Scouting Report: John Brantley – QB - Florida

Scouting Report: John Brantley – QB - Florida

Size: 6-3, 220

Numbers:

                2009:   410 yards, 75 comp %, 8.54 ypa, 7 TD, 0 INT

                2010:  2061 yards, 60.8 comp %, 6.26 ypa, 9 TD, 10 INT

Strengths & Weaknesses:  Was a top recruit coming out of college. He has proto-typical size for an NFL QB and the arm to match. Brantley makes all the throws with ease and he shows great accuracy at all levels of the field. However he played in a hokey offense under Urban Meyer that never clicked with the loss of Tim Tebow. When the team ran pro-style sets Brantley excelled (see his sophomore tape when he came in relief of Tebow) when they didn’t he looked lost. He made terrible decisions and didn’t keep the ball safe at all and failed to move the ball against even the most weak of defenses. However He was taken on and off the field and relieved by slash players. He had QB’s lined up at tailback and WR’s who didn’t run proper routes. Brantley has managed to overcome that and show some flashes of brilliance, which is a lot more than most QB’s in his situation would do.

Impression: John Brantley has the skill set of a top ten pick, however he has yet to tap that potential because he has not been put in a position to properly show off his talents. With Charlie Weiss at the helm of the offense, and Will Muschamp running the defense look for Florida to surprise a lot of people this season and compete for a BCS Bowl. However they have a lot of athletes on their roster, not football players. It is going to take time for Weiss to establish a true pro-style offense. However if he can get it together quickly Brantley has a chance to make a Mark Sanchez type push up draft boards with only one real season of tape. (In this case one real season in a pro-style offense, an offense that Sanchez excelled in which rose his stock so high).  Remember Weiss tutored Tom Brady, Brady Quinn, Jimmy Clausen, and Matt Cassell. While two of those players haven’t had success at the NFL level (yet), they were drafted high because of their pedigree in a pro-style offense.

NFL Comparison: Mark Sanchez

Draft Status: Right now he is a middle round selection because while his production is spotty, he ran a weird offense and has the NFL size/intangibles to be tutored and succeed. However if Weiss gets that offense turned around quickly, which I believe he will, and Brantley is the catalyst, which I believe he will be, he could easily be sitting in Radio City Music Hall next April and have his name called in the first 10 picks.