Barry Warner: Draft week is one of my favorite times of the year

J.J. Watt and Jadeveon Clowney were first-round picks for the Texans. Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Over the course of my colorful career, I have scouted and sat in draft meetings for Hall of Famers Paul Brown, George Halas, Al Davis and Ron Wolf.

It has been both a privilege and honor to have learned from these icons.

One of my favorite times of the year is the annual crap shoot known as the NFL Draft. The first common draft after the merger was March 14-15, 1967. The NFL and AFL agreed to 17 rounds.

My boss, Oiler GM Don Klosterman, had me concentrate on many of the small black schools. This caused some racist remarks towards me by the redneck assistant coaches, who laughed at my reports on Lem Barney and Willie Lanier.

Don rewarded me by allowing me to pick rounds six and nine.

In the sixth, we selected linebacker Pete Barnes from Southern University. He had a 10-year NFL career.

In the ninth round, with pick 214, it took me one second to turn in the card in with the name of Ken Houston, a defensive back from Prairie View.

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame, Class of 1986.

Mid-March was a perfect time of the year. While there was not a combine, there was still plenty of time to discover talent. While scouting for the Bears, George Halas told me “You’re either a damn football player or you’re not.” Papa Bear felt that anyone can pick the top 60 college players.

His directive was to find raw athletes, guys who can be coached up.

But with the new marketing strategies since then the NFL gets free publicity. They don’t want the draft during the opening of the baseball season, nor do they want to compete with the Masters. By the end of April, fans are salivating for the three days.

JerryWorld, the home of this year’s draft and telethon, will have sections for all 32 franchises. They expect upwards of 250,000 fans over the three days.

Halas was so right about the gut feeling backed up by film. Back in the ‘50s and ‘60s, scouts lugged their 8 mm projectors from campus to campus.

In part because of technology and the millions that are at stake, teams today claim additional time is important.

I’m not buying that, in fact it’s pure bull (bleep). Scouts and personnel folks spend more time looking at flaws than natural ability. It’s good that scouts were not looking at smoke shows like Beyoncé, Gisele Bundchen or Kendall Jenner as prospects.

Meet the new boss

It was so refreshing Friday when Texans’ GM Brian Gaine spoke to the media for nearly thirty minutes. Unlike the condescending Rick Smith McNair, Gaines’s approach was down to the earth, giving solid insight to changes that have been made.

Because of trades involving Deshaun Watson and Brock Osweiler, the Texans have four picks -- Nos. 68, 80, 98 and 103 -- in the first four rounds and eight overall, starting Friday night.

This is the first time in team history they have gone into a draft without a No. 1 pick, but there are no complaints since Watson has become their franchise quarterback.

And the old bosses?

History will be made Thursday night, after the booing of Roger Goodell, when the names of either safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, wide receiver Calvin Ridley, linebacker Rashaan Evans and defensive tackle Da’Ron Payne are called. It will make it ten consecutive years with an Alabama player in the first round.

The Tide will still be some ways away from the all-time record: Miami had 14 consecutive drafts with a first-round pick, from 1995 to 2008.

Trojan horses

If Cleveland takes USC’s Sam Darnold with the first pick, the Trojans will have set a record. Prior first overall picks were tackle Ron Yary to the Vikings in 1968, running back O.J. Simpson to the Bills in 1969, running back Ricky Bell to the Buccaneers in 1977, wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson to the Jets in 1996, and quarterback Carson Palmer to the Bengals in 2003.

Wrong kind of busts (as in, not the Hall of Fame type)

What do Jamarcus (Purple Drank) Russell, Charles Rogers, (taken one spot before Andre Johnson), Johnny Manziel, Aaron Curry, Baylor’s RG III, Baylor tackle and Jason Smith, Vince Young and another Longhorn Cedric Benson all have in common? The same can be stated with Trent Richardson, Justin Blackmon, Mark Sanchez and his USC teammate Mike Williams.

They are just a few major busts in the last 15 drafts.

It cost their NFL team millions, but the inability to count on their development set back their franchises 2-3 years if they are lucky.

This is yet another example of a Vegas crapshoot, without the skyscraper hotels and hookers.

Late Saturday afternoon, all 32 coaches and GM’s will parrot the same phrase, they could not believe that so and so was still there on the board.”

The fun begins for me, talking to my sources with several teams to see where Texans players were rated. In the year JJ Watt was drafted, Denver had him ranked the 31st player on their board. Their scouts felt he spent too much time on the ground in college.

It is fascinating to see the disparity from team to team.

We will find out three seasons from now all it all shakes out.

Chirp!

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Texas hosts Clemson on Dec. 21. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.

No. 4 Texas will be competing for a return trip to Atlanta when it plays at home against No. 13 Clemson in the first round of the College Football Playoff.

The winner of the Clemson-Texas first-round game on Dec. 21 will play No. 10 Arizona State in the Jan. 1 Peach Bowl in Atlanta in the CFP quarterfinals.

For Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik, who is from Austin, Texas, the game will be a homecoming.

“We recruited him hard," Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Sunday, calling Klubnik “a winner. He will do whatever it takes to put his team in position to be successful.”

Added Sarkisian: “When he made the decision to go to Clemson, honestly I wasn’t surprised. Both his parents went to (Texas) A&M.”

Klubnik applauded the announcement of the game at Texas for Clemson's seventh CFP appearance.

“For him to be going to his first playoff in Austin, Texas, where he grew up, you can’t make that up,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “Pretty cool opportunity for him and his family to go compete against Texas there in Austin.”

Swinney said his only visit to the Texas stadium was to watch Klubnik play in a high school playoff game.

“We’ve never played Texas or played in that stadium,” Swinney said. “... It’s going to be amazing. It’s one of the best venues in college football.”

The Longhorns (11-2) were seeded No. 5 in the CFP following their 22-19 overtime loss to Georgia on Saturday night in the Southeastern Conference championship game in Atlanta.

Sarkisian said his players were “really excited” to see Texas land the No. 5 seed and have the opportunity to play in the Longhorns' first game against Clemson.

Texas safety Andrew Mukuba is a Clemson transfer. Sarkisian said players already were calling the matchup the “Mukuba Bowl.”

Swinney said: “I love Mukuba. I just love his spirit and love his heart. He was a really neat kid.

“I certainly wish he had been able to finish here. He did everything that was asked of him at Clemson. Made a bunch of big plays.”

Clemson (10-3) beat SMU 34-31 in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game Saturday night to land an automatic CFP berth. The Tigers are ranked No. 16 in the CFP but were given the 12th and lowest seed. As the fifth-highest ranked league champion, the Tigers do not get a bye and instead must visit Texas.

Arizona State (11-2) earned a bye by rolling over Iowa State 45-19 in the Big 12 championship game Saturday. The Sun Devils were led by running back Cam Skattebo's 170 rushing yards in their impressive win to cap their first season in the Big 12.

Peach Bowl president Gary Stokan noted the Sun Devils were picked to finish last in the Big 12.

“You proved them all wrong,” Stokan told Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham.

Arizona State players celebrated the announcement of their No. 4 seed.

Dillingham said he hopes the conference championship and berth in the CFP helps him recruit and continue to build the program.

“Hopefully this stage will help get our branding out there, and show people that we can be one of the newer brands in college football," Dillingham said. "Every 10-15 years a new brand shows up, and a new brand becomes a national brand.”No. 4 Texas will be competing for a return trip to Atlanta when it plays at home against No. 13 Clemson in the first round of the College Football Playoff.