Michigan Football: Jake Rudock Upping NFL Draft Stock
Former Michigan football quarterback Jake Rudock was snubbed from the NFL Combine, but after a praised pro day his draft stock is rising.
Jake Rudock said getting snubbed from the NFL Combine in February only added fuel to the fire, and now the former Michigan football quarterback has his draft stock rising after a highly praised pro day.
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Rudock was only at Michigan for one year after taking advantage of the graduate transfer rule, but he showed in Ann Arbor that he’s a better quarterback than anyone probably ever imagined.
He finished the season with the best completion percentage of his career at 64 percent, and he threw for almost 600 yards more than what he did the previous season at Iowa. Rudock’s season was stamped by a 440-yard, six-touchdown performance against Indiana.
That’s what catapulted him into NFL Draft talks. Michigan’s pro day may be what solidified it.
Rudock—measuring 6-foot-3, 207 pounds—ran the 40-yard dash in 4.85 and 4.91 seconds. He clocked in a 29-inch vertical and 9-foot-3 broad jump.
Passing game coordinator/quarterbacks and wide receivers coach Jedd Fisch laid out the game plan for what throws Rudock would be making, and even though he didn’t display a particularly arm, scouts were impressed with his accuracy.
Just look at some of this analysis:
QB Jake Rudock was the talk of Michigan's pro day. He had a lights-out workout today.
— Gil Brandt (@Gil_Brandt) March 18, 2016
Jake Rudock a potential sleeper QB coming out of this class. Had some games that made you wonder what he can do in the NFL.
— Justen Gammel (@gamscout) March 18, 2016
About Jake Rudock, pro-style developmental guy. Smart, can contribute positively to a QB room. Same with Kevin Hogan & before Kellen Moore.
— Michael Rothstein (@mikerothstein) March 18, 2016
This isn’t a very deep quarterbacks class coming out. There’s a significant drop-off after California’s Jared Goff and North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz. Rudock is ranked by CBSSports as the No. 19 quarterback and No. 363 overall prospect, though that board hasn’t been updated since his impressive pro day performance.
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It’d be surprising if he didn’t make a jump or two before the draft comes along on April 28.
After watching Rudock this past season, one thing scouts should also be taking note of is the considerable improvements he made as a quarterback under a quarterback-friendly coach.
Before arriving at Michigan—and even through most of the season—Rudock was doing things like not hitting his targets in stride and throwing an inaccurate deep ball. Towards the end of the season, though, we saw a quarterback much more capable of doing those things. When you compare that to his time spent at Iowa, it’s a night-and-day difference.
Something else scouts will probably note on Rudock is his surprising ability to create with his legs. Rudock is by no means a dual-threat quarterback, but when things broke down last season for Michigan, he was scrambling and creating plays. He has speed and elusiveness qualities you wouldn’t expect.
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We still have over a month until the NFL Draft, which means there’s still time to wiggle around on teams’ boards. Rudock certainly got a start in the process with his pro day.