In the days ahead of any draft, and particularly the NFL draft, there are always a wave of stories of anonymous scouts and personnel guys questioning prospects for a variety of bizarre reasons. The latest, and one of the weirdest yet, is an anonymous NFL scout telling Bob McGinn of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that Ohio State cornerback Eli Apple is a risk thanks to his lack of cooking prowess:

3. ELI APPLE, Ohio State (6-0 ½, 202, 4.39, 1): Third-year sophomore from Voorhees, N.J. “He got beat probably more than you want but he’s got tremendous upside,” said one scout. “He is too young (20) to be coming out but he is so you’ve got to project what he’s going to be. I think he’s going to be a pretty high-level starter.” Started 27 games, finishing with 86 tackles (7 ½ for loss), 4 picks and 18 PBUs. “Some there (OSU) were worried he wouldn’t break 4.6 and then popped the (4.39),” said another scout. “They were surprised he ran that well. I worry about him because of off-the-field issues. The kid has no life skills. At all. Can’t cook. Just a baby. He’s not first round for me. He scares me to death.” Wonderlic was 21. “He probably has as much talent as anybody but he, like a lot of those Ohio State guys, is inconsistent,” said a third scout. “He squats, and receivers run by him. He’s more in catch-up mode than reaction mode. He bothers me a little bit.”

The “can’t cook” accusation shouldn’t have any merit even if it was true, but Twitter comments from Apple’s mother and from former teammate Ezekiel Elliott suggest it isn’t:

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

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