Byron Leftwich 22 Marshall 7 QB PLAYER AGE SCHOOL NO. POSITION

Height  6'6" Weight  240 lbs. Year  Senior 2002 stats  27-41, 469 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs Career stats  635-992, 8,104 yards, 63 TDs, 18 INTs

QB SPECIFICS Arm Strength A+ It can't be any higher. He has the ability to throw any pass ever thrown and any pass that will ever be invented. Even looking across the NFL and all the great quarterbacks there, Byron has to be right up there with the great arms. His arm strength is unquestioned. Escape Ability B Way above average. He doesn't have quick quicks, but he has strength and speed that allow him to take a breakdown and make it into a positive play. He's not a scrambler, really, but he can withstand pressure and make plays. Quick Set Up B He runs a lot of shotgun, so I'm not sure of his footwork on play-action passes and getting into the seven-step drops. I'm sure this will be an area he'll have to work on at the next level, much like Drew Brees did when he left Purdue. Accuracy Long A A great deep arm. Byron and Rex Grossman have the two best deep arms in college football. He knows how to throw the deep ball, and because he knows that receivers can't outrun his arm it gives him enough confidence to wait that extra second. Accuracy Short B+ This is an area that any young, strong-armed quarterback has to constantly work on and Byron is no different. In the offense that he is running at Marshall he throws a lot of quick screens to wide receivers and is getting better and better at that. I'd like to see him learn to throw the pro-style pass with the back coming out of the backfield, but this is an area that every great athlete at quarterback, like John Elway, had to refine. Locate 2nd Receiver A I've seen him make plays from one side of the field to the other. He's been taught very well. Chad Pennington did this very well in the Marshall offense and Leftwich is just as good. Running Ability A- This is where Byron reminds me of Steve McNair. He's a strong, tough guy who isn't going to go 60 yards like Michael Vick, but when it's third-and-six he will get the first down when he tucks the ball and runs. Quickness of Delivery A Beautiful delivery. I wouldn't call it quick, but he's ready to throw the ball at all times and is confident that he can throw it from any arm angle. There are some quarterbacks who have hitches in their deliveries, but I see nothing that needs to be refined. Judgment B+ I'm in line with Steve Spurrier on this one. I don't mind a quarterback making a couple of mistakes in the flow of the game, but at the end of the game he shouldn't make those errors. It seems to me that Leftwich is able to win games at the end and bring his team from behind, so I have to grade him high. Poise A+ When a quarterback can bring a team back from 30 points down like he did in last year's bowl game it shows a tremendous belief in his own ability. And that's what poise is, believing that you can get it done when everything around you is falling apart. Byron gets the highest grade possible here.

SUMMARY His patience early in his career, coming up in a great system, has played very well for Leftwich. He was a great, rough athlete who I would compare to a Kerry Collins-type player. He was a tough guy who had to learn to play quarterback, but that patience and learning how to do things the right way have paid off later in his career. He's not just a scrambler and I think the coaches not falling into the trap of making him a quarterback draw guy has really helped him in learning to run the offense.

Former NFL quarterback Gary Danielson is a college football analyst for ABC Sports.