superpunk

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Former LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne, the highest rated cornerback in the NFL draft, scored a 4 out of 50 on the Wonderlic Test administered to prospects at the NFL Scouting Combine in February, sources confirmed to ESPN.

Pro Football Talk first reported Claiborne's test score.

Claiborne's score is the lowest known result by a draft prospect since Iowa State running back Darren Davis reportedly received a 4 in 2000. In 2006, quarterback Vince Young, who was the third overall pick by the Tennessee Titans, reportedly scored a 6 on his initial test before retaking it and getting a 16. Quarterback Dan Marino also scored a 16 and went on to a Hall of Fame career with the Miami Dolphins.

The Wonderlic

NFL logo Every year, NFL draft prospects take the Wonderlic Test at the Scouting Combine in February. Here are some exam basics:

• Tests cognitive ability

• 50 questions answered in 12 minutes

• Scores weigh difficulty of question, pattern of answers (not number of questions answered correctly)

• First used by NFL in 1970s

• Most popular pre-employment test in use today

Claiborne's agent, Bus Cook, said he hadn't heard about Claiborne's test score.

"I haven't talked to anybody about it. All I know is that (Claiborne) was from a complicated defensive system and he flourished in it. I've never seen any sort of deficiency in him," Cook told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter. "I'm sitting here in shock at what you're telling me. And if it is true, how does that get out? I thought the commissioner was going to put safeguards on this information and there would be severe discipline if it ever did get out. I don't know if he scored a 4 or a 40. All I know is he's a great kid, he's smart, and I've been thoroughly impressed with everything about him."

The Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Test is an aptitude test consisting of 50 questions that must be answered within 12 minutes. Test scores are reported to all 32 teams but not released to the public.

ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. said: "This should not have an impact. Not to minimize his position, but this isn't a quarterback, this isn't a middle linebacker, this isn't a guy that needs to memorize a dozen reads. He needs to react. Assuming he was fine in interviews -- and all I've heard is he's a good kid -- it shouldn't change the way teams view him. I will have him as the No. 5 pick to the (Tampa Bay) Bucs. These things pop up now and then and teams do a quick check, and they do their own evaluations, and they move on. Besides, not all teams trust everything they hear anyway."

A 2009 study by professors from Fresno State University, the University of Georgia and Towson State found no connection between Wonderlic scores and performance during the first three years of a player's NFL career. The group studied 762 players from the 2002, 2003 and 2004 draft classes.

John W. Michel, an assistant professor at Towson University who co-authored the study, told the Washington Post: "We found in no cases was cognitive ability related to (football) performance. We did find a negative relationship for tight ends and defensive backs. For defensive backs, it was the most pronounced; basically, the lower you scored on the Wonderlic, the better you performed."
 

cmd34

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man-to-man or bust.

Cover that guy! got it.

Let's go Red, Cover 4, Mike Jam. huh?
 

buckup

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First of all, wouldn't it be "is," not "in?"

Secondly, I listened to Bill Polian talking about this today. He said that basically teams don't weigh the exact score heavily, but use it as a benchmark. That is, when players score like Vince Young or Claiborne it sends up a red flag, and it's the scouting departments' job to figure out why.

Is the player lazy? Is the player dumb? Does the player have a learning disability? How does the player traditionally score on standardized tests?

He also said that you weigh the score more by position...QB, Safety, MLB, and C seem are more important, and CB is towards the end of it. He also said he has a relative that he administered the test to that scored a 4, but also has a Masters degree from a good university.

Basically, the test is just a tool that scouts and GMs use to determine if they have to dig any deeper on a prospect's study habits, reading, etc. In and of itself, the score doesn't mean much.
 
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Patrick Peterson got like a 7.

The test is so easy it's always baffling but claireborne has a learning disability So just reading the questions and understanding what's being asked in 10 minutes can be a challenge
 

Sheik

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I thought the title meant he was starring in a movie called Legally Retarded.
 

BangersandMash

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Darrell Green and Deion Sanders can barely form sentences but they did OK. Even for QB's, I can't imagine Marino's score was way up there either.
 
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Pretty shitty that people are attacking a kid with a learning disability.

Hopefully he has a solid career and ends up getting the last laugh.
 
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