Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

sheajets wrote:His disappointing final season at Pitt also didn't help. I usually adhere to the old adage of where there's smoke, there's fire. It was the 80's, he was a superstar college QB, this was an epidemic all over America. I mean it was known that he did like to party and it certainly wouldn't be surprising if others at these parties confirmed to scouts the presence of certain substances there.

Kind of off-topic, but I think those early-1980's Pitt teams were the greatest college football teams to never win a title. They had so much elite NFL talent on those squads. Jackie Sherrill kind of pissed it away, though. They went 11-1 in both 1980 and 1981, but probably should have been undefeated both years. A lot of that talent had left by 1982, Sherrill himself had left, and it was really just Dan Marino and not much else. Watching some of those old Pitt games, two things stand out...one, Dan Marino's talent is obvious and, two, his WRs were some of the worst I've ever seen. Guys like Julius Dawkins and Dwight Collins couldn't catch a cold. Its interesting that Marino's rookie NFL season was so much better than his senior year at Pitt.

Bryan wrote:

sheajets wrote:His disappointing final season at Pitt also didn't help. I usually adhere to the old adage of where there's smoke, there's fire. It was the 80's, he was a superstar college QB, this was an epidemic all over America. I mean it was known that he did like to party and it certainly wouldn't be surprising if others at these parties confirmed to scouts the presence of certain substances there.

Kind of off-topic, but I think those early-1980's Pitt teams were the greatest college football teams to never win a title. They had so much elite NFL talent on those squads. Jackie Sherrill kind of pissed it away, though. They went 11-1 in both 1980 and 1981, but probably should have been undefeated both years. A lot of that talent had left by 1982, Sherrill himself had left, and it was really just Dan Marino and not much else. Watching some of those old Pitt games, two things stand out...one, Dan Marino's talent is obvious and, two, his WRs were some of the worst I've ever seen. Guys like Julius Dawkins and Dwight Collins couldn't catch a cold. Its interesting that Marino's rookie NFL season was so much better than his senior year at Pitt.

I don't ever remember him having a solid stable of offensive weapons there. iirc Randy McMillan was the only one who made something of himself in the NFL

Bryan wrote:

sheajets wrote:His disappointing final season at Pitt also didn't help. I usually adhere to the old adage of where there's smoke, there's fire. It was the 80's, he was a superstar college QB, this was an epidemic all over America. I mean it was known that he did like to party and it certainly wouldn't be surprising if others at these parties confirmed to scouts the presence of certain substances there.

Kind of off-topic, but I think those early-1980's Pitt teams were the greatest college football teams to never win a title. They had so much elite NFL talent on those squads. Jackie Sherrill kind of pissed it away, though. They went 11-1 in both 1980 and 1981, but probably should have been undefeated both years. A lot of that talent had left by 1982, Sherrill himself had left, and it was really just Dan Marino and not much else. Watching some of those old Pitt games, two things stand out...one, Dan Marino's talent is obvious and, two, his WRs were some of the worst I've ever seen. Guys like Julius Dawkins and Dwight Collins couldn't catch a cold. Its interesting that Marino's rookie NFL season was so much better than his senior year at Pitt.

Dawkins was an All-American as a junior and caught 16 TD passes. He only played 2 seasons in the NFL with the BIlls (1983-1984), while Collins only played in the NFL in 1984 for the Vikings.

Bryan wrote:

sheajets wrote:His disappointing final season at Pitt also didn't help. I usually adhere to the old adage of where there's smoke, there's fire. It was the 80's, he was a superstar college QB, this was an epidemic all over America. I mean it was known that he did like to party and it certainly wouldn't be surprising if others at these parties confirmed to scouts the presence of certain substances there.

Kind of off-topic, but I think those early-1980's Pitt teams were the greatest college football teams to never win a title. They had so much elite NFL talent on those squads. Jackie Sherrill kind of pissed it away, though. They went 11-1 in both 1980 and 1981, but probably should have been undefeated both years. A lot of that talent had left by 1982, Sherrill himself had left, and it was really just Dan Marino and not much else. Watching some of those old Pitt games, two things stand out...one, Dan Marino's talent is obvious and, two, his WRs were some of the worst I've ever seen. Guys like Julius Dawkins and Dwight Collins couldn't catch a cold. Its interesting that Marino's rookie NFL season was so much better than his senior year at Pitt.

Marino's offensive line has to be one of the greatest in college football history with Jimbo Covert, Russ Grimm, Mark May and Bill Fralic. Other PItt offensive linemen of this period also were drafted and played briefly in the NFL (Emil Boures, Rob Fada and Ron Sams).

sheajets wrote:

Bryan wrote:

sheajets wrote:And I wonder if guys like Marino and Kelly also sort of did it halfheartedly considering there was ample evidence before they even took the test that they were plenty smart enough to QB in the NFL.

I've always wondered if the drug/cocaine rumors surrounding Marino just prior to the draft had any connection to his low wonderlic score...like the scouts saw his score and thought "How can Marino's score be so low? He has to be on drugs or something."

His disappointing final season at Pitt also didn't help. I usually adhere to the old adage of where there's smoke, there's fire. It was the 80's, he was a superstar college QB, this was an epidemic all over America. I mean it was known that he did like to party and it certainly wouldn't be surprising if others at these parties confirmed to scouts the presence of certain substances there.

Could also have been a rumor started by other teams hoping he'd fall to them

Didn't he have a shoulder problem that was kept secret his senior year?