John Skelton Continuing to Prepare for Draft

When we last left John Skelton, he was at the East-West Shrine Game, displaying his game to a more national audience and trying to move up on the draft boards of NFL executives around the league. 

Since then, Skelton has been busy training at Fischer Sports, a physical strength and conditioning center in Phoenix. Last week, scouts at the NFL's annual Combine in Indianapolis, Ind., sized up the 6'5', 243 lbs. gunslinger next to the nation's other top quarterbacks, including Colt McCoy from Texas and former Heisman winners Tim Tebow of Florida and Sam Bradford from Oklahoma.

Skelton put up some impressive raw scores. After being weighed at a chiseled 244 lbs., Skelton ran the 40-yard dash in 4.85 seconds, posted a 33.5-inch vertical leap and completed the 20-yard shuttle in 4.33 seconds. 

These numbers were good for seventh, fourth and fourth respectively among all the quarterbacks, rankings that are even more impressive considering Skelton was the heaviest quarterback at the combine by a good seven pounds. 

Many of the more well known quarterbacks at the combine, including Tebow, McCoy and Bradford, eschewed the throwing drills. They instead will wait for their respective school's pro days to throw, creating an opportunity for other quarterbacks like Skelton to make a good showing for the scouts.

"Three guys didn't throw in my group and that definitely allowed me to make more throws and catch the eye of some of the people watching," Skelton said. "It just takes one [scout] to like you and get you drafted."

While scouts associated with teams obviously are staying mum about their opinions of Skelton and the other athletes at the Combine, many third-party scouts and pundits have weighed in on Skelton's workouts, and the reviews have generally been positive. 

Sirius Radio NFL analyst Jim Miller mentioned that while this is generally considered a weak quarterback class, he likes Skelton a lot and thinks he has the best arm in the draft.

"More work has to be done on John Skelton of Fordham, who looked great at the combine – he stole the show," respected NFL.com writer Pat Kirwan said. "Skelton is 6'5 3/8", 243 [lbs]. He ran a 4.85 in the 40 and threw the ball better than anyone in the drills."

The consensus on Skelton continues to be that he has an absolute cannon for an arm and that he has all the physical tools to be a great quarterback, but he trusts his arm a bit too much and still struggles a bit with short and intermediate routes. Thus, while Skelton's arm strength was on full display in Indianapolis, he also displayed a bit of inaccuracy. Hoping to defray these concerns, Skelton also threw at Fordham's pro day on Tuesday, March 9. 

While most of the roughly 30 players from Fordham and other Football Championship Subdivision schools did the typical combine drills, hoping to catch a scout's eye, Skelton was far more focused. 

After a brief stretch, he threw various routes and patterns and was again extremely impressive, as choppy winds didn't deter him from making strong throws.

"I thought the day went really well," Skelton said. "I hope the scouts and coaches thought the same."

In contrast to Skelton's rather relaxed response, Fordham Head Coach Tom Masella was a bundle of energy following the workout. 

"Well, he's got that rocket arm, and the scouts definitely got to see that," Masella said. "I think he looked really good and he made strong throws."

The intensity of exciting pro day atmosphere was heightened even further with the presence of representatives from 16 NFL teams, most of whom were there to watch Skelton.

"I talked with Cincinnati Bengals Quarterback Coach Ken Zampese and Philadelphia Eagles Offensive Coordinator Marty Mornhinweg," Skelton said.

Speculation will certainly run rampant around both the league and the Fordham campus in the days leading up to the NFL draft in late April, as there is still a great deal of uncertainty as to not only where Skelton will go, but when. 

Some boards have him being picked as high as the third round. While that may be somewhat ambitious, expect Skelton to go somewhere in the middle rounds (between the fourth and sixth). Yet, amid this flurry of rumors and predictions, Skelton has managed to stay cool.

"The whole process has been enjoyable," Skelton said. "It's something few people get to experience and I only did it once, but I will be happy to catch my breath and rest when it's all said and done. I'll be wherever I end up. I just want to make it into camp and compete for the job: that's all I can ask for."

Skelton's journey from a little known FCS quarterback to a legitimate NFL prospect has been an exciting one, and it's not over yet. Hopefully, he will be able to make an impact wherever he goes and bring some much-needed national athletic acclaim to Fordham.