B5Erik
Rookie
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2008
- Messages
- 23
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Another San Diegan and Aztec fan here.
You guys got a steal in O'Connell. He improved every year in reading defenses and passing accuracy - and this on a team with a crappy offensive line and no running backs worth a damn! He had a couple good receivers this year (Chaz Schilens - picked by the Raiders in the 7th, and Brett Swain - picked by the Packers in the 7th), but after that the drop off was precipitous.
O'Connell is a FREAK athlete - 6'5" - FAST, AGILE, Coordinated, TOUGH - a total competitor. And a team leader. He earned the respect of his teammates as a freshman, and was one of the best character guys we've seen around here in a long time. As a passer his accuracy was a problem when he was younger and more inexperienced, but his accuracy and decision making improved with experience and coaching. He is VERY smart, and has a great work ethic.
If he played for USC he would have been a first rounder.
It just kills me that he went to the dark side. The only teams I didn't want to draft him were the Raiders (unlikely anyway) and the Patriots. If given time to develop O'Connell really could be the successor to Brady like Young was to Montana. A very similar situation. Brady is the modern Joe Montana, and O'Connell is the Steve Young type.
I just wish that A.J. Smith had been smart enough to pick K.O. (The Chargers draft absolutely sucked this year...)
You guys got a steal in O'Connell. He improved every year in reading defenses and passing accuracy - and this on a team with a crappy offensive line and no running backs worth a damn! He had a couple good receivers this year (Chaz Schilens - picked by the Raiders in the 7th, and Brett Swain - picked by the Packers in the 7th), but after that the drop off was precipitous.
O'Connell is a FREAK athlete - 6'5" - FAST, AGILE, Coordinated, TOUGH - a total competitor. And a team leader. He earned the respect of his teammates as a freshman, and was one of the best character guys we've seen around here in a long time. As a passer his accuracy was a problem when he was younger and more inexperienced, but his accuracy and decision making improved with experience and coaching. He is VERY smart, and has a great work ethic.
If he played for USC he would have been a first rounder.
It just kills me that he went to the dark side. The only teams I didn't want to draft him were the Raiders (unlikely anyway) and the Patriots. If given time to develop O'Connell really could be the successor to Brady like Young was to Montana. A very similar situation. Brady is the modern Joe Montana, and O'Connell is the Steve Young type.
I just wish that A.J. Smith had been smart enough to pick K.O. (The Chargers draft absolutely sucked this year...)