The Wonderlic: Ricky Stanzi's 30 score is basically the norm

Every year at this time we hear about how players at the NFL Combine did with the Wonderlic Personnel Test.

It's 50 multiple-choice questions that must be answered within 12 minutes. The idea is to determine the aptitude of prospective employees for learning and problem-solving. How it applies to football players has long been the subject of debate. Some great pro players didn't do well in the Wonderlic.

But it's one more thing to fill our endless supplies of pre-NFL draft information packs.

Anyway, Marc Morehouse's On Iowa blog recently noted here that Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi scored a 30 on his Wonderlic. The average score for a quarterback reportedly has been 24 over the years.

According to this ESPN.com blog item, Stanzi's score was topped by fellow quarterbacks Greg McElroy of Alabama (43), Blaine Gabbert of Missouri (42) and Christian Ponder of Florida State (35). It was better than TCU's Andy Dalton (29), Arkansas' Ryan Mallett (26), Auburn's Cam Newton (21), and Washington's Jake Locker (20).

I'm guessing Newton still gets drafted above all the rest, with the possible exception of Gabbert.

Edgar Thompson of the Palm Beach Post had this story a year ago noting the average Wonderlic score of the NFL's last seven Super Bowl-winning QBs before the 2010 season was 30.1 and the average for the expected starting quarterbacks in 2010 was 28.5. Their scores:

1. Ryan Fitzpatrick 48

2. Alex Smith 40

3. Eli Manning 39

4. Matt Stafford 38

5. Tony Romo 37

6. Aaron Rodgers 35

6. Matt Leinart 35

8. Tom Brady 33

9. Matt Ryan 32

10. Matt Schaub 31

11. Philip Rivers 30

12. Matt Hasselbeck 29

12. Marc Bulger 29

12. Brady Quinn 29

15. Mark Sanchez 28

15. Peyton Manning 28

15. Drew Brees 28

18. Josh Freeman 27

18. Joe Flacco 27

20. Carson Palmer 26

20. Jay Cutler 26

20. Kyle Orton 26

23. Ben Roethlisberger 25

24. Jason Campbell 23

25. Brett Favre 22

25. Tim Tebow 22

25. Chad Henne 22

28. Bruce Gradkowski 19

29. Vince Young 15

30. Donovan McNabb 14

30. David Garrard 14

Unknown: Matt Cassel, Matt Moore

Last year, Sam Bradford scored a 36.

Other Wonderlic scores of note:

Brian Griese 39

Steve Young 33

John Elway 29

Michael Vick 20

Dan Marino 15

Randall Cunningham 15

Jim Kelly 15

Terry Bradshaw 15

Seneca Wallace 14

Brad Banks 13

Chris Leak 8

How would you do in the Wonderlic? Here are 20 sample questions. Keep in mind that 12-minute thing for 50 of these questions, which means you have to answer about four per minute. So you have five minutes to answer 20.