I don't make up the list, it's NFL GMs, so who knows, I think he should be invited and probably will be based upon the skills has has running, catching and blocking, I don't know that there are many backs, if any, that do all 3 as well as Borghi. He will be a later round pick and should be at the combine. I think based upon his skill set he will have a successful NFL career for a team that uses him wisely with one or two other running backs. With his speed alone, he will make special teams. Remember Phillip Lindsey from Colorado, he didn't get invited.
Looks like no Max for Sun Bowl
- Thread starter 79COUG
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In his WSU career, has returned two kickoffs (both under Leach) for unimpressive yardage and zero punts.
Borghi is phenomenal with the ball in space but has horrible vision and is tentative hitting the hole. He's a pretty good niche player but he is a hard pass for over half the league. I'd only put his chances of getting drafted at 50/50 but his chances of making an NFL roster are over 50% because he could easily stick as an UDFA. He needs a few teams to view him as a great option catching passes out of the backfield. Then he needs several of those same teams to be able to address other needs earlier in the draft so by the time round 5-6 rolls around someone realizes he won't be available as an UDFA and they need to snap him up ASAP. He's gonna be on a few boards as a hidden gem, he needs someone to panic and snag him earlier.
Really? Curious as to what it is about him that fits that role?
Honest question.
He has the speed to get downfield and isn't afraid of contact. I'm assuming he can learn how to tackle if he doesn't know already.
Glad Cougar
The Bowls suck, just a little less than the Con. Championship games though.
Get the Playoff to
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Get the Playoff to
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No surprise we supported the inaugural in Vegas this year. I believe I watched Griz v Eags that night in looser out. It had to be a better game
"Leaving early so I can preserve myself from injury and also prepare myself better to enter into the suicide squad"
I don’t remember him returning a single punt of kickoff at WSU? That would be a key skill to have if you’re a fringe nfl guy.
I'm sure Max has every intention of being an NFL running back and not just a special teamer. I hope he's right and we get to see him have meaningful carries at the pro level. My hunch is it's more likely that he becomes a part of the "suicide squad"....but that's just my opinion. The best gunner on NFL special teams is often a running back or wide receiver.
Glad Cougar
The game has moved past the days of the Wes Welkers, Steve Taskers and Steve Gleasons, unless you can stipulate that you play for Bill Belichek.
From USAToday:
Opinion: Bowl game opt-outs stink, but so does Mike Leach's hypocrisy
A teary-eyed Mike Leach told Oklahoma players during a December day in 1999 that he’d been offered Texas Tech’s head coaching job. He’d need to consider his next move.Two days later, Leach was introduced with the Red Raiders.
Leach departed OU after one season as its offensive coordinator. The Sooners played in the Independence Bowl on New Year’s Eve, but Leach did not coach in the game, already in the saddle at Texas Tech. OU lost 27-25 to Ole Miss.
Leach called it “hard to leave” Oklahoma at his Texas Tech introductory news conference, but this new opportunity was too good to pass up.
“Everybody knows that the greatest football of all is in the state of Texas,” Leach said that December, according to the AP.
Nowadays, Leach is rankled because many players pull a similar maneuver and skip a bowl game as they pursue grander opportunity.
Upperclassmen opting out of a bowl game has become a trend, and Mississippi State (7-5) isn’t immune ahead of its Liberty Bowl game against Texas Tech (6-6) on Dec. 28 (6:45 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Last weekend, Leach decried player opt-outs, but he neglected to mention coaches do this all the time.
Players who opt out are usually bound for the NFL Draft and don’t want to risk injury in a bowl game or want to get a jumpstart on NFL preparation.
Running backs Leonard Fournette and Christian McCaffrey were at the head of this. After they sat out bowl games to culminate the 2016 season, some questioned whether their decisions would affect their draft stock. It didn’t. Fournette was selected No. 4 overall out of LSU, while McCaffrey went No. 8 overall out of Stanford.
Opt-outs surged in subsequent seasons, and Leach thinks that stinks. NFL-bound players owe it to their school, coaches, teammates and fans to complete the season, he said.
Leach’s remarks stink of hypocrisy, considering coaches bolt teams with regularity for bigger paychecks at other schools.
Where was Brian Kelly’s honor and obligation to his players, fans and his staff? Kelly departed Notre Dame for LSU while the Irish were in contention for the College Football Playoff.
Oregon, Oklahoma, Southern Methodist, Fresno State and Nevada will compete in bowls under interim coaches after their head coach left for another job.
College football administrators contributed to this landscape.
When the sport shifted to a four-team playoff, Alabama coach Nick Saban predicted that nonplayoff bowl games would be devalued. How prescient. Opt-outs began after the CFP launched.
As a head coach, Leach has never skipped a bowl in favor of a new job. Mississippi State hired him in 2020 after he completed the 2019 season with Washington State in the Cheez-It Bowl. But his Oklahoma exit showed he’s not above leaving for a better opportunity before the season is finished. He interviewed for Tennessee’s opening in November 2017. Had the Vols hired him, he almost certainly would have skipped Washington State’s bowl that season.
I don’t fault Leach’s moves. He’d have been a fool to eschew the professional and financial benefits those jobs offered just so he could coach in a bowl game.
But NFL-bound players risk their future, too, by playing in a bowl.
In the same year that Fournette and McCaffrey opted out, Michigan’s senior tight end Jake Butt played in the Orange Bowl. He tore his anterior cruciate ligament in the game, his draft stock plummeted and he became a fifth-round pick.
Opt-outs are an unfortunate trend. It’s hard to stomach some of the sport’s best players sitting out bowls that otherwise would be the final game of their college career.
I also wonder if this opt-out trend soon will extend beyond bowls. If a player plans to opt out of a bowl, why not opt out of a November game against an FCS opponent? Or opt out of a junior season entirely to prepare for the NFL?
I commend players like Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral, a projected first-round pick who will play in the Sugar Bowl.
“I definitely wouldn’t have been in this position if it wasn’t for (my teammates),” Corral said. “I’m not just going to leave. Yeah, I know what’s on the other side. I know what’s ahead. God’s got me. I’m not worried about the negative part. If that does happen, then, shoot, it wasn’t meant to be. That’s just how I live my life, and that’s how I go about it. I’m going to give these guys everything I’ve got ‘til it’s over.”
Corral’s move is honorable. He’s doing right by his teammates.
Rather than rail against player opt-outs, praise the NFL-bound players who embrace a final chance to compete in college – and remember that most of these millionaire college coaches won't hesitate to bolt for a better opportunity.
I totally get it. I just think it’s unfair to your teammates who want to play and win one more game. Yes, there is coaching hypocrisy but something tells me had Leach asked to coach for OU in that bowl game OU would have said no. WSU letting Price coach the Rose Bowl was definitely an exception to the “rule” and I can’t imagine it would have happened had he taken another PAC-12 job.
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