Several top players from 2003 improve stock with extra season

Eli Manning, Robert Gallery and Will Smith are all projected as top picks.
By RICK GOSSELIN
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
An NFL career is the reward for a standout college career. But when's the best time to cash in?
Does a blue-chip prospect wait until his eligibility expires and possibly risk injury that could crash his draft stock? Or does he leave after his junior season and start cashing checks instead of attending class?
Several All-Americas decided to leave early for the 2004 draft, including Arkansas offensive tackle Shawn Andrews, Pitt wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald and Southern Cal pass rusher Kenechi Udeze. All project as first-round draft picks.
When faced with the same decisions a year ago, another offensive tackle (Robert Gallery of Iowa), wide receiver (Roy Williams of Texas) and pass rusher (Will Smith of Ohio State) elected to stay in school.
All projected as first-rounders then. But by staying, all improved their draft stock. Gallery and Williams rank among the top five players in this draft, and Smith is a top-rated pass rusher.
Extra season helps
Ole Miss quarterback Eli Manning also elected to stay in school in 2003. He would have been another first-round pick last April.
But by staying on campus, Manning has taken a quantum leap up the board. He projects as the first pick of the 2004 draft, which would place him in a select fraternity that includes his brother Peyton, who went first overall to the Indianapolis Colts in the 1998 draft.
Playing a senior season allowed Eli to throw 441 more passes in his college career. That gave him 441 more exposures to coverages and blitzes. Experience makes a quarterback better -- and Manning is better now than if he had come out after the 2002 season.
"I didn't play as well as I wanted my junior year," Manning explained. "We struggled as a team, and there were a lot of things I wanted to improve on in my game.
"I also wanted to experience a senior season, be a captain, leave with the guys I came in with, and try to end on a good note. We did, having a 10-win season, going to the Cotton Bowl and winning. I definitely made the right decision not coming out."
Manning also used his senior year to establish himself as the best quarterback in school history. Those 441 extra passes allowed him to become just the fifth quarterback in SEC history to throw for 10,000 yards. He left Mississippi with 45 school records.
Improving
It would have been a coin toss which offensive lineman would have gone first in the 2003 draft if Gallery had come out, either he or Jordan Gross. The Carolina Panthers wound up taking Gross with the eighth overall pick.
"I wanted to be the best tackle -- not the second- or third- or fourth-best," Gallery said. "My goal is to be the best tackle in this draft. I'd like to be the first pick of this draft."
Gallery was an All-Big Ten tackle as a junior. By returning to school, he became an Outland Trophy-winning tackle. He is viewed as the safest pick on the 2004 NFL board.
If Smith had his druthers, he would have come out in the 2003 draft. He thought he was ready. But there was something more important in his life than football.
"My parents wanted me to stay another year and finish up school," Smith said. "That's what I did. We don't argue. They told me I should go back. So I thought it was best to go back to school and get my education."
Smith was a six-sack pass rusher in 2002. He enters this draft as the 2003 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and the conference leader in sacks (101/2) and tackles for losses (20). He also is now just a semester short of his degree in criminology.