For casual NFL fans, the first hour of the draft was a snooze.

It went lineman, lineman, lineman, lineman, lineman, lineman, lineman. Not too many jerseys are were sold over the first seven picks of the draft.

This draft had almost no star power at the top. There were no can't-miss quarterbacks at the top. No star running backs like Trent Richardson. No game-breaking receiver. The Rams traded up to the eighth pick to select receiver Tavon Austin and finally break the lineman run, a welcomed sight to anyone who likes following the players who touch the ball.

[Photos: Biggest first-round NFL draft busts]

But hardcore football fans will understand, the first seven picks represent life in the NFL. You better be able to rush the quarterback on defense and protect the quarterback on offense, or you have no chance.

In the high school class of 2009, Rivals.com ranked 95 offensive tackles. Eric Fisher wasn't one of them.

On Thursday night, he was the first overall selection of the NFL draft, by the Kansas City Chiefs.

Fisher was a two-star, unranked recruit. He was a skinny offensive tackle (Rivals listed him at 260 pounds, but Fisher said he was 230) who had scholarship offers from Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan, and that's it. He said at the combine he talked to Michigan State and Purdue about walking on and "neither of them really wanted anything to do with me."

He played in the MAC, which has never had a player drafted higher than No. 7 overall, the spot Marshall quarterback Byron Leftwich was selected. Every football fan knew about Andrew Luck, Cam Newton, Sam Bradford and Matthew Stafford before they were top overall picks. How many of you have ever seen Fisher play a game? OK, Central Michigan fans can put your hands down. Fans of other MAC teams and everyone who was snowed in when CMU played in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl last December can too. Yep, not too many of you.

[Related: Pros and cons of No. 1 NFL draft pick Eric Fisher]

Most top NFL picks are stars well before they're drafted. Fisher might have been able to walk through Times Square to the draft and not be recognized.

The last small school non-quarterback to go first overall was Ed "Too Tall" Jones of Tennessee State in 1974. Only three other offensive linemen have ever gone first overall in the NFL draft, and they went to football factories USC, Ohio State and Michigan.

There was no way to see this coming years ago when Fisher was ignored by almost every FBS school. There was no way of seeing it coming a little more than a year ago when he was just a third-team all-MAC selection as a junior. It didn't seem possible when he failed to make even one first-team All-American squad as a senior, though that was mostly because few voters knew about him.

In many ways Fisher, who couldn't get a Big Ten team to show interest in him as a walk-on, is the most unique first overall pick in NFL draft history.

"Hey, it doesn’t matter where you start, it’s where you end up," Fisher said at the combine. "That’s a big thing I take to heart."

(USA Today Sports Images)This offseason we will count down various topics from Monday through Friday, bringing you the top five of the important and definitely some not so important issues in college football. It's the Doc Five, every week until we will thankfully have actual games to discuss.

COACHES WHO COULD PROBABLY USE A BIG SEASON

NO. 2, MACK BROWN

To listen to Mack Brown tell it, the recent struggles of Texas football were due in large part to having young teams.

Maybe so, but Texas should never struggle like it has recently. Fair or not, the expectations are high for the program that generates more cash and has arguably the most fertile recruiting territory in all of college football. A 22-16 record over three seasons, which is what Texas has produced this decade, should not happen. The Longhorns have too many built-in advantages to produce that record.

[Also: Is Matt Barkley a cautionary tale for Johnny Manziel?]

There have been notable recruiting failures at quarterback, letting Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III and Johnny Manziel slip away. The offense has seemed stuck in neutral without a clear plan. The defense has faltered, especially last season. Texas is in danger of becoming the second most attractive destination for recruits in the state, if Kevin Sumlin can keep making rapid progress at Texas A&M.

Brown's ultimate legacy will always be a 2005 national championship, which came in the middle of a nine-season streak of at least 10 wins. But he certainly doesn't want his time at Texas to end on such a disappointing note.

Orangebloods.com wrote a fascinating piece on Brown last December. It talks in depth about what has gone wrong the past few years, and explores the hypothetical situation of Brown possibly walking away had Texas won the BCS Championship Game at the end of the 2009 season against Alabama. Brown is apparently convinced if Colt McCoy didn't get hurt, the Longhorns would have won. While respectfully disagreeing, a win in that game likely would have changed everything when it

(USA Today Sports Images)The argument has been made that USC quarterback Matt Barkley wouldn't have gone in the top 10 of last year's draft, as some predicted when he decided to return for his senior season. He would have been picked apart before last year's draft, just as he was the past few months. That might be accurate.

Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones, once ranked by both ESPN's draft analysts as the third best quarterback in last year's draft that saw Ryan Tannehill go eighth overall (and last year was a much better draft, by the way), stayed in school like Barkley. Maybe he too would have slipped in the draft during the intense pre-draft evaluation. All the same can be said for quarterback Tyler Wilson, who passed on a chance to be a high draft pick last year to return to Arkansas.

Maybe Jones, Wilson and Barkley will all end up going in the first round of the NFL draft on Thursday night. Nobody seems to think that will happen, but this is the most unpredictable draft in years. Who knows.

But the most likely outcome is that trio will wait a while to hear their names called, and provide a very poignant "what if" scenario to an incredible group of underclassmen in college football who will decide on their future at the end of next season.

[Also: Mack Brown running out of excuses at Texas]

Quarterbacks Teddy Bridgewater of Louisville and Johnny Manziel of Texas A&M, South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, receivers Marqise Lee and Sammy Watkins of Clemson, Baylor running back Lache Seastrunk, Alabama offensive lineman Cyrus Kouandjio and Notre Dame defensive lineman Stephon Tuitt and Ohio State linebacker Ryan Shazier are just some of the players who might leave school early to enter the 2014 draft. Many of those players would be drafted in the top half of this year's watered-down draft if the NFL's unfair draft eligibility rule didn't exist. That's a loaded group.

And most of them will likely take a look at Barkley, Wilson and Jones over

(USA Today Sports Images)Very few players in this year's NFL draft have been picked apart like West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith. That's what happens when there's a wide range of opinions on a player, and the range on Smith is fairly startling.

Doug Farrar and Greg Cosell are Shutdown Corner's draft experts and they put as much time into prospect evaluation as anyone. Farrar had Smith going seventh overall. Cosell didn't even have him in the first round. Neither one is "right" or "wrong," because nobody knows what to make of Smith with the draft just hours away.

And Smith has apparently been paying attention to the criticism of his game as people debate if he's a top 10 pick or a second-day selection. The criticism has been pretty intense at times, and he responded this week on Twitter with the draft approaching.

[Also: Speculation runs wild over Geno Smith and QB draft class]

(USA Today Sports Images)There was no surprise that Cowboys Stadium was picked as the first site for the College Football Playoff title game.

Unlike the CFP name itself, this time boring was good.

There didn't need to be a big surprise for the first title game, because Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas was the only real choice. The relationship works out perfectly. JerryWorld is becoming known as the home of enormous sporting events, whether it's the Super Bowl, NBA All-Star Game or NCAA Tournament. The College Football Playoff wants to be a destination event from the start. It fits.

We've talked about how great the stadium is before, and how it would make sense as the permanent home of the championship game. Everyone would win. Having the first championship game there is a great start.

The scheduling is also a huge hit. A pair of annual tripleheaders will make Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 the showcase of college football every year. On Dec. 31, the Chick-fil-A, Orange and Fiesta Bowls will play. Then on Jan. 1 is the Cotton, Rose and Sugar Bowls. Those are the bowls that will be the rotating semifinal sites. No complaints with that at all.

[Also: New college football playoff faces a tough dilemma]

So far the conference commissioners are getting it right.

(USA Today Sports Images)

This offseason we will count down various topics from Monday through Friday, bringing you the top five of the important and definitely some not so important issues in college football. It's the Doc Five, every week until we will thankfully have actual games to discuss.

COACHES WHO COULD PROBABLY USE A BIG SEASON

NO. 3, KIRK FERENTZ

On second thought, maybe this is wrong.

Is Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz under any real pressure in 2013? In some ways he's one of the coaches with the most job security in America.

Not because of his football team, which has gone from 11 wins to eight to seven to a terrible four-win year in 2012. A 4-8 record is enough to at least put some heat on most coaches. But, they don't all have Ferentz's contract.

Ferentz's contract is one of the all-time cautionary tales for athletic directors. And for agents it's like the "Ulysses" of coaching contracts, a work of art that will be studied and admired for generations. Ferentz has a 10-year, $40 million deal that goes through 2020, and if he's fired he still receives 75 percent of his annual salary for every remaining year. No matter how many times you see that, it's still amazing. Ferentz could go winless this year and probably still not be fired, unless some rich booster wants to pay eight figures for Ferentz to go away. Good luck with that.

[Also: New college football playoff faces a tough dilemma]

But still, making money isn't the only goal a coach has, and the competitive drive that earned Ferentz that contract should be in full effect this year.

Since the end of the 2004 season, Ferentz is 58-44. And 11 of those wins came in 2009. That was the only season of the last seven that Iowa finished higher than fourth in the Big Ten. He has done some very good things with that program, which was in miserable shape when he took over, but it's also worth mentioning he hasn't been to the Rose Bowl yet.

Last season Iowa lost to Iowa State and Central Michigan at home. It lost its last six games. There wasn't anything to get that excited about.

“I don’t think you ever get over it,” Ferentz said, according to the Globe Gazette of north Iowa. “It’s part of your resume.”

Iowa's offense was terrible, and this

(USA Today Sports Images)

Having gone to a Big Ten school that enjoyed Friday nights and also enjoy scheduling those awful early Saturday home football games for ESPN's sake, I can say that it sometimes takes a little extra motivation to get to the stadium by kickoff.

Free glazed donuts? Hmmm, tell me more ...

Michigan coach Brady Hoke is reportedly going to offer some incentive to any students that get up early and make those Wolverines games that kick off at noon Eastern time.