Rams rediscover the SEC

http://www.semissourian.com/blogs/sports/entry/10278/

Linehan puts his stamp on team

Rams rediscover the SEC


Focus on major conference schools

For better or worse, the Scott Linehan era is officially under way in St. Louis. If anyone needs additional proof that Mike Martz is longer the head coach of the Rams, look no further than the just concluded 2006 NFL Draft.

All 10 picks of the Rams came from five major football conferences: the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and SEC.

That never happened under Martz.

From 2000 to 2005, St. Louis often looked to smaller conferences to find talent. Of the 53 players taken by the Rams from 2000-2005, 20 of them - 38% - came from other conferences than the big five mentioned above or from Notre Dame.

They included hits - e.g. Hawaii's Pisa Tinoisamoa, 2nd round 2003; misses - e.g. North Dakota State's Lamar Gordon, 3rd round 2002; and some where the jury is still out - e.g. Howard defensive back Ron Bartell, 2nd round 2005.

Under Martz, the Rams didn't draft a single player from the SEC, as talent-rich a conference as any in the country. That string was broken on Saturday when St. Louis chose defensive tackle Claude Wroten from LSU in the third round. Wroten became the first Rams pick out of the SEC since Tennessee's Leonard Little in 1998, also taken in the third round.

Martz, the former offensive coordinator at Arizona State, had a love affair with the Pac-10. From 2000-2005, the Rams selected 12 players from the conference, including Arizona's Trung Canidate, the first pick of the Martz era.


Here's my unofficial breakdown by conference of players taken by the Rams since 2000.
(teams that have switched conferences are included in their current conference)


Year ACC Big 10 Big 12 Pac-10 SEC Other
2000 1 1 1 1 0 3
2001 3 1 1 3 0 1
2002 0 2 1 2 0 3
2003 0 1 2 2 0 6
2004 1 2 0 3 0 1
2005 3 0 1 1 0 6
2006 2 3 2 2 1 0
Totals 10 10 8 14 1 20

very interesting post!
while id have to admit that there are some gems to be bought in the lesser ranked conferences/"shops" -if you want a better chance of quality you should go to the classier "shops"!

Well, outside of WR's the SEC is loaded with talent.

Hey, we almost went SEC in the first round at QB...

:)

I wouldn't draw too many conclusions based on one draft. While players coming out of the major conferences are usually more NFL ready, when a team is drafting from a wide variety of schools that at least tells you they've scouted the whole rookie class pretty thoroughly. It is very odd that in five years we managed to take at least 6 players out of each of the other major conferences and none out of the SEC, though.

i nevered reliezed that.... good find

Considering the upheaval in the coaching staff, and limited time compared to other teams.....this year was very impressive. Next year should be even better.