Having watched him all year...I was SHOCKED he played poorly against Wisconsin. But he was double teamed a TON in the run game and there were some designed protections JUST for him in that game. They KNEW who he was. Which is something I always pay attention too.
He would probably say...dial back the tape a few seconds to where he gave Josh Oglesby all he could handle, basically punching him backward into the quarterback. The guy doesn't use technique. He doesn't keep his feet moving, he doesn't put his hands in the right place. He's all brutality and strength, with natural but often unused athleticism. If I were his coach I would run drills with him where he would pass rush a tackle without the use of his arms or hands. Keep your arms at your side like they're not even there, just use your shoulders and your feet. After we get his feet moving more, then we can work on where to place his hands.
Yep, one play of domination against Oglesby and 59 minutes of domination by Josh and Garrett Graham, 85% of the time in man.
Been watching furiously as my machine eats up space faster than I can watch games. Starting with Temple/UCLA and a bit of a disappointment not to see Temple’s Barry Church who, at 6’2, 219 is a very smooth and forceful strong safety but who was moved to nickel back by the coaching staff this year to counter the four and five wideout sets that the Owls would face for much of the year. That’s testament to his athletic ability and his coverage skills. Electronically timed at 4.47 at the Metro Index football camp in Pennsylvania before he joined the Rockets, he has good speed as well for a man so big. A great kid off the field and the unrivalled team leader, it was a real shame not to see him, especially as we don’t get many Temple games in these parts. With good workouts in Indianapolis, I could see him in the third or fourth round. He’ll be at the Shrine Game. He’s only the 3rd player in MAC history to be all conference as a freshman, sophomore, junior and senior. The big draft eligible Owl was the tight end Steve Maneri who at 6’6 and about 272lbs is an imposing target and a fantastic blocker. Of the blocking tight ends in the draft, only Jim Dray of Stanford is a better exponent than Maneri. He’s a textbook performer in this area, getting good initial punch and is quickly into his opponent, hands in perfect position, good knee bend at the point of attack and can turn and move his defender either down to the floor with power or simply wall him off for the back to get in behind. With two good backs like Temple have, it’s essentially like playing with an extra tackle. Indeed, there is some talk of moving him to tackle at the next level, given his size and the way that he moves his feet. He certainly has the frame to accommodate extra weight. He consistently did a nice job of using his hands and his feet, to turn his opponent inside and seal the edge and it was something of a tight end blocking clinic. He wasn’t just strong in line; he consistently got to the second level and picked off Reggie Carter and he’s not just an interference blocker at the second level – he can lock on and steer or simply obliterate. As a receiver he can get off the line and down the field and flashes good hands, making a super catch for the games opening score. Uncovered at the line for much of the time, he’s not blessed with great athletic ability and he’s a very average route runner but he does flash fine hands. During his routes, he rarely uses his body or his head to carry out fakes and on the corner route for the touchdown he essentially ran straight for 15 yards, then turned like a large boat and ran towards the corner. Elsewhere, center John Palumbo did a pretty decent job in one on one situations on Brian Price, although as the game wore on, Price became more of a factor. For the Bruins, they’ve got a number of high round prospects, both in this years draft and for the next two seasons to come. Starting on the offense and the most impressive player was FB/h-back Chane Moline. Coming in at around 6’1 and 250, he flashed in all three facets of the game. He did a nice job in pass protection and it was his form block that allowed Kevin Prince to throw the first touchdown pass after Temple blitzed a corner off the edge. He got lower than his opponent and stood him right up in the hole. Known as ‘Train’ Moline, it was easy to see why when he had the ball in his hands. On two or three occasions he broke through multiple tackles and picked up extra yards, bouncing off players, getting low and looking like a modern day Mark Bavaro. Not blessed with great speed to get to the edge as a runner, he certainly has the ability and vision to buck up through the A gap for a team at the next level as well as get out in the flat and catch passes. He’s a bigger version of Jacob Hester, he can find the soft spot in the zone and sit down and he showed what a smart player he was by staying in bounds so as to run the clock at the end of the game. At tight end Logan Paulsen isn’t much of a prospect. He has a tendency to dip his head a little in pass protection and can be a little too waist-y in terms of the way he bends. When sent out on pass patterns, he was a fairly pedestrian route runner but showed some skill with the ball in his hands at times. He’s not the sort of guy that’s going to come in and be a number one or possibly even a number two guy. It’s on defense where the Bruins have five interesting prospects, three of whom have first round potential. Brian Price is the big star. The junior is a big play performer as his numbers over the past two seasons show – double digit tackles for loss two years running. Immediately you notice three things; he’s extremely explosive at the snap of the ball, he plays with tremendous leverage and, as Chris pointed out previously, he’s on the floor a hell of a lot. I don’t think I’ve seen such a highly rated interior defensive line prospect who spent so much of the first half on his backside. The first five Temple plays on offense, he was down three times. It got to the point where, at the end of the first quarter, I almost considered rewinding and counting how many times he’d gone down to that point. He had very little influence in the first half as UCLA were out of synch but you could tell what the fuss is about with him. He’s a heads up guy and by that I mean that when he comes out of his stance and makes contact, he’s ball aware; his first read is locating the ball and the ball carrier rather than just taking on his blocker. It’s something I’ve talked about Paul Soliai becoming. But he really doesn’t do a good job of protecting his knees and his travails to the ground came via numerous reasons; cut blocking, changing direction, etc. As I mentioned, he has very impressive get off and he’s a violent type of defensive tackle. I think he’d be a nightmare to play against because he’s always on the move and his body shape and his hustle reminds me very much of Warren Sapp. What he does very well is use his hands. He clearly has very strong arms and when the guard or the center get into him he moves his hands very quickly to maintain position and regain leverage. What he also does very well is lean his upper body away from contact and bring his outside hand across to create distance between himself and his opponent. It’s a very impressive thing to watch. At times however, he will get stoned; on 4th and goal at the 1 early in the 2nd he was blocked down to the floor too easily again because he was playing too high, whilst on the first play after the running into the kicker penalty, he gets stood up by #71 Darius Morris and is held still for four seconds as the QB scrambles and tries to make a play. He only gets off the block as the ball is eventually released. But there’s plenty to like about him. He displays tremendous hustle for a big man; he’ll happily stay active until the play is finished and when in the backfield, will try and chase plays down from behind, either to the perimeter or 15 yards down the field. He started to take over the game up front in the fourth quarter and stuffed another Owl drive with back to back great plays – coming through unblocked and taking down the back in the backfield and then on the next play getting tremendous penetration and getting his shoulder turned into the hole making him more difficult to block, driving through the line and then changing direction effortlessly for a 300+lb man and taking down the back from behind. If he does declare, it’s hard not to see him as a mid first rounder at worst in a very good year for defensive tackles, although his propensity to end up on the floor would be a concern for me. Reggie Carter is an interesting ILB prospect at around 6’0, 240lbs but given that he’s playing in behind such a inside force as Price, he really doesn’t make the best of what his DT allows him to do. When going forwards he’s not particularly aggressive attacking the line of scrimmage and subsequently he can be picked off very easily. Time and again he would engage and the back would sail past him to the second level, rather than reading the play in front of him and reacting. He seemed intent on not allowing the play to develop and then reacting, which is a shame because he showed an ability, especially laterally to be able to get off a block. Subsequently he would be blown out of run lanes that he could have made tackles in had he been smarter. In coverage he looks lost in a zone and I don’t recall seeing him in single coverage at any stage. As the Bruin defense started to dominate in the 4th quarter his level of play increased and he made a very good play on 4th and 1 early in the 2nd half to stand the back up at the line and then had a sack later on in the quarter with a delayed blitz when he came in untouched. Overall though, he was rather too pedestrian for my liking and didn’t possess enough awareness of the bigger picture. The tentative way which he attacks the line of scrimmage would be a concern for me, especially as he needn’t do it. If he stayed at home and allowed the game to flow to him, I think he’d do a much better job. At corner, Alterraun Verner is a guy that Alen started talking up more than a year ago. He’s had a good year at CB and whilst not physically imposing, he’ll often get his nose into the play.. He has a smooth backpedal, albeit a little high and his release is good, generally anticipating the play very well. Slim, he looks taller than his 5’11 but won’t want to see a couple of plays again when he watches the tape of his final UCLA game. He was in man/zone on the second play of the game and got caught trying to anticipate a corner route when Temple were running a post. He was playing off at the snap and he bit a little too hard on the out move and really didn’t turn his hips well at all. The way he was playing it, with his inside hip turned out, he was clearly trying to force the receiver inside to the deep safety, the problem being that Temple crossed a receiver in front of the safety and changed the coverage. The Owls really didn’t challenge him much vertically after that and most of the passes went to the opposite side of the field or underneath. As I mentioned, he’ll get his nose into running plays although he does look a little uncomfortable tackling in space and he had a horrible whiff on Brown in the 2nd quarter on a run off right tackle where he attacked the ball carrier too high and with little force. I see no reason however, why he shouldn’t go off the board in the first three rounds. In terms of the youngsters, Temple’s defensive end Adrian Robinson looks to have some upside, whilst the Bruins have a couple of stars in the making in SOLB Akeem Ayers and free safety Rahim Moore. Ayers is an athletic freak, rangy, with terrific size his upside is off the charts and he looks a top 10 pick at worst when he declares. He’s still a little raw, but 7TFL, 4 sacks, 4 picks and 2 forced fumbles at 6’4 and 252 is testament to his all round ability. He’s very sudden and possesses a real burst off the edge. He is very comfortable dropping off in space and essentially won the game with his pick six late in the fourth quarter. Moore led the nation with 9 picks and got his hands on another in this one. He’s not a great run defender, especially taking backs on head on but when the ball’s in the air, he has great anticipation and closing speed, flowing to the ball and showing off great leaping ability. From here to Miami/Wisconsin with more interesting high round prospects. This game was decided by Scott Tolzein outplaying the more heralded Jacory Harris at QB, by Wisconsin’s defensive line and by Miami’s inability to cover the Badger tight ends. It also gave me a chance to really get a handle on a player that Miami should have a decent interest in, in O’Brien Schofield. For the Badgers, it all starts and finishes with the run game and John Clay. Helped by a strong offensive line with good bookend tackles, Clay is a big back in the Brandon Jacobs style, coming in around 6’1 and 250lbs. Not blessed with great speed or footwork and certainly not a slasher, he wears you down with power. He’s a plougher who’s not going to threaten you to the outside, but will give you all you can handle between the tackles. At times he looks a little hesitant to the hole, which is unusual given that a back of his size should just buck it up inside and he’s not a big cutter – he’s never going to put his foot in the ground and change direction like a Chris Johnson and his movement in space is very one paced – watch when he breaks the 52 yarder, he’s very precise with his movement through the holes. Both feet are planted at each of his cut points, almost as if he’s afraid of losing his footing. It will be interesting to see what he does with regards his draft status as I’m not sure coming back is necessarily going to help him gain a higher draft spot. I think he’s a mid second rounder. As I mentioned, Clay is helped out by great blocking up front and it all starts with Gabe Carimi at left tackle. Undecided as to his future, I’m of the opinion that he should go back because of a fundamental flaw in his game. Overall though he’s a terrific prospect. He’s a technician. He has good knee bend and does a really good job of understanding angles; he gets his body turned to kick out on running plays to either create lanes or stop back side pressure. He’s lean and although he wears two big old knee braces, they don’t seem to slow him any. He went out of the game early after getting rolled into but on the first play back they run Clay through the B gap and he’s out of his stance in a hurry and kicks the end way out of the lane, using outstanding hands to maintain position and give his back a huge crease to run through. In pass pro he gets out of his stance quickly, he moves his feet, he bends his knees and he does an excellent job of mirroring. At times, when he engages, he keeps his arms fully extended with no elbow bend, which I think can be a little dangerous, because if his arms are chopped, he can become unbalanced, but it’s only occasionally when he does this. Really pure pass blocker, he keeps his body between defender and QB at all times and knows how to use his hands. However it’s in the run game where I think his biggest issue lies. As I mentioned, he’s great with kick out blocks because he uses his speed and feet to get the angles and he’s much, much better run blocking on the move than he is straight ahead, where he has some real struggles. He tends to bend a bit at the waist and lean rather than allow his natural ability to take over. This was highlighted in the 3rd quarter when he whiffed on a run block on Olivier Vernon. He didn’t get any push at the point of attack, lent into him and was made to look rather silly as he went to the ground and the youngster came in and nailed the back for no gain. He never looked like winning the leverage battle and he really needs work in this area because he doesn’t look strong enough to win these battles consistently. Absolutely not an issue to get out to the second level or to redirect on the move, but taking on blockers head on is an issue for him. Watch the 52 yard Clay run and you’ll see him get out in a hurry, initiate contact with Daryl Sharpton, deliver a blow to him, then seal off so that his back can get behind him and up the field. He can also make the secondary block; be engaged with one defender and be alert enough to make another whilst still engaged with the first. The second John Clay TD is a perfect example of this. He blocks down the line and then engages Sharpton to stop him getting outside, getting away with an effective but hard to call hold. Overall he’s a very athletic pass protector who has some struggles in the run game that may limited his final position, which seems an odd thing to say about an offensive line prospect from Wisconsin. If he comes out this year I think he’s an early 2 but if he stays and improves his strength, he should be a mid 1 at worst. Opposite him they have a very fine tackle in sophomore Josh Oglesby who looks like a potential first rounder next year or in 2012 and should move to left tackle when Carimi moves on. The Badgers got some fine play from their tight ends. Garrett Graham is the big name, although junior Lance Kendricks had himself a game both as a receiver where he had 100+ yards and weighed in with two massive blocks on the short John Clay touchdown runs. Graham filled in for Travis Beckum when he broke his leg and averaged 13+ yards per catch a season ago. He levelled off a little in 2009 as defenses became more aware of him but he’s a solid pass catcher and a decent in line blocker. He started the game playing off right tackle and did a terrific job on Allen Bailey, despite being left on an island with the Hurricanes star lineman. Despite giving up a lot of size, he was taking Bailey to the cleaners in the early stages, getting terrific leverage and manipulating the end to where he wanted him to be, getting his arms inside in perfect position and turning Bailey inside and out of the play. For a 245lb tight end on a 290lb end with first round potential, it was impressive stuff. On an early sweep play to his side, he allowed Bailey the inside step then continued to turn him inside and sealed the edge so as to stop Bailey turning back and making the play. He also showed an ability to get out and block at the second level, although he struggled a bit more in space, especially when trying to get a hat on Daryl Sharpton. On the first play of the second half, he missed a seal block on Miami’s ILB that would have gone for big yards had he carried out his assignment. He has soft hands as a receiver and has the ability to make YAC. He did have a critical fumble going in at the end of a good catch and run that ultimately made the game closer than it should have been. But for a 4th/5th round tight end and a number two with some upside both as a pass catcher and a blocker, I think he has a shot. Defensively JJ Watt is going to be a really good 3-4 end. Already 288lbs as a sophomore, he has the ability to become a top 60 player in 2011/12. The player I was most keen on seeing was defensive end O’Brien Schofield and for the most part he didn’t disappoint. A much better prospect than Matt Shaughnessy, he gets off the ball in a hurry and seems to always be around the action. He lined up mostly to the strong side of the field and 6’2, 250 he has some interesting possibilities because he’s so athletic and is clearly very comfortable in coverage. Explosive, he immediately showed a good responsibility for the back side, especially when the play rolled away from him. He would temper his run somewhat to make sure that Miami didn’t run some misdirection or a throwback pass. At times he was getting stood up at the point of attack in the run game and on one particular play that came straight at him, #74 walked him four or five yards off the line of scrimmage as he was simply overpowered. But playing SOLB in a 3-4, he’s not always going to encounter a big 315+lb right tackle in the run game. As a pass rusher he did a decent job of dipping his shoulder to win the leverage battle and he displayed a nice move to disengage whereby he would run the arc and if he couldn’t get his inside shoulder under the tackle and turn the corner, he would throw his shoulder into his man and then cut underneath him, enabling him to free his hands and get at the QB. Generally he used his hands well when rushing the passer and he displayed a number of different moves with varying degrees of success. Make no bones, he’s certainly not an elite rusher, but he’s an irritant and he can run the arc and get after a passer with good effect as his 12 sacks and 22.5 TFL’s this season testify. At the start of the 2nd half when rushing from LE, he engaged and won the hand battle and was able to pull the RT out of his way without losing any speed, dipped his shoulder and nailed Jacory Harris just as he released the ball. He then got himself a sack through hard work in the second half, despite being held by Jimmy Graham, ducking under the tight end and closing in on Harris for the sack. A hard worker, he’s a team captain and a great kid off the field. And it’s not just going forwards where he looks a decent proposition. He dropped off in coverage a couple of times in the second half, once in man on Jimmy Graham where he looked smooth enough in reverse, then got the inside position when the tight end made his cut 15 yards down the field and then he looked very comfortable falling off into a zone with about four minutes to go but showed excellent ability to change direction quickly and break on the square in to take down the receiver for a short gain. He collected his second sack in the final quarter, stripping Harris of the ball which was recovered by JJ Watt, which came on sheer effort alone, getting under the RT, then using quickness to release and close on Harris. Overall he was impressive and certainly bears watching in that 3rd round area. Given how he looks in space, I think he has the ability to go a little higher even than that. For the Canes, they were missing Jason Fox at left tackle and guard Orlando Franklin filled in and did a pretty decent job all told. He flip flopped from the left to the right side at times, but showed excellent versatility. He’s up out of his stance quickly in pass protection and does a good job of mirroring. He’s a bit of a leaner in space in that he tends to drop his shoulders and his head into his man rather using his arms and when faced with O’Brien Schofield, he’d bend at the waist a little too much. I hope he switches back to guard for 2010 because he could leave Miami with a high grade in a years time. At tight end Dedrick Epps was a non factor, whereas Jimmy Graham weighed in with a couple of catches, showing all the skills of the basketball player he was. A terrific leaper he’s a rather mechanical route runner although he gets off the line pretty well. As a blocker, he’s generally very strong and on one particular running play to the short side of the field, he drove his man into the ground at the edge of the Miami bench and then made sure he wasn’t getting up. The backs were something of a non factor although as a non Canes fan, Graig Cooper looks the best of those on show. Be interesting to see Lamar Miller next season. Good for Leonard Hankerson that he’s going to return for his senior year. He will have been disappointed with the fact that his number was called so infrequently. He made a stunning one handed stab in the dying minutes down the middle of the field and I really like the way he attacks the ball in the air. He’s going to need a monster senior year to threaten round one given that 2011 will be the year of the fantastic four; Baldwin, Jones, Green and Floyd, but he could end up being a real threat for someone and has the size and ability to become a number one at the next level. On defense, Allen Bailey is the star but I thought he had a really mediocre game given the hype surrounding him. I thought he struggled earlier in the year at DT and it was a wise move to get him back out to end to make use of his athletic ability. He closed out the regular season on fire and for me I see him with one future; as a 3-4 run defending end. But I was hella disappointed with him in this one. As I mentioned earlier, Garrett Graham was getting the upper hand with him early on in isolation on the edge and he was allowing the tight end to immobilise him or move him down the line. He seemed to have no answer to Graham’s ability to hold him up, not showing a secondary move or the ability to locate the ball and take control of the block. Most of the rest of the time he was matched up one on one with Josh Oglesby and it wasn’t even close. A couple of times he flashed a major league bull rush to which Oglesby had no answer but it was very infrequent. He didn’t play with much violence which is a surprise given how he looks and the only play he made in the backfield was when Oglesby blocked down inside and he had a clean run at the tailback. A couple of times they would double up with Kendricks and Oglesby or Graham and Oglesby but generally they didn’t need to. I would have liked to see him switched to Carimi to try and work on Gabe to try and take advantage of his strength and Carimi’s weakness, but it never happened. It’s good to see that he’s returning for his senior year. The most impressive Miami defender was Daryl Sharpton, a decent second level inside linebacker. Immediately he flashed decent open field speed and an ability to work back down the field on plays that go past the second level. He’s also adept at going backwards in coverage although he looks a little mechanical in his flat backpedal and tends to side saddle a little bit. However, he does a nice enough job in short zones and is aggressive in the box. He also looks a little mechanical changing direction in space – watch the first play after the 52 yard run by John Clay. He diagnoses very quickly and sniffs out the reverse, shutting off the cutback lanes but looks a little leaden footed in doing so when he has to gear down and back up again quickly and repeatedly. Generally he does a terrific job of getting off blocks head on – ask Garrett Graham – and he made an excellent play with 10 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, fighting off a block and getting outside to make the tackle. He continually flashed on the perimeter, again diagnosing a sweep quickly and knifing through to shut down run before Montee Ball could get to the edge. I like Sharpton and think he has starting calibre credentials. Colin McCarthy also had a couple of nice plays on the perimeter, showing, like Sharpton, a good ability to read and react and to get into the backfield and make a play or two. I’m not a huge fan of Sam Shields or Randy Phillips, although Shields flashed big time speed on the opening kick return, only to be robbed of a score by a pointless block in the back. Finally finished up yesterday with Idaho vs. Bowling Green which, despite that horrific blue field at Boise, was the best bowl game so far with an outstanding ending and a really ballsy decision by Robb Akey to go for two and the win. Akey seems like a terrific coach. Two big name prospects on either side of the ball in Freddie Barnes of Bowling Green and Mike Iupati of Idaho, but it’s only Iupati that will threaten the first four rounds. In fact, the big left guard is a nailed on first rounder, displaying better pure ability as a run blocker and a puller to either side of the formation as any guard I’ve seen in a few years. Starting with the Vandals, I’ve seen a lot worse QB’s than Nathan Enderle. He’s a junior but his progress bears watching as he has a good arm and a quick release. He could do with improving his pocket presence and his accuracy on deep balls, but he has some ability as an improving 3rd or even 2nd level passer. As for Iupati, he put on an absolute clinic, albeit against mediocre opposition. That said, you can only beat what’s in front of you and he beat it soundly. He’s big, but remarkably, at 6’6 and 330, there’s not a wasted pound on his frame. He also blocks with an attitude and generally destroys everything in his path. When he’s uncovered in pass protection, he likes to chip and then comes and stands guard as the sentry of the pocket on the balls of his feet and his head on a pivot. At times he doesn’t have great awareness of what’s going on behind in that the two ends are collapsing the pocket inside on Enderle and he’s standing sentry at the peak of the pocket with no clue about what’s happening behind him. But that’s about the only knock on him. He’s incredibly impressive on the move and looks terrific in space. The Vandals like to run trap plays where they can get him out in space as the lead blocker and he does it really well, flashing a tremendous ability to make the first block, but then re-direct and take out a second blocker without any wasted motion or lack of technique. There are times when, on the move he almost gets to edge too quickly and very occasionally attacks his opponent slightly off balance. This is evident on the first touchdown where he ends up lucky not to be called for holding as his arm is round the neck of his defender and he releases his arms in an ‘I promise I’m not holding’ manner. Learning to play more under control on the perimeter will be important for him, but again it’s only a small knock. He uses his hands very well and in line can drive block with real tenacity, always going forwards, bending his knees and getting outstanding leverage. He’s always too quick for his opponent at the snap and never cedes any ground at the point of attack. In fact more often than not, he’s moving his man 4 and 5 yards off the line. He does a terrific job of keeping his arms inside and keeping them moving, combining them with his leg movement to make him impossible to play. It sounds like a misnomer to call a man at 6’6 and 330lbs balletic, but it’s true. He tends not to use a single punch, more of a combination, but when he does set with a single punch, he really jolts his opponent onto the back foot. When he’s matched up one on one in pass protection he occasionally leans a little too much and will duck his head every now and again, especially when playing a more passive DT. When playing a more aggressive opponent, as he did when Bowling Green changed their fronts, his technique actually improved. His footwork means that he can react quickly to stunting linemen and get out and re-direct them, using those big wings. When pulling he’s equally adept on both sides although probably goes to the right 70% of the time. After watching Brian Price of UCLA, Iupati is never, ever on the floor and I love the fact that he shows a real understanding of angles. He will double up on almost every snap, destroying his man, before chipping someone else or picking off a late blitzing linebacker. With 2.58 to go in the half he pulls out past RT and takes on the SLB, turning him inside easily, allowing the back to run in behind. Then he sees the ILB peeling out to take down the back and he simply picks him off with one arm so that the back can get four or five extra yards. It was a stunning play. Very quick to the second level and very effective when out there, he also has the ability to crush down the line and cave in an entire side. It was his block that created the second Woolridge touchdown as he created a great lane for the back to buck up through for a score. Hugely impressive performance by the big man who seems a tremendous kid to boot. It’s hard not to think that Miami won’t at least have an interest in him, given how they like to play Justin Smiley, although with other issues at tight end, wide receiver and ILB it may be hard to justify. Stone cold first round pick. On the other side of the ball was Freddie Barnes who broke the single season reception record in college football history and had himself a great game, finishing with 17 catches for 219 yards and 3 touchdowns. He’s a very interesting prospect in that he’s clearly a catching machine and really the only talent that BG have at receiver and so even though the opposition know he’s going to get it, he can’t be stopped. But there’s more to it than that. The good to his game is his hands which are terrific. He never dropped a thing, although he did fumble a first quarter punt, but in terms of the passing game, his hands were great. High or low, he made one superb catch on his shoe tops and another where he lost his feet from under him and still made the play. He made a terrific over the shoulder grab on the sideline and is a hand catcher. But I have real trouble in seeing how he’s going to fit in at the next level because despite having the super hands, the other two aspects of his game are really poor. Barnes is a mediocre route runner, showing little or no ability to fake a corner or a safety. Actually that’s a lie; on one pass in the 2nd half, he actually ran a clean route and showed pretty crisp feet so he’s capable of doing it, but he rarely does. I’d actually go as far as to say that he’s lazy in is route running. He isn’t sudden and lacks any sort of explosion in or out of any breaks that he makes. It’s all very one speed. He never carries out body or head fakes and the ones he does make are barely token gestures. He doesn’t stick his foot in the ground and change direction with any pace, tending instead to round out his routes, maintaining that same speed through the duration of the route. He ran a quick out early in the game and never set his foot in the ground and sold it, he merely ran a little arc and it was only because the Vandals were playing so far off him that the pass was completed. He doesn’t possess much toughness which is evident when it comes to blocking. He tends to throw his shoulder in if he can, but generally he struggles to lock on and seems to rather avoid the contact all together if he possible. What he does do is show a real understanding of zones and how to find the dead area, drifting, on one play, to the sideline and making a critical 3rd down conversion. Inexplicably, Idaho manned him up with a freshman corner and never once got in his face and made life difficult for him at the line. Personally, given his lack of toughness and his lazy route running, I think he’d struggle to get off press and into his route. With the ball in his hands he can certainly make yards after the catch and as aforementioned has an uncanny knack of finding himself in space. His long touchdown catch with 40 seconds left was a stunning way to end his record setting season but as a pro prospect, I’d be surprised if he finds his way into the first four rounds, especially with 4.65 speed. Two free safeties worth noting were PJ Mahone of Bowling Green and Shiloh Keo of Idaho.
I didn't realize Church left Toledo. I can fully understand why you didn't see Church out there for Temple, it's because he does indeed still play for Toledo.
LOL. What a muppet I am! Well done for spotting the deliberate mistake. Or something. Temple...Toledo...what a doofus!
Agreed on Iupati, Boom. Iupati is punishing blocker and I'm amazed each time how much power he has. He opens up big time lanes and drives his assignments back often. He's always looking to block someone too, whether he chips another defender or just keeps his head on a swivel. Impressive. However, did you notice how at times, he hops and flips his hips to pull? A bit odd to me. Barnes isn't impressive in anything other than his hands and his ability to sit in zones, which you note and I noted a month back. He's not very quick, fast nor does he have quality route running. Seems like he has a good understanding of defenses though. I chuckled at the commentators on Barnes first touchdown, where he ran a crossing route and pretended to sit in the zone, then proceeded upfield to catch the touchdown. They were amazed and I was chuckling because he did an awful job selling it, yet still got by the piss poor Idaho defenders. That won't work in the NFL.
By the way, you hear there were 3 scouts at the Idaho/BG game and not one of them had Freddie Barnes on their watch list? I think that says enough in terms of his draft future.
Thought I’d spare you a report on North Carolina/Pittsburgh as I’ve done a couple of reports on each them earlier in the season, but I just wanted to touch on a couple of less heralded players and a few notes generally as there's a number of NC defensive prospects I love. I’ve made a lot over the past year of my thoughts on the North Carolina defense which contains a number of first round and high round prospects. Nowhere more so than on the defensive line where Marvin Austin plies his trade. A tremendously well regarded specimen out of high school he’s done little to disappoint anchoring the interior of the Tar Heel defensive line - if you follow CK's posts, you'll know he's a huge fan. However, one point of interest that I wanted to touch upon is his lack of big plays. I took a closer look at his numbers and whilst he’s very stout against the run and anchors very well with that huge bubble of his, he doesn’t make a lot of plays in the offensive backfield. Just 3.5 tackles for a loss in the past two seasons. When you consider that Gerald McCoy has 32 TFL in three seasons, Brian Price had 16.5 TFL this past season alone and Ndamukong Suh has 42 in four seasons including 32 over the same two season spread as Austin, that’s a key number for me and something that bears watching. KC Joyner also did an interesting study of his time on the field over five games, showing that he’s strong and hard working, playing 258 of 341 downs through those 5 games, playing 110 snaps as the 0 or 1 technique and 131 times as the 2 or 3 with the rest of the snaps elsewhere along the line. Now Austin is 6’3 and 306lbs with the lower frame of an ox. So can he line up as a nose tackle in a 3-4? Well when you consider that he was double teamed on 41% of running plays he faced and was tripled teamed on 35% of the running plays he faced, that shows why he isn’t in the backfield as much as you would like. It also shows that this is a kid who has graded out as one of the top underclassmen tackles, with a reputation as a fearsome run defender DESPITE being double or tripled teamed on 76% of opponents running plays through his junior season. Now, how did he get on with those run plays? Well across the 5 game sample, being doubled or tripled on 76% of run plays, he won 21.6% of runs, which apparently would be very good were it an NFL sample, but must he taken as solid as it’s numbers from the ACC. Regardless, it’s clear that Austin is the sort of player who’s going to soak up blocks and allow others to make plays around him. The benefit has been that EJ Wilson, Cam Thomas, Aleric Mullins, and Robert Quinn have all seen their games elevate because of Austin’s play. I mentioned Quinn and the sophomore is going to be a very big player when he declares, with the size to be a 4-3 end or to play as a 3-4 OLB at 6’5 and 271. With 16.5 TFL and 10 sacks and outstanding speed and power at the point, the sky’s the limit. Elsewhere, I’ve long been a fan of Bruce Carter, an underrated star in the making at WLB who, like Rennie Curran of Georgia and Navarro Bowman of Penn State, has front line instincts and the ability and speed to make plays all over the formation. I’m glad he’s staying in school and while he was tested on the perimeter in this game by Dion Lewis, he more than held his own. I thought Quan Sturvidant had a down year but it’s understandable given his position switch to mike. In the secondary, Kendric Burney and Charles Brown had their work cut out with the super blue chipper that is Jonathan Baldwin and Brown drew the assignment more often than not. Burney is undersized at 5’9 but is a great leaper, while Brown is more raw but probably has the bigger upside. At safety, Deunta Williams flashed on a number of occasions last season and did so again in 2009. He should be one of the more highly regarded safety prospects in the 2011 draft as he’s also staying put. The two prospects I wanted to touch on who are flying under the radar were John Malecki the guard and Mick Williams, the DT. Malecki is an interesting guy because he was part of the DT rotation until the start of 2008 before they shifted him to RG because of a shortage of quality interior linemen. He’s done a really good job and I thought he played Marvin Austin pretty well. He’s not blessed with tremendous size at around 6’2 and 286 but he’s quick off the snap and because of his size, he does a really nice job with leverage. Having played two years and started a number of games for the Panthers at DT, he shows an understanding of angles and of the fundamentals of blocking with leverage that someone with his inexperience shouldn’t have. He was lined up more often on Cam Thomas, but against Thomas or Austin I felt that generally he held his own. He can get out to the second level and he did a nice job of walling off Sturvidant on a couple of Dion Lewis runs between the tackles. I think his upside is terrific and given his versatility – he was all state as a defensive tackle and started as a sophomore on the DL, he’s just the sort of rounded, later round prospect that Jeff Ireland likes the look of. Speaking of Pitt guards, I’m also a fan of Joe Thomas who plays on the left side. On that defensive line is the underrated Mick Williams. Unlikely to be a threat for the Dolphins given his size – 6’1, 290 – I think he bears watching in the later rounds as a 4-3 DT. A little unheralded, I was taking a look at the rather random BLESTO and National reports for the 2009/10 season and he was nowhere to be found. Suffice to say that if he was flashing to me on the 3 or 4 occasions that I saw Pitt this past season, then he’ll have been flashing to the scouts. He’s had a strong year with 13 TFL, 3 sacks and three forced fumbles, despite being double and triple teamed on a reported 81% of all defensive snaps. This is a kid who goes from opening gun to final whistle, he gets good pad level which is no shock given his size – if he’s 6’1 I’ll be surprised – and is much more athletic than he’s given credit for. He’s quick off the snap, will stay on his feet and can move down the line of scrimmage with ease, disengaging quickly and forcing a runner back outside. Whilst Greg Romeus and Jabaal Shear get the publicity on that defensive line, Williams makes the unit tick. Will try and get through 2/3 more games tonight.
Just got done watching Jeremy Williams of Tulane. I don't know if he's the prospect that some make him out to be. I've seen him listed as possibly a top 45 pick because of his height and speed as well as talent but I don't think he's a complete prospect and that doesn't make him worthy of a pick that high, in my eyes. He showed good hands, caught the ball cleanly and had good leaping ability. He can get the ball at it's highest point. However, while he those good traits, he had some ones that stood out. He rarely picks up extra yardage. From what I see, he's pretty much a non factor as a YAC guy. Whether you go high on him or you trip him up at the ankles, he goes down at first contact. He's got very quick feet IMO but he doesn't create a lot of separation from defensive backs. He may run well at the combine but he's not going to play at his timed speed. I saw him run several go routes with Army cornerbacks and he failed to create separation of any kind. The one ball that he caught down the field, he out jumped the defensive back by quite a bit and hauled in the pass. That's something that I like, he can go get the ball at it's highest point. However, you can't do that in the NFL on a consistent basis IMO and that's what the concern with Michael Crabtree was when he was coming out for me. Further, Williams didn't run a lot of quality routes. One of the reasons is because he's not asked to. The highest degree of difficulty route that I saw from him in this game was a corner route followed up by an out route. He did pretty well selling them both, by planting his outside foot and using his eyes to create a bit of separation. However, most of his "routes" were drags, shallow crosses, go routes and out to the flats from the backfield. That didn't impress me. There were a couple of plays that really peeked my interest because it had to do with his concentration. One was where he faked a bubble screen and beat the DB on a go route to the back fo the end zone, about 18 yards out I believe. The quarterback led him a bit too much but he tipped it back to himself a couple times, caught it, and got both feet in, working the sideline well. That was very well done. Fast forward to 7.31 in the second quarter, I finally get a chance to see him work the middle of the field in some way. It was a quick slant. He was the slot receiver with the outside man running a drag route underneath Williams IIRC. His teammate runs across his face and then Williams runs the quick slant. The ball is placed right between the numbers and low, where Williams can squat and catch the ball. Not great ball placement from the quarterback but catchable. Williams goes to catch it, takes his eyes off of it as a defender (the MIKE) is bearing down on him and he loses all his concentration, dropping the ball. I don't want to see him afraid of contact, especially when he's got a nice build. It's a small sample to work from, I know, but it's all I have and it's something that will be monitored as he does work in the all star practices and games. Moreover, he does absolutely nothing in the run game. I saw minimal effort blocking. When he did do it, it was alright. Nothing special. Not a lot of willingness on his part. He's got talent but he hasn't put it all together yet. He needs work IMO.
I'm not sure how well Navorro Bowman would fit inside for us, but he seems to be having a heck of a game so far, and I'm really impressed (moreso than usual).
Am I the only one who's pretty intrigued by ECU's CJ Wilson? Big bubble, thick build, strong, very hard worker, moves pretty well IMO but he has some flaws of course. He's not great at dipping his shoulder (he'll do some leaning into the defender) and isn't always the quickest off the LOS. He lacks consistent explosion IMO and his hand placement isn't always the best but he sheds blocks well and he is constantly fighting with his hands. When it comes to setting the edge, from everything I've seen, he's good at direct runs but if you run counters and get him going laterally, you can take advantage of the open lane. If you teach him good, you could have a player.
I would imagine that the hop is something he's had in his game since he started and they've not bothered to knock it out of him. I think in the end it comes down to having him paly a little more under control when on the move, especially when he gets to the edge.
Agreed on him playing under control. I've watched three games of his and he's been pretty damn good in all. The only issues that really stand out to me with him are the hop, the control when he's pulling and the lack of awareness of his surroundings, which you all pointed out.
I think he's best suited outside. He's pretty straight up and down physically at about 6'1 and 228. His speed and instinct and football brain make me think he's going to be very, very good but his off field antics make me think he might be a real problem.
I really do think he's a superior talent. And the thing is, you look at him and think when he's on the move in the pro's he's going to get knocked around a bit because of his frame and then you remember that actually he's 6'6 and 330lbs and bigger than almost everyone. Terrific prospect.
Just one other thing on Iupati and I wondered what you thought, but he has the frame, the feet and the wingspan to play left tackle. He'd need a little polishing in pass pro but I don't doubt he could. I think if you did that you'd take him away from what he does best but I bet some teams have considered it. Hopefully there's a good batch of DT's that go to the Senior Bowl because he'll really get a test there. If Williams and Cody and Odrick and Jones all show up, that would make for some fascinating practice sessions.
I brought him up as a right tackle in the club about a month ago. I think he can do it. The only thing that I wondered was the whole hopping issue. Is that something he's just doing because he's used to it or is it because he can't open his hips consistently? I'm thinking it's the former but I'm not sure.
Yeah I heard that. I was surprised there were only three. I'm not surprised about Barnes. He is what he is. As a 4th or 5th guy I can see it but he strikes me as someone who might end in the Arena League. History is littered with great pass catching WR's at the college level who never made it to the pros because of the same problems that Barnes has; Clarkston Hines, Jack Jackson, Andre Cooper, Manny Hazard, etc. Are you watching the games? Who's catching your eye? Mardy Gilyard against Joe Haden will be nice.
What are you seeing with the hopping and his hips. I noticed it a couple of times but paid no attention to it. Interested in your take on it as generally I hate watching offensive linemen.
Basically what he's doing is at the snap is he gets up, is erect, and then literally hops and flips his hips, landing in the direction he is going in and then he proceeds. It's just something I noticed he did quite a bit of in the other two games but not a lot in the bowl game. Now I don't know if that's something he's been doing for a while because he's used to it or if it's something significant. He looks good pulling from what I've seen but that's just something I noticed. I can see him in the AFL, sure. I'm not watching it at the moment but I'll be going through them tonight. I'll let you know if you wish.
Nah no worries. They're all taping over the next 24 hours. I'm watching some costume drame to appease the missus but wanted to shoot the breeze about Bowl Games!
I'll be taking notes anyways lol. You know plenty though lol. My DVR is full. I've got room for like one more game so I'll be going through them tonight.
Don't know if you saw Houston/Air Force yesterday but I'd be interested in your opinion on Case Keenum. That was the 2nd time I've seen him this season and will type my notes up later but when I look at him I see Jay Cutler in terms of set up and the really quick release. Not the arm of Cutler for sure, but he's very accurate and I think he definitely has starter potential. I hope the bad game and the loss means he'll stay at UH and really make a Drew Brees type pick in what potentially looks a very strong QB draft.
I had 1% left on the machine this afternoon so had to rattle through Houston/Air Force and delete the Wizard of Oz just so I could get Ohio State and the Cincy/Florida game. Dorothy would understand!
I've only seen bits of him, nothing solid. I'll record a re-run here though and I'll check it out. As for him leaving or staying, I know that he's said if his current head coach stays, he's staying as well. If his current coach gets promoted elsewhere, he's leaving. Lol, I had to delete two NFL games and a 30 for 30 of the U documentary so I feel your pain.
I like OSU's Doug Worthington. Watched him earlier this year. He's pretty impressive and can move all around the line.Underrated guy IMO.
OK, at what point do we start talking Sean Weatherspoon up as a prospect for us? I mean we're talking about a mobile, aggressive, athletic stud who flies around, makes plays going forwards and backwards and has done it at a very high level for 4 seasons. I mean he's 6'2 and 246lbs.that's the same height and 9lbs lighter than Brandon Spikes if you kicked him inside, he's an inch and 4lbs lighter and a whole worl better than Kindle, he's 2 inches taller and 8lbs lighter than Norwood, he's an inch and a half smaller than Edds and 2lbs heavier. Hell he's as tall as Jerry Hughes and only 12lbs lighter. He weighs the same as Ricky Sapp. He's 9lbs lighter than Brandon Lang. 8lbs lighter than Dexter Davis. He's sudden, athletic, always on his feet, makes plays on the perimeter and is a leader. I think you could easily play him at SOLB or in the middle next to Crowder. I've always been a big fan but even though he's good and we know he's good, he STILL flies under the radar.
It's a difficult one to watch because of the offense that Navy run and you can tell how much he hated playing the option and that rinky dink run game but he showed suddeness, a great ability to stay on his feet, to flow to the football from the backside of the field and to hit like a house. I just think that sometimes were guilty of overlooking the obvious when you have a day 1 starter sitting right there and we ignore him because maybe he's 6lbs lighter than we THINK a guy should be.
My biggest issue with him early in the year was that he wasn't carrying his new found weight well. However, I haven't watched him since to be completely honest, which is why I look forward to the bowl game. We get one Missouri game here in Florida and that doesn't include the bowl game. What I liked about him, when I watched him last year and early this year, was his quickness (though he was quicker last year, albeit lighter), intelligence, discipline in that pure zone coverage they run at Mizzou and his ability to slice the offensive line and get in the backfield. What really impressed me was how confident the Missouri coaches are with Weatherspoon in coverage. I was watching a game, against Nevada I think, and Nevada had a single receiver split out wide and the man covering him was Weatherspoon. I liked that.
