A year ago, quarterback guru George Whitfield tutored Cam Newton and prepared him for the pre-draft workouts that helped establish him as the top player in the draft. This year, Whitfield is very confident that he’s again working with the draft’s top player.
In fact, in an Indianapolis Star column that seeks to debunk any talk that the Colts might surprise people and pick Robert Griffin III first overall, Whitfield says that his prized pupil, Andrew Luck, is the kind of talent that an NFL team would long regret passing on.
“If they over-think this, they’re going to make a mistake they’ll regret for years,” Whitfield said.
Some draft analyst view Luck as the safer bet but Griffin as the player with the higher upside. Whitfield doesn’t think upsides get much higher than Luck’s.
“He’s constantly being categorized as being safe, the sure thing, almost to the point where it’s a negative like there’s a ceiling, no apparent way for him to get better,” Whitfield said. “It almost feels like they’re looking at him as the guy with the least amount of negatives. Let me tell you: He’s far from a finished product. He’s very far along, but there are still things he’s working on mechanically and there are lots of things he’ll get better at by being in the NFL.”
Although plenty of observers disagree with Whitfield and think Griffin is the better prospect, from all indications none of those observers are in the Colts’ front office. The Colts aren’t going to make that decision that Luck’s quarterback tutor thinks they’d regret.