Vince makes you Wonder(lic)

So it turns out Vince Young may be functionally illiterate. Shows what three years at the University of Texas gets you.

At first, Young was reported to have scored a six on the first attempt on the Wonderlic (a 12-minute test used to diagnose a person's ability to assimilate information and learn on the job, with scores ranging from 0 to 50). Combine officials said this rumor is wrong. On his second attempt, according to his agent, he scored a 16. The scores won't be released until next week.

So what do these scores mean? Initial reactions indicated the scores could bump him down the draft board, especially with Matt Leinart's credentials and Vanderbuilt quarterback Jay Cutler shooting up the draft board like a bottle rocket in the last month.

Of course, the compulsory counter-reaction among talking heads and ink-slingers followed, with rallying cries of “ask USC if Vince Young can run an offense,” and “what does the Wonderlic have to do with football?”

But teams don't use these tests for no reason. There should be concern about Vince Young's transition to the NFL, especially when you factor in the workouts and meetings he has arrogantly skipped.

To say the Wonderlic is the end-all would obviously be ludicrous. Otherwise David Klingler (scored 30 before being the 6th pick in 1992) would be at the tail end of a Hall of Fame career and Dan Marino (16, 27th pick in 1983) would have flamed out faster than Vanilla Ice.
So the test means as much as a GM's pre-draft comment on his draft plans, right?

Or does it? After all, the last Wonderlic controversy involving a top quarterback with a gap of 10 or more between scores involved Akili Smith. The third pick of the 1999 draft was suspected of cheating off a teammate when his score jumped from 15 on the first try to 37 the second. For whatever reason, Smith stuck in the NFL like he was coated with greased Teflon.

There are exceptions. Marino is in the Hall. Donavon McNabb scored a 12 and a 16, and his career has turned out just fine. No one in his right mind would argue that general intelligence is irrelevant for a quarterback. But to what degree seems at best a fringe consideration; nice when its there, no biggie if not.

But if the score is close to the reported six, Young straddles some dangerous territory, a score unheard of among successful NFL quarterbacks. NFL offenses are beyond complex, with dozens and dozens of formations, hundreds of plays, and various quick reads (the defenses are as confusing as the offenses). At the very least, a quarterback score in the mid-teens should raise a flag. A score 10 points lower should raise the dead.

His proponents would argue that Young is a talent unlike any the NFL has ever seen. His blend of speed, size, and accuracy is incomparable. The last player generating this much hype as a new breed of quarterback was Michael Vick.

Both Vick and Young took over college games with their arms and legs. Both did so with a streetball mentality and freakish athleticism. But when Vick jumped to the NFL, the athleticism gap narrowed, and while still capable of mesmerizing plays, defensive systems have kept him from becoming the dominant force some predicted.

Young is currently regarded as extremely raw. He doesn't read defenses that well and is prone to making mistakes, according to nfldraftcountdown.com, which predicts he may have to sit a year or two before he can play at the next level.

He will likely see similar results as Vick, at best, when he finally does play. And if he can't learn (the explicit skill the Wonderlic is supposed to diagnose) then his ceiling may not be as high as his proponents think. Vick, by the way, scored a 20 on the Wonderlic (considered average).
Anyone who has seen a Vince Young interview knows he's no Socrates, so anyone shocked by the reports probably wouldn't score much over a 15 themselves. And if we find he posted somewhere near half the number of correct answers as the average person, it should cause teams to be gun-shy.

Yes, Young won the Rose Bowl. Yes, he has exhibited all of the gamer intangibles, the desire to win. Yes he has superhuman physical tools.

But Matt Leinart did Ok in college and didn't exactly choke in the Rose Bowl himself. And Cutler led a team that Johnny Unitas couldn't have led to a WAC title, much less an SEC title. (The two posted 35 and 29 on their respective Wonderlics.)

Young shifted down to number three on my quarterback draft board, even with the freak size. He will face defenses full of former All-Americans. Like a good option quarterback, he faced maybe one or two defenders each week capable of tackling him efficiently. Now he faces defenses with 11.

Young is going to have to learn to adapt to a whole new ballgame, because he can't get away with playing his college game. And if the Wonderlic is any indication, learning and adapting may be the skills on which Young falls short.