Vanderbilt Gives Bears Top Talent

Some colleges are known for being perennial favorites for the next big thing in the NFL, such as USC and the University of Michigan. The Chicago Bears have taken a slightly different route and looked at an unlikely school who obviously knows how to create top players: Vanderbilt. The Bears have five players from Vanderbilt on this year’s roster, and the names are pretty impressive. Jay Cutler is from Vanderbilt along with Hunter Hillenmeyer, Chris Williams, Earl Bennett and D.J. Moore.

General manager Jerry Angelo said, “I was told many years ago, by a true giant in this business, that when kids come out of those schools, they also take a quantum step in the league. They were more prepared to come into the league because they were more grounded, understood how to balance academic load with football load, needed less structure, meaning they could handle time and money better, because they had to balance football and school 50-50, vs. maybe 80-20 at some football-first programs. They’ve had to carve out ways to get better at football while maintaining a high academic standard. You know they haven’t hit their ceilings because they haven’t been able to devote the time yet to football that you can at the perennial football factories. If they have enough talent, and that’s the key, they play to their ceilings.”

The 2009 season is looking promising for the Chicago Bears, in no small part thanks to the players listed above. See all of them this season with Chicago Bears tickets from StubHub.

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