Draft guru Mel Kiper of ESPN has identified Westfield High graduate Mike Glennon as potentially the top pick among quarterbacks in the 2013 NFL Draft. The 6-foot-6, 232-pound Glennon is a two-year starter and fifth-year senior at N.C. State.
"It's still pretty wide open to see who the first quarterback taken will be," Kiper said in a Tuesday teleconference. "If I had to guess right now, I would say Mike Glennon. ... He has a very good chance to emerge as a top-15 pick in the first round and certainly be the first quarterback off the board."
Glennon led the ACC in passing yards, completing 295 of 511 throws for 3,648 yards, with 30 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. His 131.6 efficiency rating fell short of his 136.4 mark last year when he took over for Russell Wilson, who transferred to Wisconsin after graduating from N.C. State.
Kiper acknowledged that a few months ago, Glennon ranked below Matt Barkley (USC), Geno Smith (West Virginia) and Logan Thomas (Virginia Tech). But the stock of those quarterbacks has fallen while Glennon's has remained steady.
Departed Tom O'Brien, coach this year at N.C. State (7-5) and formerly the coach at Boston College, compared Glennon to another college player he coached, Matt Ryan, when Glennon ascended to the starting role in 2011. He threw 61 touchdown passes in his two seasons as a starter with the Music City Bowl still left to be played in Nashville, Tenn., on Dec. 31 against Vanderbilt.
Glennon, the younger brother of former Virginia Tech quarterback Sean Glennon, led Westfield to the Group AAA, Division?6 state championship as a senior in 2007 with a 15-0 record and was a two-time all-state performer there. He was also named the Gatorade state player of the year as a senior.
"He's got the size. He's got the arm. He's got the mobility within the framework of the pocket," Kiper said. "He didn't have a great supporting cast around him. He's gonna be at the Senior Bowl, as will some of these other quarterbacks. That's gonna be an important week."
- Kevin Dunleavy
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