Vander Esch was urged to stay in school by draft advisory board

Leighton Vander Esch was a guest on Bleacher Report’s Stick to Football podcast yesterday (a podcast you can listen to HERE) and among some of the revelations was that the draft advisory board actually urged Vander Esch to stay in school. Of course, this admonition was received a week or so after LVE had already declared for the draft (and ostensibly hired an agent), so it came too little too late. Still, considering that Vander Esch is now WIDELY considered a first round “lock”, it’s a good thing the advisory board took their sweet time.

The (thankfully) impatient Vander Esch told Matt Miller and Conor Rogers that he feels the draft advisory board was “completely wrong” in their assessment and that they probably more often than not don’t want to be viewed as a body that urges kids to forgo the rest of their education willy nilly. It’s also possible—just like the late hangers-on on the Vander Esch bus—that they simply didn’t view enough Vander Esch tape to make an informed decision.

Vander Esch’s stock has steadily risen since he declared and he’d snuck onto several first round mock drafts even before destroying the combine. So let that be a lesson to you—don’t stay in school follow your heart.

Fun fact: Stick to Football co-host and draft analyst Matt Miller was one of the first people to ever block me on Twitter, after I went scorched earth on him in 2011 with my full-throated defense of Kellen Moore (he wasn’t a fan). I’ve since been unblocked...but never mess with my Kellen.