QB Camp

Jon Gruden's QB Camp on ESPN is one of the best pre-draft shows. Makes it a real shock that it's on ESPN. It's a good thing that the network has the ex-coach under contract. Gruden brings in soon to be NFL rookie quarterbacks for some film study and field work. He started the show last year with Cam Newton, Jake Locker, Blaine Gabbert, Andy Dalton and Ryan Mallett. If he had Christian Ponder on, I regrettably missed it. The show is excellent. Some seem to find Gruden's hyperactivity annoying but I have a hard time finding fault with someone that has such an obvious passion for football. He knows offensive football and he interacts well with the young quarterbacks. The show is getting more attention this year. Sports Illustrated's Peter King raves about it and even chose to watch the Robert Griffin III episode rather than watch the Kentucky-Kansas NCAA Championship Game last Monday. King shouldn't have felt too pressed to watch that first airing as ESPN replays each episode a bunch. This year Andrew Luck, Griffin, Brandon Weeden, Kirk Cousins, Brock Osweiler, Kellen Moore and Russell Wilson will be featured. I'm little surprised that Ryan Tannehill isn't part of the group. Maybe he'll pop up later. Last year Gruden unintentionally made Newton look like an idiot. At Auburn, Newton ran such a simplified, sign-based offense that when Gruden asked Newton to call out a play from his college days, he couldn't. Newton kind of waffled around the question. Auburn didn't use play calls. The poor quarterback couldn't verbalize something that wasn't verbal. Fortunately, it didn't kill Newton in the draft since he went first overall last year. Expected to go first overall this year, Andrew Luck was was at the other end of the spectrum. He rattled off plays, reads and adjustments as if he's been coaching offensive football for decades. The Indianapolis Colts are a very lucky franchise to be able to dump a legend in Peyton Manning and immediately grab a young one in the making. Luck gets "it." So does Jon Gruden with this series. The Flea Flicker says check it out.