"With the sixth pick in the 2008 NFL Draft, the New York Jets Select...Vernon Gholston" are the words Jet fans heard NFL commissioner Roger Goodell utter on draft day almost one year ago and something amazing happened that day, for the first time in recent memory, the normally raucous Radio City Jet fan constituency did not boo, as a whole they were relatively subdued and some would even go as far to say cheery. The 6"3, 264 defensive end out of Ohio State was a pass-rush specialist in college, his big "claim to fame" was the fact he was the only one to beat the number one overall pick, Jake Long, for a sack in his senior season. The thought of having a pass-rushing specialist coming off the edge in the 3-4 had Jet fans salivating and even nostalgic to the days of Mark Gastineau and the New York Sack Exchange. Gholston came in with alot of hype surrounding him and high expectations, maybe even too high. Being the sixth overall pick in the draft will do that to you and in his rookie campaign, he failed to even come close to his astronomical expectations in fact he recorded a lowly 13 tackles in spot duty over 15 games. Gholston's rookie season has fans and pundits screaming bust but if you really think about it, Gholston was set up to fail. What fans do not realize is that, not only was Gholston faced with the rookie adjustment period from college to the NFL but he was forced to learn a new position, (stand up outside linebacker), in a new system (3-4)all while trying to cope and adjust to the speed of the professional game. Calling Gholston a bust after his rookie season may be rash, considering all the adversity he had to overcome, the criticism facing Gholston is reminiscent of Mario Williams' rookie season where he was comparably unimpressive to Gholston's. However, in Williams' sophomomore season he recorded 59 total tackles and 14 sacks while starting all 16 games, if Williams could do it with a mediocre supporting cast, then the question must be raised: what is stopping Gholston from doing the same, surrounded by a host of proven veterans and Pro Bowlers. New Jets head coach Rex Ryan will assuredly take the young Gholston under his wing in an attempt to turn him into the dangerous pass rusher everyone thought he would be coming out of college, it has yet to be seen if Ryan's influence will inspire a Williamsesque turnaround in 2009 but one can only hope so.
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