Barely competent is a bit harsh. He was SEC Defensive Player of the Year. The kid could play in the best conference in college football. But a lot of great college players aren’t a great fit for the NFL. But to say “barely competent” is pretty ridiculous.
Indeed, it is harsh. I know of one case where a player was drafted from a very unknown college so he didn't even play in one of the big conferences.
Still, I heard some sort of rundown on Sam's stats, his more stellar games were against teams like Vanderbilt I think I heard but he did have a top play in the Cotton Bowl, I guess the Tigers may have won with help of that play.