A great situation for a rising star

I can’t help myself, I absolutely love good quarterbacks drafted from a crappy college team with a lack of talented players around him. Sorry Kansas State University, your Wildcats aren’t winning any Big-12 championships any time soon. The alumni can take some consolation in the fact that John Freeman could very well end up being the best quarterback selected in the 2009 draft.
The Buccaneers took a pretty decent long term gamble in selecting Freeman with the 17th over-all pick. Freeman has an impressive frame, standing 6’6” and weighing in at 248lbs. His 4.97 sec 40-yard-dash doesn’t quite do his game time speed and mobility the justice he deserves. The 3rd quarterback taken in the draft, Freeman was the only to start as a true freshman. In 2006 he was the only true freshman to lead his team to a bowl game, setting a school freshman record of 1,780 yards passing, completing 52% of his passes. He definitely did have his knocks, getting intercepted 15 times, while throwing just 6 touchdown passes. However, one has to take into account his getting sacked 25 times.
It’s just this kind of abuse that gets me excited about a guy like Freeman. While guys like Sanchez, Stafford, Tebow and Bradford are phenomenal quarterbacks, they are blessed to play with the most talented players in all of college football. Each one of the guys are either playing with or have played with guys who they will be facing on Sundays to come. With the exception of a great receiver Brandon Banks, no Wildcat had as much as 600 yards receiving last season. Kansas State could manage only five wins and Freeman, along with the rest of the Wildcats took a pretty good beating all year from a stacked Big-12 conference.
All that being said, Freeman has shined and grown all throughout his collegiate career. His sophomore year was definitely his finest, setting five school passing records, completing 63% of his passes for 3,353 yards, 18 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, earning him an All-Big 12 honorable mention. More importantly, Freeman grew considerably during the season, improving his pocket awareness and mobility adding 4 rushing touchdowns to his total and decreasing his sack total to 17.
In 2008, Freeman saw a slight drop in yardage, down to 2,945. However, his completion percentage stayed high at almost 59%, throwing a career high 20 touchdown passes and career low 8 interceptions. His sack total dropped again to 15 and he added an amazing 14 touchdowns on the ground, 2nd most by any college quarterback last year.
Freeman finds himself in Tampa Bay on a Buccaneers team that few know exactly what to expect this year. New coach Raheem Morris, former assistant to John Gruden, is inheriting a team with an impressive power running game and question marks at the quarterback position. Tampa Bay is only too familiar with quarterback questions as Gruden seemed to collect them like trading cards. However, it looks as though Freeman will have at least a season to sit and develop, learning the Bucs system behind long time veteran Byron Leftwich.
There are definitely some similarities between Freeman and Leftwich. Ok, maybe not in 2009 but a young Byron Leftwich had a lot of similarities to Freeman. If given the time to develop, He could learn a lot from the once mobile Leftwich. Tampa Bay seems a very good fit for Freeman. Defenses have to respect the Bucs power running game which should leave many 1-1 situations. Freeman has the size to see the entire field and the arm strength and accuracy to consistently deliver the ball downfield. Teams will quickly learn to honor this deep threat. That being the case, and providing the offensive line can give him some protection, look for some big plays deep, and some nice mid range completions as receivers come back toward the line. Freeman’s ability to scramble and pick up first down with his feet should be especially frustrating for defensive coordinators who have to step up to stop the running game. Again, good move Tampa bay, this could very well prove to be the best pick of the 2009 draft.