When ESPN reporter Joe Schad texted former Clemson quarterback Cullen
Harper about Tommy Bowden’s dismissal as head coach last Oct. 13, Harper
responded back by saying “He got what he deserved.”
Schad reported the text moments later, but Harper backpedaled initially by
telling the local media that he was talking about Dabo Swinney being
promoted as interim head coach. When NFL scouts started interviewing him
as an NFL prospect early in the process, the 6-foot-3, 227-pound
quarterback decided it was best to come clean and tell the truth.
“I wasn’t thinking that it would be on ESPN or anything, but the next
thing I know, boom, it is everywhere,” Harper recently recalled. “I tried
to call the reporter and say that was confidential, but he said that it
was too late.
“It was my fault. I should have known better than that. I have been around
this business for a long time and you really have to watch what you say.”
Especially when you were the top senior quarterback in the draft at one
point and you were in the middle of a season that was spiraling out of
control.
“I don’t know if anything has hurt Cullen Harper worse than his play last
year,” said Chris Steuber, Scout.com’s NFL Draft Analyst. “I know he had a
shoulder injury and the coaching change. Before the season started last
year, I had Cullen Harper as my top senior quarterback. I was probably the
most disappointed guy as far as his play goes from last year.”
Though Harper eventually told the truth, scouts still question his ability
to lead as they enter Saturday’s 2009 NFL Draft.
“The comments that he made about Bowden will obviously hurt him because it
does not show good leadership and it doesn’t show what he is all about,”
Steuber said.
Harper has since tried to move on from those comments and has done
everything he can to prove to scouts that he is an NFL caliber
quarterback. Despite what was a bad senior season for the ACC preseason
Player of the Year, Steuber seems to think Harper still has the ability to
make it in the NFL.
“I still think he has potential. I’m one of these guys out there that
really thinks he can be a pretty good pro quarterback,” he said. “But
obviously he has to be in the right system and he has to be coached up a
little more, but I think we saw the potential Cullen Harper has a junior,
but unfortunately as a senior he did not show that kind of ability.”
As a junior, Harper completed 65.1 percent of his passes for 2,991 yards
and 27 touchdowns, while setting 12 single-season records and 10
single-game records.
But 2008 wasn’t good. Sure he had his moments and an injured shoulder he
suffered in a 34-10 loss to Alabama to start the season played a lot into
it as did an offensive line that was young and was suffering through
continuity issues due to injuries.
Still, he threw just 13 touchdowns and though he completed 61.4
percent of his passes for 2,601 yards, he also threw 14 interceptions,
eight more than the previous year.
“I think his drop in production had a lot to do with the offensive line he
had around him,” Steuber said. “I think a lot of the players on the team
also read the press clippings a little too much. Maybe it was a wakeup
call for Cullen Harper, but I think he is a much better player than he
showed last year.”
As a junior, Harper completed 65.1 percent of his passes for 2,991 yards
and 27 touchdowns, while setting 12 single-season records and 10
single-game records. |
So does his personal quarterback coach, former UCF head coach and Arizona
Cardinals offensive coordinator Mike Kruczek, who Harper hired to get him
ready for the draft.
Kruczek won two Super Bowl rings with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the late
1970s as Terry Bradshaw’s backup and before Ben Roethlisberger set an NFL
record for most consecutive wins (15) by a rookie quarterback in 2004,
Kruczek, who played college football at Boston College, owned the mark
with six straight wins when he stepped in for an injured Bradshaw in 1976.
“I think Cullen has a huge upside,” said Kruczek, who coached Matt Ryan
last year. “There are a number of factors that resulted in him having the
kind of year that everyone thought he was going to have.”
One of those things could have been Harper’s mechanics, which the two have
worked on a lot in the last fourth months to get corrected.
“He worked extremely hard on fixing things,” Steuber said. “He would step
underneath himself with his left foot so he could not get his hip through
the throw which generates the power on your throws. It’s not the arm. It
is through your leg and your hip drive.
“He had problems locating throws at first, but once he got his confidence,
he felt more comfortable. That was good for him. He has cleaned up a major
percentage of it, but it is an ongoing process.”
Harper says his throw is coming down a little more than three quarters
instead over the top like he has done his whole Clemson career.
“I’m throwing the football with my legs and my core mainly,” he said. “I
have a strong lower body and core and it is really important that I
utilize all of it instead of my arm.”
Scouts like Harper’s size and his quick setup, plus they like the fact
that he is an effective game-manager. Because of his accuracy and the fact
they think he has adequate arm-strength, Harper has the tools to
quarterback most NFL teams.
Scouts also think he could be a good quarterback for maybe a team
that runs the West Coast Offense. Teams like San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa
Bay, Denver and New England would all be good fits for a quarterback of
Harper’s ability, who is expected to be taken somewhere between the fourth
and sixth round.
“I think he is a good player and has good accuracy,” Steuber said. “He
doesn’t have the strongest arm, but he has good accuracy and it has worked
for him. If he gets in a system that he can learn and develop under a
veteran quarterback and work on his mechanics a little better and his
footwork, I think he will be fine.
“I think he is a good developmental quarterback for some team and maybe in
one of the West Coast offenses. Maybe one of those teams will take a
chance on him. He seems to be a good fit there. He is a good intermediate
kind of passer and I think he has a chance.”
Which is surprising considering scouts were not impressed with him after
what he said about Bowden.
“I have put that behind me and have answered all the questions for that
and I’m just moving on from that,” Harper said. “People want to know why I
said it, I just explained to them what happened and everyone has been
pretty forgiven so it is too bad it happened and I definitely regret it.
“I thought it was confidential between a reporter and me, but you learn
your lesson and you don’t let it happen again.”
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