Dave Ragone 22 Louisville 15 QB PLAYER AGE SCHOOL NO. POSITION

Height  6'4" Weight  250 lbs. Year  Senior 2002 stats  74-143, 985 yards, 5 TDs, 4 INTs Career stats  522-882, 6,669 yards, 55 TDs, 22 INTs

QB SPECIFICS Arm Strength A Dave has been blessed with an arm that allows him to simply flick the ball any distance, and his arm is almost too strong. He has the Randy Johnson-like fastball anytime he wants it. Without question he has one of the strongest arms and is one of the hardest throwers in college football. Escape Ability B+ Even though he is a big man Dave is still nimble and he's tough when he runs the ball. It's hard to sack him with an arm tackle. You have to wrap him up. So while he's not a Michael Vick/Seneca Wallace kind of scrambler, his ability to avoid the sack gives him escape ability. Quick Set Up N/A Hard to grade because he plays mostly from the shotgun, but when he receives the ball he is ready to throw it immediately. Watching him move around in the pocket after the snap I would assume he will not have a problem down the road with setting up to throw. Accuracy Long A- He likes to go deep with the ball and is always looking for the big play. I like the fact that he doesn't have to lob the ball when he goes deep. He can get it between the deep zones and he can throw it 40-45 yards without having top put a lot of air under it. His deep ball is just very, very good. Accuracy Short B Dave has such a big arm that he has to take a lot off every short throw. I was surprised by his touch, but this is an area where he and guys like Byron Leftwich will have to improve to have success at the next level. Locate 2nd Receiver A- Dave is very good at this and you can tell he came out of a good high school program at St. Ignatius in Cleveland. He's comfortable with putting five receivers out wide and has very good teachers in the Louisville program that demand he find different people. I also like the way he goes from one side of the field to the other. Running Ability A- Very, very strong. He's not afraid to run the ball and, as I've said about other guys, I like that he picks up first downs when he runs. Dave uses his running ability as a major weapon to make teams defend both parts of his game. His ability to run the ball has already been a huge advantage at the college level and will be perfect for the NFL. Quickness of Delivery B+ Really quick release. I am surprised that it is as good as it is for such a big man. Because he has such a strong arm he doesn't have to take a full windup to throw the short passes. Dave is much like Tim Couch, who came out of a similar system at Kentucky where he had to throw a lot of quick balls. Dave couldn't play in this offense if he didn't have a good delivery. He will have to get better at throwing to his backs behind the line of scrimmage, but he has nearly the total package here. Judgment A- Toughness, competitiveness and leadership sometimes draw a quarterback into making bad decisions, but those are the kinds of things that can be polished. I like the fact that like some other guys Dave is willing to take risks to get the big play. He occasionally does things he shouldn't, but in the long run that will help him develop. Poise A He has it all here. Coming from the high school program he did, Dave has been able to handle having the offense built around him at Louisville. He doesn't get rattled whether his team is ahead or behind. This may be his best attribute in the long run. He is used to playing under a lot of pressure and used to being the center of attention.

SUMMARY Toughness, leadership, stature and expertise are Dave's best qualities. Some guys who play quarterback lead because of the position they play, but Dave would be a leader at any position. Leadership ability oozes out of him and he has probably had that his whole life. He is a guy that wants to lead rather than someone who is a leader only because he is a quarterback.

Former NFL quarterback Gary Danielson is a college football analyst for ABC Sports.