Dallas Cowboys NFL draft series: Tennessee quarterback Erik Ainge
Size: 6-foot-5, 225 pounds
Combine 40-yard dash time: 4.98
POSITIVES
Start with work ethic and character - If Erik Ainge were to put it all together some where and become an NFL starter, he'd be the kind of leader a team would want. Ainge improved greatly from start to finish at Tennessee, which is a direct reflection of his work ethic. And he was a 60 percent passer as a senior at UT, despite having to break in an entirely new group of receivers in the toughest conference in the country, chock full of elite defenses. He's got height and a smooth delivery, with a compact, quick release. Ainge stands tall in the pocket, and doesn't take many sacks or get balls batted at the line. When he's on, he can be deadly accurate and usually puts the ball where it gives his receivers a chance to run after the catch, when the opportunity is there. His intelligence and desire to improve will give him a chance at the pro level.
COWBOY FIT
Erik Ainge would make some sense in that he could fit right in as the third-stringer, and would likely be a diligent student for Jason Garrett and Wade Wilson to work with. And if he's got the qualities to be a long-term answer as a backup to Tony Romo - studies hard, understands the game, and is good about avoiding mistakes (or at least he has been of late). I like the idea of it simply because I think Ainge possesses a couple of essential and underrated quarterbacking qualities. One being that he's a student of the game, and has had to work with different groups of people over the last two years, and remained productive. Another is his quick, compact release, something that's hard to teach. And a third thing would be the poise he shows standing back there. He's a work in progress, certainly, but he really improved in his two years under David Cutcliffe. He won't be ready to play right away, but the Cowboys wouldn't need him to be after taking him in, say, the fifth round.
EX-TENNESSEE OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR DAVID CUTCLIFFE
He's been a very good student in the two-year period I had him. ... I was fortunate to have the others for four or five years, I had Heath for three years. I inherited Erik. The biggest thing we had to work on was his accuracy and decision-making, and his knowledge of defensive football. He went from a sophomore year being a 47 percent passer to 67 percent his junior year. Then, he lost all his receivers as a senior, and did a good job of doing what we asked him to do. We got him to make good decisions and improve his pocket presence. In 328 drops, he only gave up three sacks, that's an incredible stat. I think Erik's best football is in front of him. Has he done it all yet? No. But he will be prepared and continue to improve. ... What you do with accuracy is build it through knowledge and decision-making. No one's accurate when they're not sure what they're doing. It was moving it back to ground zero with his mechanics. He always had a big arm, but there were issues with his feet. We took him literally from the ground up, working with footwork and mechanics. And with that, his accuracy improved. He had natural gifts with arm and size. ... I think (leadership) develops, I think you earn respect. He knew the right things to do. He didn't know how to go about it all the time. But his work ethic was there, and his knowledge of the game improved. You have to earn (a place as a leader). Over the two-year period I was there, those skills really increased in him. That's not learned, it's earned. ... He's got very similar arm (to the best I've coached). He's got the ability to throw it wherever he wants, he's similar to all of them that way. He's got a big-league arm. He's 6-6, 225, so that's there with plenty of arm strength. He was a two-year project, where we generally had more time with the others. ... I think he needed to get better getting a rhythm, a tempo, and working with his alignment. He's very athletic, sometimes too athletic. He was a basketball player, and you can shoot a basketball about 100 different ways. You can't throw a football 100 different ways. There were times where he tried to be too creative, and did things he shouldn't have, throwing from angles. Once he settled that down, and learned to quiet his lower body, he was better. ... I thought the biggest challenge going into his senior year was that he was working completely new starters that hadn't caught passes from him. He did a great job of training those guys, showing them what was expected over the summer. It was pretty phenomenal what occurred,. We had three or four receivers really succeed under his tutelage. That says a lot about your senior quarterback. He got us in the SEC Championship Game and that league, and I'm not in it anymore, is absolutely a defensive football league. It's not an easy task to do what he did. ... First of all, with him, his knowledge of defensive football improved through his discipline studying every day. And he started believing it, truly believing in what we were trying to do. He did a nice job. You pull tape on anybody at quarterback, in any league, and there are times you're gonna look bad. You gotta minimize those times. He did a good job with that. He'll get better at that. One of the biggest differences he'll have in the pros is what's covered in the college game, a lot of times, is open in the NFL. He'll have to learn that. ... He's smart, he wants to please. He has very high character, people don't have to worry about him. He's a pretty mature young man, he never redshirted, so he's still young. Someone's gonna get a bargain in him. ... Ideally, you'd want anybody want to sit and learn the game from the sidelines. But when somebody drafts a quarterback, they want him to play. I was around Brady Quinn, and I thought he was a guy who was going to be ready right away. But he benefits from sitting and watching too. Erik's mature, focused, and bright. He could surprise some people. Someone's getting a good, solid player, who's been around a lot of football. ... It's hard to compare people to the Mannings, they're once-in-a-lifetime, but he's that kind of player. He's smart, very fast-thinking, he processes information quick. He's there with them size-wise too. Do I compare anyone to those two? No. But Erik can do outstanding things as well. ... I think he probably needs to continue to know when to take risks. Erik's played a lot of football, but really came into his own the last year and a half, he started to see the big picture of game. The other thing is getting comfortable with pocket movement. Some of the great ones, they make great plays with subtle movements in pocket. A lot of people think that the great athletes tuck it and run, but that's not always true. A lot of times, the best athletes make the subtle movements in the pocket, so they're always in position to make the great throw. He's still working on that. ... He's an outstanding guy, couldn't be a better person. He's fun to be around. And he really matured over the last two years. He's a bright guy who people naturally like.
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