The question over Rice is can he play flanker? I think he can, although I know some don't. But look at his numbers - he ran a 4.41 at the Combine at 6034 and an even 200lbs. Straight off the bat that makes me think he can play there. I think it's not really up for debate that Robert Meacham can play that position and Meach ran a 4.42 and a 4.47 in Indy and then ripped a 4.41 at the Vols Pro Day in front of Mueller. Rice chose to stand on his Combine time. Buster only ran a 4.44 in Indy and as Meach ran the fastest time at the UT Pro Day, he clearly didn't match Rice's time, whilst Gonzo busted a 4.33 and a 4.38, I don't ever see him playing up to that speed and he never makes a big play. I see him as a possession type and not a number 1, whereas I can envisage Rice being that in time. One thing that, whilst not concerning me, interests me is that Rice's 2nd time was 4.50. That's quite a large differential between 1st and 2nd run. Only Reggie Ball, a converted QB had a bigger two time differential and frankly I don't count Ball's time as he's not going to factor in at the next level. I bet if I looked at TB and CB, the other two high speed positions, there wouldn't be a .09 differential. (OK, so I was wrong, Tyrone Breckenridge of Wazzu and Chaz Williams of Louisiana Monroe had .10 and .09 differentials at CB.) But the point remains.
When I watch him, he can get down the field and he's not afraid to give his body up for the ball. He gets to top speed in a hurry, but when you expect him to shift up a gear, he lacks that elite gear to really run away from people. But he's a long strider and as I said, he has a lot of TO in his game, although he looks a little high cut and could do with filling out that frame some up top. A guy with those measurables should be bigger than a flat 200lbs, I could see him in the 212/215 range without any discernable loss in speed. And you can't knock the exceptional hands.
I think you HAVE to have some form of reservations about a WR coming out of that Spurrier system. But he was no mug coming out of high school - I think I remember correctly that he was the #1 rated offensive player in the state and was snared by Lou Holtz. This is a highly recruited kid who was down to SC, Florida, Miami, Tennessee, Georgia and Syracuse. And of course, playing in Spurrier's system rather than Holtz's means he's more liable to be a product of the Fun 'N Gun or whatever The Visor is calling his offense these days, but look at those other teams on that list; three of the four biggies are Georgia, Miami and Tenneessee, all running pro style systems. They had to believe that he wasn't going to be simply a guy that would flourish in a specific, rare type of offense. Also, he only played 2 seasons, which makes me think that any traits he's learned, can be unlearned.
People say he struggled some in 2006 and he did, but he certainly didn't drop off the face of the earth. In 2005 he had 70 receptions for 1,143 yards (16.3 avg.) and 13 touchdowns, whereas last year he had 72 receptions for 1,090 yards (15.1 avg.) and 10 touchdowns. That's 2 more grabs, 53 less yards and 3 less touchdowns. What I did note of interest was how he played Chris Houston in 2006. In 2005, he struggled and was held to 4 catches, although one was a monstrous TD leap in the back of the endzone. In 2006, he dominated Houston, had him in fits to the tune of 7-126. And of course, Houston man handled every high round WR he faced this year.
I think he needs to fill out and hit the weight room to get up to around 210/212 adding about a stone of muscle, but I think he can be a player at the next level. As I said, he has great hands, but he's still raw in all aspects of his game, so I wouldn't expect a lot out of him in year 1. As for Higgins, I'm not a huge fan. I think he's a big fish in a small pond, but I just don't see him as a big time WR at the next level.
