Friday, they will undergo psychological testing, meet with the Players’ Association, do their bench presses, and more. Tomorrow, Saturday, is their last day at the combine, where they will do their on-field drills.