Chip Kelly's former quarterback recruits, 2014 NFL Draft possibilities?

As everyone else collectively gives up on Chip Kelly's offense, I decided to be productive with my time. Instead, I looked up which draft-eligible quarterbacks Chip Kelly (or at least Oregon) recruited while he was in Eugene. As the Dennis Dixon signing and Jeff Maehl trade reflected, Chip Kelly's not afraid to bring in players which he has a connection with.

First off, there's an NFL starter he recruited, which I think is notable: Oakland's Terrell Pryor. Pryor was the top recruit during Kelly's first post-season at Oregon, and the Ducks pitched him an opportunity to compete for the starting job as soon as he walked on campus, as Dennis Dixon had graduated-out (and exploded-kneed-out) of the program. I'm not sure how convinced Oakland is in him at this point, but maybe a trade is possible on draft day, if Oakland is in a position to draft a quarterback they feel builds a better future for them.

Outside of Marcus Mariota (Kelly's last starter at UO), who everyone already has pinned to Philadelphia, Bryan Bennett also played at Oregon before transferring to Southeast Louisiana this season. Both showed promise, possibly causing Darron Thomas to declare early for the NFL in 2012, where he was an undrafted free agent for a camp's time. Both are underclassmen, and I doubt either leave after 2013, but I'd keep an eye out for the pair for 2015's draft.

Here's where the list gets really interesting. There's two current seniors who Chip recruited: Clemson's Tajh Boyd and Cincinnati's Munchie Legaux. They are on two separate ends of the draft spectrum. Tajh Boyd is likely the senior quarterback with the biggest name, while many assumed Brandon Kay was the starter (and better draft prospect), not Legaux, in Cincinnati. Legaux won the starting gig, but his college career ended with a gruesome knee injury. 

Boyd is currently ranked as NFLDraftScout.com's top senior quarterback, and the 6'4" Munchie Leguax is ranked as their 95th wide receiver.

Outside of the seniors, there are also three draft eligible underclassmen who are starting at the FBS level: ULL's Terrance Broadway, UCLA's Brett Hundley, and Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel.

Hundley and Manziel are obviously the bigger names, but Broadway's the only junior of the bunch. Broadway was actually originally recruited to Houston by Kevin Sumlin, who also got Manziel to flip from Oregon to Texas A&M. That leads me to believe that the two coaches also view the quarterback position similarly. After one season, Broadway left to Louisiana-Lafayette, where he's since had 3,000+ passing yards and is closing in on 1,000 rushing yards. Like the pair of former-Kelly QBs at Oregon, I doubt he leaves early.

Brett Hundley's got the potential to be the top non-Bridgewater quarterback off the board. He's shown NFL potential as a redshirt freshman last year, and I don't think he enjoys the life as a collegiate athlete as much as most do. He's one of the major, active athletes in the de facto student-athlete union, which can really go two ways. 1) he either wants to help the cause by staying in school, or 2) he despises the NCAA and wants to get out of their jurisdiction. When he called the NCAA a "cartel" recently, I think that tipped his hand.

There's plenty written on Johnny Manziel, and if you've been a mile within a TV broadcasting ESPN you're bound to see something related to him, so the only comment on him I have is that he's a former Oregon-commit.

Next up are the guys not currently starting for their teams, or in the case of former-LSU Tiger Jerrard Randall, playing at a community college.

Randall was an Oregon commit that didn't qualify academically, leading to his choice of LSU as an original destination. Falling behind incoming freshman, Randall decided to transfer to Northeast Mississippi Community College, where he's a starter, then transfer out when he's offered an FBS/FCS starting gig.

Two other former Oregon targets also have transferred. Rob Bolden, who once was a starter at Penn State, is now a reserve quarterback with LSU. Tyler Gabbert, brother of Jacksonville's Blaine, began at Missouri before transferring to UCF, where Blake Bortles is cemented as the starter. Gabbert took the second-team snaps the first game of the year, but Justin Holman has received all of them since then.

Two others, Mark Leal and Christian LeMay, are backup quarterbacks with the teams they originally signed with. Leal is Virginia Tech's second-string quarterback, likely to take the starting job in 2014, when Logan Thomas is graduated-out of the program. Christian LeMay is a reserve behind Aaron Murray and junior Hutson Mason at Georgia.

So while there's really only five potential 2014 draft-eligible possibilities on this list, there's plenty of quarterbacks to keep an eye on for in the next two classes for Philadelphia fans. Keep your eyes out.