Neither seemed like a 1st round QB to me. They both have nice skill sets but nothing that says slam dunk NFL franchise QB. To me, Ponder needed to hold a clip board for a few years and then he still needs to be in the right system. Same witb Manuel to a slightly lesser extent. I think both have the raw tools to be moderately successful NFL QBs in the right environment.
The NFL has gone nuts rushing young QBs into action before they are ready. There also seems to be in my humble opinion, a lack of quality coaching and development of QBs at that level. Seems as though more and more the NFL expects QBs to be close to finished products or somewhat close when they arrive.
Unfortunately for Ponder and Manuel, neither received anything close to that type of coaching at FSU.