55th overall pick, 23rd in 2nd round

Congrats to him! May this be the beginning of a long and productive NFL career.

Two spots behind SMU's Hunt by Cincy.

Wow. Highest Rice pick since Earl Cooper?

Good situation for him. They have Vernon Davis but lost Delanie Walker in the offseason so he could be TE #2 from the outset and obviously Harbaugh loves multiple TE sets and features his TEs in the passing game.

Not to mention they're a very good team and offense with one of the league's best staffs.

Awesome! Congrats to Vance....err...wait, did someone just say Cincinnati picked up Margus Hunt? That defense was already pretty darn salty.

I just noticed the Eagles drafted a tight end in the 2nd round from Stanford. Is that an issue for James Casey?

(04-26-2013 07:37 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  I just noticed the Eagles drafted a tight end in the 2nd round from Stanford. Is that an issue for James Casey?

They just gave Casey a decent chunk of money, would be surprised if it was too much of an issue

Highest since Bert Emanuel, #45 in '94

(04-26-2013 07:25 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Wow. Highest Rice pick since Earl Cooper?

Bailiff certainly brings in talent. Best recruiter since Goldsmith, if not before.

Niner fans seem very happy with Vance. I guess Harbaugh still gives Rice some attention, since his selection was higher than expected. Harbaugh's known for really going after 'his' kind of players, regardless of the scouting hype.

Goldsmith still recruited better than Bailiff, even though Bailiff has hauled in some gems. One still has to wonder if Vance could have been more productive as an Owl with better tutelage and scheme.

Congrats Vance!!! How great is this? Next up Luke and Sam

Vance came to Rice as a 2 Star recruit. That shows that the rankings aren't always very accurate, and that we are evaluating talent pretty well. Luke Willson wasn't rated very highly either.

Vance's Rivals ranking made little sense - Scott Solomon's was equally poor. They both had great physical tools, and Solomon had huge sack numbers in high school. I'm sure their poor ratings were mostly due to college they committed to.

EXCELLENT fit for Vance... I mean, seriously excellent. He mirrors Kapernik's versatility and will help create even more mismatches. This is the sort of team that can/will shift the defense/offense paradigm. Too bad nobody else is thinking this way...

oh wait

(04-27-2013 01:13 AM)Bay Area Owl Wrote:  One still has to wonder if Vance could have been more productive as an Owl with better tutelage and scheme.

He went from a 2-star recruit to a second round draft choice. I assume by better tutelage you think that with good coaching he could have been a first rounder. Maybe. I thought what did happen was pretty good.

As for more productive, at first I agreed with you. But every additional pass thrown his way would be one less thrown to Willson, Cook, Taylor, and McG, or one less carry for Ross, Eddington, and the rest of our talented RBs. There is only one football, and when we have such a wide array of talent, we need to spread it around. It's not like some of our previous, 1980's teams which had only one go-to guy.

Hey, we got a high draft choice that Bailiff can point to while recruiting and film time on ESPN. Let's be happy with these grapes, and not worry if they are sour.

Of course, it all starts with a willing and exceptionally hard working pupil

Congratulations to Vance

Kind of amazing. With Casey making big off-season news in Philly (and just wait til the season) and both Vance and Luke getting drafted in the first 5 rounds, maybe Rice will start getting some pub as "Tight End U." It will be interesting to see what Sloan does with Eddington next year.

As someone above noted, this kind of recognition goes a long, long way in the recruiting world. I wish we had 100,000 fans showing up for our games, but short of that, it's pretty good to be able to tell recruits we've had "x" number of guys getting drafted in the past few years (10?).

And like Casey, Vance will play. I believe he will stick with the Niners and play. A lot. He's going to be Kaepernick's safety valve on a ton of plays where V. Davis is double-covered. Just watch. I'm predicting 40 catches, 450 yards, and 6 TDs next year.

(04-27-2013 03:02 PM)smackdaddy Wrote:  Kind of amazing. With Casey making big off-season news in Philly (and just wait til the season) and both Vance and Luke getting drafted in the first 5 rounds, maybe Rice will start getting some pub as "Tight End U." It will be interesting to see what Sloan does with Eddington next year.

As someone above noted, this kind of recognition goes a long, long way in the recruiting world. I wish we had 100,000 fans showing up for our games, but short of that, it's pretty good to be able to tell recruits we've had "x" number of guys getting drafted in the past few years (10?).

And like Casey, Vance will play. I believe he will stick with the Niners and play. A lot. He's going to be Kaepernick's safety valve on a ton of plays where V. Davis is double-covered. Just watch. I'm predicting 40 catches, 450 yards, and 6 TDs next year.

I'm hoping that working on his hands pays off, because you're right, he may get the opportunity to do some things on offense quite a bit next year.

football isn't about spreading the wealth. Football is about creating and exploiting advantages. The 49ers are doing that by drafting Vance. So did the Texans with Casey, so will Philly. The drafting of a receiver by the Texans who can block and go across the middle will keep defenses from bracketing Andre every play... which makes him more effective... You throw the ball to the guy they don't take away. Jacoby wasn't the threat across the middle that this guy can be, so they just put a corner on him and took their chances, and Andre got the double. Similarly, even if Vance doesn't get a lot of touches (and I feel he will, at least until he proves himself), he changes the way the defense has to play you.

Guys always talk about speed to create separation. The DB has a 7-20 yard cushion... you'd have to be LIGHTYEARS faster to clear that. What creates separation is him having to watch another responsibility. Vance is that guy