Gentry Estes

@Gentry_Estes

Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Lamar Jackson of Louisville won't be successful as an NFL quarterback, an Atlantic Coast Conference coach recently told Sports Illustrated's Pete Thamel.

In Thamel's SI.com story evaluating future prospects for Clemson's Deshaun Watson ahead of Monday night's national title game, an ACC coach was quoted anonymously as saying Watson could be at least as good an NFL prospect as former FSU star Jameis Winston, and he added that Watson is a far better prospect than Jackson.

“We played (Watson) and Lamar Jackson, and Jackson has no shot at playing quarterback in the NFL. None. He can’t make the throws and can’t read coverages. He’s not going to have a chance. Watson stands tall in the pocket and whips the ball around like Ben Roethlisberger," the coach was quoted as saying.

Watson, the runner-up to Jackson in this year's Heisman voting, has been projected in the 2017 NFL draft as high as the top picks to potentially out of the first round entirely.

Jackson, meanwhile, is headed back to Louisville for his junior season before then having the choice of whether to enter the 2018 draft.

At least one of Jackson's teammates, cornerback Shaq Wiggins (who evidently wasn't thrilled by the comment reported by Thamel), thinks he'll do just that.