High Noon Highlights(4/18): Running back is a an interesting position in this year’s draft

It’s high noon...

Running back value can be found throughout the draft:

SB Nation’s Bill Connelly wrote an interesting look at this year’s running backs in the NFL draft this year and predicted where he thinks where each one will go. This included former Oklahoma State Cowboy Justice Hill.

Below we’ll walk through all sorts of stats, NFL Combine measurements, and even an elementary grading rubric. But let’s review the basics of most of my draft analysis:

Your college stat line is typically your pro ceiling. Stats can’t necessarily tell you everything a player can do, but they tell you what he probably can’t.

Efficiency is infinitely more projectable than explosiveness. This is true if you’re trying to project a team’s future midway through a given season, and it’s true of draft prospects.

As far as running backs go, value isn’t derived specifically from running the ball. While I don’t have a very good way of measuring pass-blocking effectiveness, I do think it’s worth it to figure out what we can learn from receiving efficiency.

Most backs don’t come anywhere close to their college efficiency levels when they’re starting out in the pros. Here’s a chart I used to illustrate this last year: {SB Nation}

Baseball gets No.2 seed in College Station regional in latest D1 Baseball projections:

D1Baseball released their projected bracket for the NCAA Tournament yesterday and they’ve Oklahoma State making it and being placed in the College Station regional. They be the No.2 seed with the Aggies being No.1 of course, Sam Houston as the No.3 seed and Stony Brook as the No.4 seed. This would be a fun one if it were to happen.

Cowgirl Tennis just wants to keep winning:

The Stillwater Newspress’ Jordan Bishop wrote a fantastic piece on Cowgirl tennis’ prep for the Big 12 Tournament. He spoke to coach Chris Young about the mindset going into what is going to be a tough tournament.

“I think if we were fortunate enough to get to the finals, we would be making a big mistake if we focused on Sunday right now,” Young said. “ We want to focus on Friday and making it to Saturday. The worst thing this team can do is focusing on Sunday. Any team can beat us if we aren’t playing our best. There is a lot of things that have to happen to us to make it to Sunday.” {Newspress}

Today’s sporting events:

8:35 a.m.- Equestrian vs. SMU- NCEA Championships- Waco,TX

7:05 p.m.- Baseball vs. Texas- Allie P. Reynolds- Stillwater, OK

All day- Women’s Tennis- Big 12 Championships- Lawrence, KS

That’s all for today folks. Have a great afternoon!