sccardsfan; yeah I had to use the name that had on vivaelbirdos. Anyway, who was that QB?—he didn’t miss a pass! Avery looks small, he does have speed but who was the competition. Will he be able to get that open in the pro game? Will he get crushed when he gets nailed by a SS or LB? Still a lot of questions.

UH student/fan (and author of the blog linked to a few posts back on this site in re: Donnie Avery) checking in.

There were two QBs in the clip. #15 is Blake Joseph, a sophomore last year, and #7 was Case Keenum, a freshman. They combined to form the two-pronged attack we used to try and replace Kevin Kolb. For guys with zero college experience, they were more than adaquete, but there would’ve been a lot more DA highlights on that clip if they hadn’t underthrown him a LOT this year.

As far as the competition, most of the highlights were against Rice (one of the worst defensive teams in college football, against whom DA put up an insane 346 yards in a single game), so admittedly, that’s not top tier competition. But against our toughest three opponents this year (Oregon, Alabama, TCU) he put up a respectable 20 catches for 290 yards. And, as I said, that’s with two inexperienced QBs who looked somewhat lost at times this year, especially during those three games. Not to mention that without a legit second option at WR, he was drawing double coverage all year.

He ran a 4.4 40 at the NFL combine on a bum hammy, and he’s been clocked as fast as 4.28. He ran a 6.30 3-cone drill on UH’s pro day, which I don’t think has ever been topped, by any football player, anywhere. At the Senior Bowl, he was the consensus most impressive WR by the scouts there during practice the week of, and led his team in receiving yards at that game (54 yards on 3 catches in limited playing time). This is probably a large part of what vaulted him up teams’ draft charts (Tampa Bay really liked him at #20 in the first round).

As far as character goes, you won’t find better than DA. He’s extremely down to earth, to the point of even being shy around fans. He’s an incredibly hard worker, and will do whatever the coaching staff wants him to do.

Any more questions about DA, let me know!

One thing that bothers me about Avery – he never seems to catch the ball with his hands. Can he go up and get one? I don’t know if you can let the ball drop all the way into your cradle on deep routes in the NFL. I know Bruce caught a lot of balls with his body, but he could use his hands on deep balls. I think that’s a concern. He definitely runs well and cuts well.

Random tidbit and question.

Avery has promised the UH fans that on his first NFL touchdown, he’s going to throw up the Cougar paw, Houston’s school hand sign (every Texas school has one). It looks like the shocker, for anyone who knows what that is, so don’t be surprised if it happens. Just warning ya. ;-)

Also, I know DA has mentioned something about wanting to wear #85 for the Rams. Do any of y’all know if anyone’s currently wearing that, or if it’s retired? Thanks.