Someone mentioned QB Pete Lalich as a possible Browns later round pick. I never heard of him so searched and found this story. Very interesting tale and very, very interesting player...
NFL Draft 2013 —
Peter Lalich: The Forgotten One
BY J.P. SCOTT ON FEBRUARY 26, 2013
"A source close to and with experience coaching Lalich described the signal caller as a “football savant”, going on to call him a “real life Will Hunting” when it came to football.
Peter Lalich is the best passer in college football. No one throws a prettier, more accurate ball with more zip. No One.
Don’t bother scrolling through the names of the quarterbacks who participated in this year’s NFL Combine. The 6’6, 245 pound senior is not on it. He wasn’t invited.
Lalich was one of the most heavily recruited quarterbacks in the nation coming out of West Springfield High School in Springfield, Virginia in 2007. He chose to stay in-state and attend the University of Virginia after turning down offers from Miami (FL), Michigan, N.C. State and UCLA.
During the summer before his sophomore season at Virginia, Lalich was arrested for underage drinking and placed on probation. He ended up starting the first two games for the Cavaliers before his court appearance where he admitted to violating his probation by consuming alcohol. He was dismissed from the UVA Football team the same day.
Two years later, after transferring to Oregon State, he was dismissed from that program as well. This time he was caught operating a boat under the influence of alcohol.
What looked to be another tragic ending to another talented athlete’s story took a turn for the better when Lalich found a place at the University of California (PA), a Division II school. He had a quiet yet solid 2012 season, highlighted by his 334.7 passing yards per game average.
In an interview for NFL Draft Zone (the interview is following after this article), Lalich talked about how his past mistakes made him a better person and helped him grow. In the same interview, he talks about passing his time by playing blues guitar, practicing yoga and modeling his game after that of Tom Brady. If you are trying to model yourself after another in your profession, I’d say it would be tough to make a better choice than that.
From what I can tell, outside of two unfortunate incidents with alcohol and some self admitted marijuana usage in the past, he seems like your average college kid — only this kid has an NFL arm and high-speed computer processor for a mind when it comes to making decisions from the pocket.
A source close to and with experience coaching Lalich described the signal caller as a “football savant”, going on to call him a “real life Will Hunting” when it came to football.
The same source cited how the fact that Ryan Nassib, the current quarterback prospect from Syracuse, is being considered by many as potential 2nd or 3rd round pick is laughable when you compare his skill-set to that of Lalich. He went on to speculate that Lalich will be one of the most sought after undrafted free agents should he get passed over for seven rounds.
It is also important to point out that Dallas Cowboy Head Coach Jason Garrett’s brother John was one of the primary recruiters of Lalich to Virginia. This tells me that Peter Lilich will be very much on the radar of both the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where John Garrett is now on Greg Schiano’s staff.
As I said before, after watching literally hours of NFL prospects throw the ball, not one of them is a better pure passer and for that matter, decision maker than Peter Lalich. Let’s just hope the foolish decisions of a 20 year old kid don’t end up being what derails what could very well be a terrific NFL career.
KnowItAllFootball.com
