Posted January 8th, 2008 by Brian
Filed under: Draft, Football

Jermichael FinleyIn a surprising decision, tight end [tag]Jermichael Finley[/tag] has declared for the 2008 NFL Draft and will forgo his final two seasons of eligibility at Texas. Only a redshirt sophomore, Finley is eligible for the draft since he has spent three years on campus.

In just two seasons for the Longhorns Jermichael quickly climbed into the UT record books for tight ends. He finishes his brief career third all time in career receptions (76) for the position and sixth in receiving yards (947). Finley finished the 2007 season with an impressive 45 catches for 575 yards.

From the official UT release:

“The NFL is every football player’s dream and when my NFL grade came back, it was encouraging and I felt like it was in my best interest to enter the draft,” Finley said. “I’ve worked really hard for three years at Texas to prepare for this and I think I’m ready for the challenge. Coach Chambers and all of the coaches have helped me improve and taught me so much that I can’t thank them enough.”

“I want to thank Coach Brown for the great opportunity he gave me and everything I learned from him. He’s a great man. Playing at Texas was the experience of a lifetime. Austin, the campus, every one in the football program and the fans have all treated me so well. It’s a first class place and I’ll really miss it. The win in the Holiday Bowl, getting another 10 wins and the team coming together capped off a great experience for me at UT.”

“I really enjoyed the opportunity to help out the younger guys, especially Josh (Marshall) and Blaine (Irby). They’re both great guys and will be great players so I look forward to watching them and all of the Longhorns. The future is bright at Texas and I’ll always be a Longhorn.”

Rumors this weekend were that Finley would be returning next season after reportedly only receiving a fourth or fifth round grade from NFL scouts. Without going into details, Jermichael had to weigh more than just his draft slot when making this decision. Though he might have improved his draft stock by returning for another season, he has apparently deciding that leaving now was ultimately in his best interest.

The mismatches his size and speed created will definitely be missed in next year’s offense. [tag]Blaine Irby[/tag] played a good bit this year as a true freshman and looked promising, but with no other highly rated guys on campus or in this year’s recruiting class the position is definitely lacking quality depth. We might see a lot more four wide receiver sets or tight ends pass blocking than we did this year.

Good luck Jermichael.

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4 Comments

  1. reply to  #1

    Hook'Em Horns

    Well that sucks!

  2. reply to  #2

    chris

    Geez…. thats just great. What else you got for us Brian?! Is Mack Brown retiring too?

  3. reply to  #3

    Jim

    We will miss him, but I believe Irby will get the job done. It’s his position for the taking.
    We also had a couple of redshirt TE I believe
    who could be in the mix.

  4. reply to  #4

    Hook'Em Horns

    Finley got the job done when they threw him the ball, but that was somwhat rarely. Our depth in that position is not a thing to worry about.

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