This morning I ran across this article in the Star-T that talks about new Dallas Cowboys rookie Tashard Choice. As I was reading it, I thought this all sounds so familiar. Then it dawned on me that it is familiar to me but not to most of you guys. You haven’t spent the last couple of years following Tashard Choice the way I have and all the off the field stories about the quality guy he is including the passage about why he transferred to Georgia Tech from Oklahoma. So I decided to write something up on Tashard to give you guys a better insight into our fourth round Choice. (You knew I was going to have to use that pun eventually)

I don’t know of a GT fan who didn’t love Tashard Choice. He was the heart and soul of the team, some of which can be observed from this YouTube clip I posted after we drafted him. He’s an emotional guy, he put everything he had into any game he played and was a warrior in terms of trying to play even when injured. He never wanted to let his teammates down and it really mattered to him. "My everything, or nothing" was his mantra and he tried to instill that kind of dedication into his teammates.

When he transferred from Oklahoma to GT a lot of people thought it was because Adrian Peterson arrived on campus. While I’m sure that might have entered his mind and made him concerned for playing time, the real reason he transferred was because of his family, more specifically because of his mother. From the Star-T article:

[His mother Rose] Hamm was out of work, having broken her foot, and her other three sons were in trouble with the law.

"I'm real close to my mom," Choice said after a minicamp practice at Valley Ranch. "When she was at the house by herself and couldn't work, I had to come home. If I wanted to leave [because of playing time], I could have gone any other place in the country. But I came home to Georgia Tech, because it's like 15 minutes away from my mom. That's why they granted me the hardship to play [immediately]."

Choice didn’t have to sit out a year after transferring because the NCAA showed some compassion and recognized it was a hardship case. Choice was the ACC rushing leader in 2006 and almost had the title again in 2007. GT was a team that relied on an attacking, all-out blitz defense – I’m not kidding here, we blitzed on 75-80% of our plays – and the workhorse Choice to gobble up the yards on offense. Even though we had the great Calvin Johnson for one year with Choice, we had a QB (Reggie Ball) who was about as accurate as a fortune teller at a carnival. We followed up this past year with another QB who just wasn’t on the level you want from a Division I NCAA team. In essence, the only thing we could really depend on from our offense was Tashard Choice. And our opponents knew this, too. Still, they couldn’t stop him and we gave him the ball over and over.

I’ve given my scouting report on Choice before but I’ll go ahead and repeat it here. He has great vision, he sees the hole and he hits it hard. He’s never going to outrun the secondary but he will make moves to get the extra yards. He’s a tough runner and isn’t afraid of contact. Rarely does he not fall forward during a tackle and pickup the extra yard or two. He can catch the ball out of the backfield although our offense was not geared for him to do that, we utilized some other smaller, speedier guys to handle that. He was prone to picking up nagging injuries but he almost always tried to play through them or he would only miss a game or two and would be back in the lineup.

In the locker room, he was a leader. On the sidelines, he never let his teammates get discouraged and was always seen encouraging them. Like I said before, he’s an emotional guy who wears his feelings on his sleeve. His style of running has been compared to MB3’s, although he’s not that physical, but who is? His personality off the field is diametrically opposed to MB3's who is very quiet and shies away from the spotlight. Not Choice, he’s a people-person who loves to talk and to laugh. He’s a competitor, but will have no problem accepting his role as the third back and I guarantee you he will give everything he has on special teams.

I was a little curious as to why we chose another RB so soon in the draft after picking up Felix Jones in the first round. But I couldn’t have been happier with the player they chose. The Cowboys felt they couldn’t pass on Choice because he was the highest rated player on their board at the time and the running back cupboard was kind of empty going into the draft. From the Star-T:

But Choice was the best player on the Cowboys' draft board at the 122nd pick.

"Even though we had drafted a running back, we just couldn't pass on a player who has all of his qualities, even at that position," [Jerry] Jones said. "... A guy like him should be able to get dressed out and go to the game, because he should be an outstanding special-teams contributor as well.

My guess is that Cowboys fans will start to feel the same way about Tashard Choice as Georgia Tech fans already do. For me, I’m already there given my past two years experience following his exploits on The Flats in Atlanta, GA. Just thought I’d give you guys a heads-up on what kind of player and person you can expect in the form of Tashard Choice. 

The Breerman breaks down a few of the players at today’s mini-camp. Short version: He’s lovin’ Martellus Bennett, gave a mixed-review about Jenkins’ inconsistent play, is coming around on the smooth styling’s of Felix Jones, noted Tashard Choice had a case of the dropsies but recovered later, and Jason Garrett is a jack-of-all-trades in the coaching arena.

Here's the schedule for the mini-camp. 

Today  [Friday]

10:30 A.M. -12:00 P.M. -- Practice (open to media/closed to public)
12:15 P.M. -1:30 P.M. -- Locker Room Open to Media
2:45 P.M. -3:45 P.M. -- Practice (open to media/closed to public)

Tomorrow [Saturday]

10:30 A.M. -12:00 P.M. -- Practice (open to media/closed to public)
12:15 P.M. -1:30 P.M. -- Locker Room Open to Media
1:30 P.M. -2:00 P.M. -- Coach Phillips Press Conference
2:45 P.M. -3:45 P.M. -- Practice (open to media/closed to public)

Meanwhile, Julius Jones took a shot at the Cowboys, and fans, in an article in a Seattle paper.

"I love playing here," he said. "The atmosphere, it's 10 times better than Dallas."

And in the WTF department, Colts' WR Marvin Harrison is under suspicion in a gunfire incident.

Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison is under investigation in his hometown of Philadelphia in a shooting that took place earlier this week, a source close to the investigation told Anthony Gargano of Philadelphia's WIP Radio.

He's about the last guy in the NFL who I thought would get mixed up in something like this.

The second day of the 2008 NFL Draft for the Dallas Cowboys was a strange one indeed. Coming into the second day the Cowboys’ first pick was supposed to be #92 but Jerry Jones returned to form with a vengeance by trading back not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times until they finally used a pick at #122. All in all, I thought Jerry did a good job here as the Cowboys eventually walked out with an extra third and fourth round pick in the 2009 draft. You can check the DMN blog here for the details.

As for the actual picks:

#122 – Tashard Choice: This one is tricky for me. Everybody knows I’m a Georgia Tech guy and Tashard Choice was the heart and soul of the Yellow Jackets for the past two years. I love the guy. But, I thought it was strange for the Cowboys to choose another running back this early after picking up Felix Jones in the first round yesterday. The Cowboys could have waited until a later round or even dipped into the UDFA market since MB3 and Felix are going to be their two top backs. There’s nothing wrong with the value in choosing Choice. I watched every game he played at GT and he is a solid player. He has great vision and sees the hole well and hits it hard. He’s not afraid of contact and can run between the tackles. In the open field he’s good at making cuts and picking the correct angles to attack the defense and he can also break a tackle or two and almost always falls forward when being tackled. He doesn’t possess top-end speed that will allow him to hit the home run but is a workhorse that you can give the ball to over and over without losing steam. He had some injury problems that kept him out of games on occasion and this could be a concern at the NFL level. The kid is has great character and work ethic and will be a positive locker room guy. Still, I’m not sure why the Cowboys felt the need to draft another running back at this point of the draft. This is nothing against Choice who will probably be a good special teams guy but other needs were left unfulfilled.

#143 – Orlando Scandrick: After trading back in the early part of the second day, the Cowboys actually traded back up to get the Boise State CB. The most obvious thing about Scandrick is his speed, clocking a 4.33 in the 40. He has a lot of starts under his belt and was very good on special teams blocking kicks. He’s a little raw in technique but with his speed and good size could develop into a quality corner at the NFL level. Getting him at this point of the draft was good value for the Cowboys and adds another special teams talent. With the addition of Pacman Jones and Mike Jenkins, the Cowboys have added three cornerbacks to their roster. With Anthony Henry getting up in age and being injury-prone, the Cowboys could be preparing to move him - at least part-time - to safety. When this subject was broached yesterday at the press conference Wade Phillips didn’t knock it down, saying only that a decision like that is “down the road”. The Cowboys could also be preparing themselves for the upcoming contract negotiations with Terence Newman who is a free agent after this year. Jerry has done a nice job of turning a Cowboys weakness into a strength and preparing for the future. It could also mean the guys currently on the roster like Alan Ball and Evan Oglesby will be fighting for a roster spot.

#167 – Erik Walden: The Cowboys dipped into the small school pool for an undersized defensive end who will have to transfer to OLB in the Cowboys 3-4 defensive scheme. In Walden’s junior year he put up 11.5 sacks and has the physical tools to rush the passer in a 3-4 scheme but will have to learn to play standing up. He’s more of a project for the future than an immediate contributor this year. 3-4 teams can never have enough linebackers, especially ones who can rush the passer, so Dallas is hoping to hit on a little-known gem. But by doing this, combined with some of the other picks on the second day, they ignored some of the other needs on the team.

The Cowboys are banking on the resurgence of Roy Williams and getting Ken Hamlin signed to a long-term deal or they could get caught woefully short at the safety position past this year. They also didn’t upgrade the WR corps and only have second-year player Deon Anderson for the FB position. The idea of moving Jay Ratliff back to DE also seems to be moot at this point because they did not spend a pick on NT.

In truth, the Cowboys didn’t have a lot of positions to fill in this draft except for CB and RB and they did that exceptionally well. But they passed on acquiring some depth at key positions that could be troublesome if injury hits them at those spots. They planned for the future in terms of contracts at some spots but left others open to speculation. In the end, though, they accomplished their main goals in the draft and added a lot of speed to their team, something that was missing.

You can read my first day recap, here.

With the 122th pick in the 2008 NFL Draft the Dallas Cowboys select….Georgia Tech RB Tashard Choice.

Talk it up!