Michigan's Alan Branch is becoming one of the biggest stories in the run-up to the NFL draft. It seems like I can't turn anywhere or talk to anyone without hearing more about how Branch is falling on draft boards. Peter King pretty well sums up what people are saying: For a long time, defensive tackle Alan Branch looked like a sure-fire top-five pick. But most teams don't see the motor they'd like to see on a very high pick, and some see him only as a 3-4 nose man. So to invest the fourth, fifth or sixth pick on him ... dicey. Very dicey. And expensive.
The part that I still haven't heard an adequate explanation for, though, is why he ever "looked like a sure-fire top-five pick" if he doesn't have a good motor and can only play nose in a 3-4 front. Wouldn't the scouts have picked up on those things during the season?
I noted Branch's hustle in the Ohio State game, and our Michigan man Brian Cook loves Branch. He went to the Dolphins ninth overall in the FanHouse mock draft. If he falls any further than that in the real thing, some team in the middle of the first round will be very lucky.
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