Kirk Cousins

Kirk Cousins has come to grips with it: He's more brains than brawn. That distinction brings a certain stigma for NFL quarterback prospects. Game manager. Efficiency expert. Call it what you will, but Cousins' intelligence alone doesn't make him an underdog. Luckily for him, he's been here before. Cousins was planning to attend Toledo, but Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio offered a last-minute scholarship, coupled with a redshirt season that made the transition from 170-pound long shot to Brian Hoyer's backup in 2008 to starter a breeze. By the time Cousins took his first snap, he knew the playbook front to back. The competition, Oklahoma transfer Keith Nichol, wound up playing wide receiver. "This isn't a foreign concept to me because I've been having to prove myself for a long time," said Cousins. "Whether you're overlooked or underestimated or not, you have to prove yourself every day, and it's very competitive." Cousins' natural leadership ability helps him control any room. That includes his stirring speech at the Big Ten media day in 2011 preseason. The near-presidential oratory execution drew rave reviews on the scene and has been viewed on YouTube more than 310,000 times. That isn't helping, of course, with the brawn factor. "I believe I have what it takes to become a great player in the NFL," said Cousins, the fifth-ranked quarterback and a projected second-round pick according to NFLDraftScout.com. "It's going to take time to prove that. You have to start somewhere. ... Once the draft passes, take the next step toward being a great player in this league. It's not going to happen overnight. You have to focus on the next challenge ahead of you." Not everyone believed in Cousins out of Holland Christian High School. That's why his most attractive scholarship offers in athletics came from the Mid-American Conference. But five years later, he leaves East Lansing as the career leader in touchdown, passing yards, passer efficiency, total offense and 200-yard games in Spartans history, a three-time team captain with an unblemished record against Michigan. Scouts and coaches will love having him in the locker room. He'll rule the film room, is the ultimate worker bee who won't ask anything of teammates he's not willing to do better, the type of hard-to-find intangibles that gets quarterbacks drafted millions of dollars earlier than Cousins will be because of his average arm, velocity and shaky consistency in throwing receivers open. Debate this evaluation with Cousins at your own peril. "When I look at the quarterbacks who have success year in and year out, I see quarterbacks who are great leaders, very accurate and are great decision-makers," he said. "I think those things are my three greatest strengths. I think across the board, those are the things that make a quarterback successful in the NFL over a long period of time" --Jeff Reynolds