To understand just how much Colin Kaepernick’s life has changed in one year, you only have to see Bay Area sportscaster Ken Wayne’s photo, where he came upon a giant sized likeness of the Nevada running quarterback at the Marriott hotel in New Orleans where he is for Super Bowl 47.
This is 2013, one year ago in January of 2012, only NFL Draft followers and Niners fans had even known of Colin Kaepernick and in 2011, only a hand-full of NFL Draft watchers knew about Colin.
Yes, including this blogger – especially this blogger.
In the Seattle PI of 2011 before the NFL Draft, I argued:
Let’s get this out there: Blaine Gabbert is not a better quarterback than Nevada Quarterback Colin Kaepernick (in photo). Period. And since Mr. Kaepernick’s projected for the 2nd round of the NFL Draft, there’s no logical reason Mr. Gabbert should be ahead of him. That’s too much money to spend for someone who’s not going to immediately start and lacks Cam Newton’s intangibles.
You say Gabbert’s got size at 6’5; Colin Kaepernick’s 6’6. You tell me Gabbert had a 127 passer rating in 2010? Well, Kaepernick was never below a 132 rating for his entire college career. Ok, now you point to “character,” well, Kaepernick’s got that too, though frankly “character” is overrated.
Then I said this:
Colin Kaepernick was the best at The Senior Bowl. He was the best thrower at the NFL Combine.
Colin Kaepernick is better than Blaine Gabbert.
Care to tell me I’m wrong?
Thankfully for Colin, San Francisco 49ers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh also took note of Kaepernick’s talent, and before the Oakland Raiders, who I thought should take him, ever moved a selection muscle, the operator of the Pistol Offense was taking his act to SF, not Oak.
And Colin was blessed by being in the NFL at a time when the College Football game is arguably ahead of the NFL game – where college offenses are being widely adopted around a league where coaches are afraid to come up with anything new. The Internet has speeded the transfer of knowledge about a football system and how to teach it, and such that even high schools are getting into the act of creating new systems that find there way into the NFL.
Now, football really is football, and it’s no wonder so many rookies and second year quarterbacks are performing so well. Colin Kaepernick has earned that photo on the wall, but now we’re going to see if he can make it stick.
Stay tuned.