<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Young EvaluationBy Mike DuffyMarch 24, 2006To many of the countless attendees at the University of Texas' pro day, quarterback Vince Young was the only star of the day, but to the Ravens' personnel officials and coaches watching, the event offered the opportunity to evaluate other possibilities.Ravens director of college scouting Eric DeCosta was in Austin, Texas, along with director of pro personnel George Kokinis, defensive coordinator Rex Ryan, secondary coach Dennis Thurman, quarterbacks coach Rick Neuheisel and tight ends coach Wade Harman."In college scouting, we've got to cover every base," said DeCosta. "Texas was the national champion, they have a great program, and they've put a lot of great players in the NFL. They do an outstanding job in recruiting, so every year you go to Texas. You're going to see the all of the players. On average, there are probably about 10 players drafted every year at Texas."We knew we would be well-represented at these workouts," he added.According to DeCosta, the Longhorns represented themselves well at the workouts, as well. Aside from Young, there were plenty of candidates on the Ravens' radar, taking some needs into consideration that still haven't been addressed by free agency.Young threw for 3,036 yards and 26 touchdowns in 2005."Vince Young has the reputation and everything else, but they have other good players there too, and we have to monitor those players," DeCosta said. "Michael Huff is probably going to be a guy that goes in the top 20 of the draft. David Thomas, the tight end, is going to be a guy that goes in the first day. Rodrique Wright, who is a defensive tackle, is going to be a first-day pick, so they have other players."Huff is a particularly attractive possibility. As of now, the Ravens have a shortage of safeties on the roster, and the 5-11, 198-pound defensive back is a speedy and versatile player with a knack for making big plays. He only continued to impress at the Texas pro day by running the short shuttle in 3.96 seconds and a 6.68-second three-cone drill."We don't have many safeties on the roster right now, and safety is a position that we're spending a lot of time talking about right now," admitted DeCosta, "because we want to be sure that if we do draft a safety, we've got the right one."Of course, after Young's extraordinary performance at the Rose Bowl and subsequent snub of the workouts at February's NFL Combine, it's easy to see why people were chomping at the bit to see him. The only thing Young did participate in at the combine - the interviews and Wonderlic Personnel Test - actually added even more question marks to his status.At the end of the day, DeCosta liked what he saw of the 6-5, 228-pound signal-caller, enough so that he dismissed his concerns over Young trading the combine workouts for more favorable home conditions."I think it's a concern to a degree," said DeCosta of the home-field advantage, "but what you really want to see is how a guy performs when he has to. There were a lot of people there, scouts, coaches, agents and media. We were standing right next to Vince as he was working out - literally 10 feet away. We're all standing there watching this guy, and he did extremely well in those conditions."Young, normally a shotgun quarterback, spent 45 minutes taking snaps from under center, deftly connecting on 49-of-54 passes, along with running a 4.57-second 40."There were a ton of people there, even family and friends," DeCosta added, noting the fishbowl-like atmosphere. "It was a nerve-racking experience, and he did very, very well."As good as the Heisman Trophy runner-up looked, the sentiment is that he'll be one of the top picks in April's NFL Draft. With the 13th pick in the draft, there is a remote possibility that he could fall to the Ravens, but that's not to say they will select him if he's there. The point is to identify and evaluate the best players as much as possible.Besides, there is still a significant amount of time between now and the draft for the Ravens to make moves in free agency. As DeCosta pointed out, "What you do in free agency definitely affects what you do in the draft, and what you do in the draft dictates a lot of what you're going to do moving forward into the mini-camps."In the meantime, the Ravens coaches and personnel department are looking forward to the University of Southern California's pro day, which may be even bigger than Texas'."I think USC is the biggest one coming up," said DeCosta. "It's on the second of April. We'll have a large contingent headed out to Los Angeles for that workout. They have a lot of guys on offense and defense that will probably get drafted."Will they be drafted by Baltimore? That's a discussion the Ravens will have after April 2.</div>
I think he will be drafted by them because Boller wont be trusted at QB this year after Bill almost lost his job last year.
