Mark Craig: Blue Hen an odd duck for draft

Kirk Ciarrocca wasn't watching ESPN the day Joe Flacco, the Fightin' Blue Hen from little Delaware, launched the 74-yard throw that whipped the BCS big-school boys by more than 10 yards a head.

"Someone said it was 74 yards," said Ciarrocca, Flacco's quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator at Delaware, and now Rutgers' receivers coach. "I said, '74 yards?' I've seen that before. Joe could do that without warming up, to be honest with you."

Matt Ryan of Boston College can't do it. Neither can Chad Henne of Michigan, or John David Booty of Southern Cal. That much was obvious when each of them tried to stand toe-to-toe with a 6-6, 235-pound Fightin' Blue Hen during the ESPN College All-Star Skills Challenge.

Flacco's former teammates wonder whether Super Joe might have been sick that day. They already had assumed he'd wing it 80 yards or more.

"I never paid attention to how far he threw in practice," Ciarrocca said. "But some of the guys said he might have thrown one around 80 yards or so. All I know is I haven't seen the throw he can't make, whether it's a 74-yard bomb or an 8-yard pass where he has to use his accuracy to knock of dime off somebody's shoulder."

It's doubtful that any NFL prospect has improved his stock more in the past two years, or heads into next weekend's draft with more intrigue than Flacco. The kid from the NCAA's Football Championship Subdivision -- formerly Division I-AA -- could be the greatest story of this year's draft. Or he could become yet another draft-day mirage who has distorted his true NFL potential with mesmerizing physical skills.

That's quite a disparity of end results. That's also the maddening nature of the NFL draft, where Tim Couch can go first one year and Tom Brady 199th the next.

"Worst-case scenario is Flacco goes at the top of the second round," Kiper said. "Either No. 34 to Atlanta or No. 38 to Baltimore."

That's some leap from 2003-04 when Flacco was stuck on the University of Pittsburgh's bench behind Tyler Palko, who went on to become an undrafted rookie with the Saints last season. Flacco transferred to Delaware, sat out the 2005 season because Pitt wouldn't grant him a release, and had a decent 2006 season on a team that went 5-6.

"After that season, NFL people were coming in to look at Ben Patrick, a tight end we had," Ciarrocca said. "Ben ended up getting drafted in the seventh round by the Cardinals. As more scouts came in, I'd start saying to them, 'So, what do you think of the quarterback?'"

Scouts would tell Ciarrocca that Flacco "had a chance." But they weren't as high on him as was Ciarrocca.

While it was the arm strength that first jumped out at Ciarrocca, it wasn't long before he also appreciated the throwing accuracy, the feet that were surprisingly quick for a man that big, the personality that accepted coaching, and the intelligence "that made him never make the same mistake twice during his entire college career."

"The secret was out," Ciarrocca said. "And we got flooded with NFL people."

Part of what makes Flacco so intriguing is he should have played at the highest level of college football, but didn't.

"If he had played at a major college, we'd be debating right now whether he should be the first pick in the draft," Kiper said. "We'd be talking about whether we should put him ahead of Matt Ryan."

Flacco shrugs when asked about the red flag that comes with playing at a small school.

"If you can play," Flacco said during the combine, "you can play."

Of course, Flacco probably prefers a guy named Rich Gannon, the 2002 NFL MVP and a fourth-round draft pick (98th overall) in 1987. For the past 21 years, he has been the highest-drafted University of Delaware Fightin' Blue Hen.

It's a distinction he will own for only another six days.