Ryan Mallett

Ryan Mallett - 6'7" - 250 lbs. - 4.85 - Texarkana, TX

Analysis: Super Grand #1 Texas QB.

Mallett is the #1 guy in this class, the kind of recruit that defines a program for his time there, whether for good (Vince Young, Brady Quinn) or bad (Ron Powlus, Reggie Ball). The general consensus on Mallett is that he's got the arm of a howitzer, and the speed of a tectonic plate. From what I've seen of him (film, AAA game), this is selling the kid short. Mallett's arm is truly a thing of beauty, able to rifle frozen ropes 20-30 yards downfield with little apparent effort, and launch 60-70 yard bombs with ease. His accuracy is very good, and he appears to have fixed the tendancy to put unecessary force behind short passes that was a knock on him earlier in his career. He's by all reports a smart kid, very football savvy, won the "Best in the Chalk Talks" award at the Elite-11 camp, so he should have no trouble adopting the Michigan offense. No worries there, that brings us to Malletts main reported weakness, his feet. I think this concern has been overblown, Mallett shows an excellent ability to move around in the pocket, and those blitzers who he can't sidestep are going to have a tough time taking him down, seeing as he probably will outweigh half of them. He's never going to be a running QB, and when he does run, it really will be an incredibly surprising QB draw, but I think his size will help a lot in goal-line QB sneak situations. My only worry with Ryan is that he will fall victim to Mike Gittleson's Jewish-Mother strength and conditioning program ("Eat, EAT! You're to skinny! What has that goyish wife of yours been feeding you!"). At 6'7" and 250 lbs. he's already at a size that usually makes you think project offensive tackle, if he gains to much weight, he could lose his ability to evade rushers.

In summation, Ryan Mallet is a truly elite recruit, and probably the best one Michigan has recruited since Drew Henson. He's got a mammoth arm, great accuracy, solid feet, shoots laser beams from his eyes, and bakes an apple crumble that makes Martha Stewart cry tears of joy... Sorry, got a bit carried away there. Anywho, he'll be a heck of a lot of fun to watch in the Maize and Blue for the next 3-5 years.