NFL Draft: Jake Rudock Will be an NFL Quarterback
Jake Rudock may not get picked in the 2016 NFL Draft, but he’s an NFL-caliber quarterback.
The 2016 NFL Draft may not feature a lot of Michigan football players getting drafted. There are some decent prospects and guys like Willie Henry and Graham Glasgow are likely to get picked, but one guy that is on the fence is quarterback Jake Rudock.
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Rudock, who started 13 games for Jim Harbaugh a season ago and threw for 3,017 yards and 20 touchdowns, to go along with a completion percentage of 64, has been rising up draft boards.
Not only did Rudock have the benefit of playing for Harbaugh, which definitely is looked on favorably by NFL scouts, he also has pretty good measurables. He’s 6-3 207 and he showed some decent athleticism in his pro day workout.
In fact, here is what Gil Brandt, a long-time scout and former front-office executive for the Dallas Cowboys had to saw about Rudock’s pro-day for NFL.com:
"Rudock ran the 40-yard dash in 4.85 and 4.91 seconds. He had a 29-inch vertical and 9-foot-3 broad jump. He did the 20-yard short shuttle in 4.31 seconds and the three-cone drill in 7.06 seconds. Michigan’s passing game coordinator/quarterbacks and wide receivers coach Jedd Fisch had a scripted workout for Rudock, and let the scouts on hand know ahead of time what throws would be involved so they could follow along. Rudock had a good, not great, arm. He was very accurate in his pro-day workout."
One of the most impressive things about Rudock is his accuracy. Before coming to Michigan, he started for two years and Iowa and was a good quarterback. He completed 59 percent of his passes as a sophomore and then 61.9 as a junior. In his three years as a starter at both schools, he threw a total of 54 touchdowns.
Under the tutelage of Harbaugh, who has a history of developing NFL quarterbacks such as Alex Smith, Andrew Luck and Colin Kaepernick, Rudock was even better. And during the second half of the season, he took his play to another level as he threw for 337 and 440 yards in wins over Rutgers and Indiana. He also threw for more 250 yards in each of his last five games, after doing it just once in his first eight.
Rudock will also benefit from playing in Harbaugh’s pro-style system, which features tons of snaps under center, play-action passes, bootlegs and many other staples of the NFL passing game.
Rudock isn’t a superstar. And by no means, do I think he will be a starting quarterback in the NFL, but he has more than enough talent to be a decent backup. He’s got the size and is athletic enough to play the position at the next level and with his accuracy, there is reason to believe he can stick on an NFL roster.
When Michigan football was at its peak in the 1980’s and 1990’s, the team had its quarterbacks get drafted regularly and it would be nice to start that trend again in 2016 with Rudock.
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Yet, even if Rudock doesn’t get selected, he will be highly sought after in the rookie free agent market and he will get his chance to play in the NFL next season. It’s going to be up to him to take advantage of it.