The Year of the Quarterback

The 2009 college football season was the Year of the Tackle.

It's not the sexiest position on the field, but come April, nine of the 32 first-rounders were either offensive or defensive tackles, including five of the top 10.

Add in four defensive ends between picks 13 and 32, a guard and a center, and you've got 15 lineman on both sides of the ball going in the first round. Not bad considering those positions typically account for nine of the 22 players on the field.

Maybe you could call it the Year of the Lineman.

Well, 2010 is going to be the Year of the Quarterback. Plenty of quarterbacks could play their way into a first round pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, and a handful would have to play their way out of it to not be invited to Radio City Music Hall.

Last year, just three quarterbacks went in the first two rounds: Oklahoma's Sam Bradford, Florida's Tim Tebow and Notre Dame's Jimmy Clausen. Three more went in rounds three and four, but nine went in the last three rounds -- a sign that most teams weren't too high on that crop of quarterbacks.

Five prospects are considered top 50 picks -- or solid second-rounders -- by ESPN, heading into the season: Washington's Jake Locker, Stanford's Andrew Luck, Arkansas' Ryan Mallett, Missouri's Blaine Gabbert and Florida State's Christian Ponder.

ESPN analyst Todd McShay's first mock draft, which ends up not looking much like his final mock draft, has Luck going No. 1 to the Bills, Locker going No. 9 to the Jaguars and Mallett going No. 15 to the 49ers, with Ponder listed as the "top remaining prospect" after the first round.

Yet, with another good season, Texas A&M's Jerrod Johnson could "catapult" up the list, according to ESPN's Mel Kiper. The Worldwide Leader also doesn't project Ohio State junior Terrelle Pryor leaving for the draft, but he absolutely could, and would almost certainly be a first or second round pick.

WalterFootball.com has Locker, Luck, Ponder and Mallett all going in the first round -- in that order -- with Delaware's Pat Devlin coming off the board in Round 2. Sports Illustrated has Mallett, Gabbert and Locker in the top 10, with Ponder going No. 28 to the Vikings.

I think Locker and Mallett will be the two most successful quarterbacks in the draft. If your NFL team's quarterback situation needs a long-term fix -- I'm looking at you, Washington, Minnesota, Arizona, San Francisco and Seattle -- you should probably be rooting for that in next year's quarterback-heavy draft.