Prospects to Watch
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notes from watching oregon:
two players really stood out to me: patrick chung and t.j. ward, both of oregon's safeties. they're both smaller guys, 5'11", and chung's got 20 pounds on ward, 210 to 190, but both are absolutely huge hitters. they flat-out demolish people. the guys they hit bounce off the turf. it's fantastic to watch. they also support the run well and come up to level RBs before they can get through the secondary. most of the time, they were there within six yards of the LOS.
chung had a pass interference penalty called on him when he had to defend a slot WR running a wheel route. it wasn't the most egregious penalty ever and wasn't nearly as bad as william moore looked in coverage against northwestern. chung's gonna be a solid guy. definitely the second-best in the draft after mays.
t.j. ward is only a redshirt junior, so he may or may not be coming out this year. based on his low weight, i think he'll stay another year if he wants to be a serious candidate for the NFL.
i didn't specifically watch unger, but the ducks ran all over oklahoma state. their QB and one RB went over 100 yards and another guy had 70+, so i'd say unger blocks pretty well.
jeremiah johnson, their RB, backed up jonathan stewart last year, and is a decent RB. he's solid, not spectacular. he doesn't really make people miss all that much or run them over, but he's a jack of all trades and does everything well. good hands, good vision.
two oregon offensive players looked good: lagarrette blount, a junior RB, and jeremiah masoli, their sophomore QB. blount is a big guy (6'2", 238) and runs with power, dragging people and bowling them over on his way to the end zone. brandon jacobs.
masoli won't cut it in the NFL, which is a shame. he's only 5'11", which means he's a slot receiver if he can learn the position. however, he runs with power. he destroyed a oklahoma state DB. completely knocked him on his ass on his way to the end zone. has great vision, too.
one last guy whose name i heard called quite a few times was junior defensive end will tukuafu, who goes 6'4", 278. he had at least one sack and stopped another run behind the LOS. definitely worth a look as a 3-4 DE. he has the size and has produced on the field.
notes from watching oregon:
two players really stood out to me: patrick chung and t.j. ward, both of oregon's safeties. they're both smaller guys, 5'11", and chung's got 20 pounds on ward, 210 to 190, but both are absolutely huge hitters. they flat-out demolish people. the guys they hit bounce off the turf. it's fantastic to watch. they also support the run well and come up to level RBs before they can get through the secondary. most of the time, they were there within six yards of the LOS.
chung had a pass interference penalty called on him when he had to defend a slot WR running a wheel route. it wasn't the most egregious penalty ever and wasn't nearly as bad as william moore looked in coverage against northwestern. chung's gonna be a solid guy. definitely the second-best in the draft after mays.
t.j. ward is only a redshirt junior, so he may or may not be coming out this year. based on his low weight, i think he'll stay another year if he wants to be a serious candidate for the NFL.
i didn't specifically watch unger, but the ducks ran all over oklahoma state. their QB and one RB went over 100 yards and another guy had 70+, so i'd say unger blocks pretty well.
jeremiah johnson, their RB, backed up jonathan stewart last year, and is a decent RB. he's solid, not spectacular. he doesn't really make people miss all that much or run them over, but he's a jack of all trades and does everything well. good hands, good vision.
two oregon offensive players looked good: lagarrette blount, a junior RB, and jeremiah masoli, their sophomore QB. blount is a big guy (6'2", 238) and runs with power, dragging people and bowling them over on his way to the end zone. brandon jacobs.
jeremiah johnson won't cut it in the NFL, which is a shame. he's only 5'11", which means he's a slot receiver if he can learn the position. however, he runs with power. he destroyed a oklahoma state DB. completely knocked him on his ass on his way to the end zone. has great vision, too.
one last guy whose name i heard called quite a few times was junior defensive end will tukuafu, who goes 6'4", 278. he had at least one sack and stopped another run behind the LOS. definitely worth a look as a 3-4 DE. he has the size and has produced on the field.
Jeremiah johnson was considered the better back when Stewart was still at Oregon so that is saying something about him. He will be a great pro in a 2 back system.
Masoli is only a sophomore so he has plenty of time.
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Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to watch the Oregon game. Thanks for the putting together a writeup on what you noticed, JD. It's good to hear that Chung looked solid in the game.
Blount's going to be a stud in the NFL. Ever since someone sent me this clip earlier this year, I've been hoping that he'd declare for this year's draft.
I'm guessing he returns to Oregon for another year & ends up being a 2010 1st Round pick.
Hadn't heard of DE Will Tukuafu before you mentioned him, but he sounds like an interesting prospect. He's only a junior, so we'll have to keep an eye on him next season.
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Tony Pauline put together a great list of prospects to watch in tomorrow's game.
I can't do better than that, so I'll just recommend you guys check out his Prospects to Watch list.
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Ready for Rey tonight anyone?
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Ready for Rey tonight anyone?
Ready for Rey tonight anyone?
I am not sold on Rey, but I am interested in watching more of him tonight.
Anyone watching the Mich St/Georgia game? Great defensive battle. Ringer has looked okay, Moreno has looked better...no surprise there. Hoyer (Cleveland kid) has played a smart football game so far. Hope Mich. St. can pull it out. It would be a huge upset.
Mich St. now leads 6 - 3.
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Also declaring: South Carolina DE-OLB Eric Norwood:
He'll be a interesting guy to consider taking in the Round 2/3 range.
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Ready for Rey tonight anyone?
I am not sold on Rey, but I am interested in watching more of him tonight.
Anyone watching the Mich St/Georgia game? Great defensive battle. Ringer has looked okay, Moreno has looked better...no surprise there. Hoyer (Cleveland kid) has played a smart football game so far. Hope Mich. St. can pull it out. It would be a huge upset.
Mich St. now leads 6 - 3.
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Orion Martin #90 from VT looks good he has a nose for the ball and plays smart, looks to have good speed and agility and might be one of those tweeners that could play in the 3-4
possibly middle to late round guy we will have to wait and see what the combine produces.
for video follow the this link but you will need to add the busted screen play against CIN. that he intercepted!
http://virginiatech.rivals.com/cviewplayer...er=51266#videos
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i have to mention taylor mays in this thread. after the way he showed up against penn state, he's got to be on our radar.
when picking in the top 10, you've got to be on the lookout for a special player if he presents himself. mays is that guy. i was fulll-on curry because i hadn't seen mays play in a while. i'm torn now. curry will be solid. mays can be spectacular and should be good at the worst.
he hits so hard that you can feel it through the television and is fast enough to make almost any play.
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That interception was pretty sweet, T.
DraftDaddy posted a little blurb a few weeks ago about Martin's measurables:
In-depth look at Virginia Tech senior defensive end Orion Martin who runs a 4.52/40 and possesses a 39" vertical leap at 255 pounds.
DD.comment: By the way, the 4.52 forty-yard dash time is what the News Advance is reporting. According to our sources, N.F.L. scouts have Martin's time listed in the low-to-mid 4.7's, which is still very impressive for a 255 pound athlete, but not as eye-popping as the number reported in the link above.
From what I saw tonight, I'm not entirely sure he's athletic enough to play with his hand up. We'll probably learn more when he's put through LB drills at the Combine.
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i have to mention taylor mays in this thread. after the way he showed up against penn state, he's got to be on our radar.
when picking in the top 10, you've got to be on the lookout for a special player if he presents himself. mays is that guy. i was fulll-on curry because i hadn't seen mays play in a while. i'm torn now. curry will be solid. mays can be spectacular and should be good at the worst.
he hits so hard that you can feel it through the television and is fast enough to make almost any play.
when picking in the top 10, you've got to be on the lookout for a special player if he presents himself. mays is that guy. i was fulll-on curry because i hadn't seen mays play in a while. i'm torn now. curry will be solid. mays can be spectacular and should be good at the worst.
Not sure I'm convinced that there's a solid/spectacular distinction there.
I'm not usually a big fan of player comparisons, but they may help us here. If Curry ends up being a Patrick Willis-type player (as Todd McShay predicts), would that qualify as spectacular? And if he's a Jerod Mayo type (what I think is his floor), what would that qualify as being?
You don't have to convince me that Mays has the potential to be an elite, spectacular safety; I'm with you on that. But what if the concern we have about him turns out to be real: that he's a hard hitter, but he's not a guy who'll make plays on the ball and get a lot of picks. Is there a safety in the league who does that, and what adjective would we use to describe his play?
Anyway, I'm just happy to have it boil down to a Curry-Mays debate. Either way, we'll be getting a guy who'll immediate improve both our run and pass defense.
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when picking in the top 10, you've got to be on the lookout for a special player if he presents himself. mays is that guy. i was fulll-on curry because i hadn't seen mays play in a while. i'm torn now. curry will be solid. mays can be spectacular and should be good at the worst.
Not sure I'm convinced that there's a solid/spectacular distinction there.
I'm not usually a big fan of player comparisons, but they may help us here. If Curry ends up being a Patrick Willis-type player (as Todd McShay predicts), would that qualify as spectacular? And if he's a Jerod Mayo type (what I think is his floor), what would that qualify as being?
You don't have to convince me that Mays has the potential to be an elite, spectacular safety; I'm with you on that. But what if the concern we have about him turns out to be real: that he's a hard hitter, but he's not a guy who'll make plays on the ball and get a lot of picks. Is there a safety in the league who does that, and what adjective would we use to describe his play?
Anyway, I'm just happy to have it boil down to a Curry-Mays debate. Either way, we'll be getting a guy who'll immediate improve both our run and pass defense.
Aloysius said:
But what if the concern we have about him turns out to be real: that he's a hard hitter, but he's not a guy who'll make plays on the ball and get a lot of picks. Is there a safety in the league who does that, and what adjective would we use to describe his play?Anyway, I'm just happy to have it boil down to a Curry-Mays debate. Either way, we'll be getting a guy who'll immediate improve both our run and pass defense.
Bob Sanders has 5 career INTs, but that guy, when on the field, changes games for Indy. Both in the run and the pass.
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Aloysius said:
But what if the concern we have about him turns out to be real: that he's a hard hitter, but he's not a guy who'll make plays on the ball and get a lot of picks. Is there a safety in the league who does that, and what adjective would we use to describe his play?Anyway, I'm just happy to have it boil down to a Curry-Mays debate. Either way, we'll be getting a guy who'll immediate improve both our run and pass defense.
Bob Sanders has 5 career INTs, but that guy, when on the field, changes games for Indy. Both in the run and the pass.
Masters said:
Bob Sanders has 5 career INTs, but that guy, when on the field, changes games for Indy. Both in the run and the pass.That's perfect: Mays could end up being a linebacker-sized Bob Sanders. Their college INT stats are actually quite similar.
Bob Sanders
- Freshman: 0 picks, 1 PD (only started four games)
- Sophomore: 4 picks, 12 PD
- Junior: 2 picks, 12 PD
- Senior: 1 pick, 5 PD
- Freshman: 3 picks, 3 PD
- Sophomore: 1 pick, 6 PD
- Junior: 0 picks, 8 PD
Roy Williams
- Freshman: 2 picks, 11 PD
- Sophomore: 2 picks, 9 PD
- Junior: 5 picks, 27 PD
- Freshman: 0 picks, 0 PD (backed up Ed Reed)
- Sophomore: 4 picks, 15 PD
- Junior: 10 picks, 13 PD
- Freshman: 2 picks, 10 PD
- Sophomore: 2 picks, 6 PD
- Junior: 2 picks, 14 PD
- Senior: 2 picks, 14 PD
- Freshman: 2 picks, 2 PD
- Sophomore: 1 pick, 1 PD
- Junior: 2 picks, 6 PD
- Freshman: 2 picks, 4 PD
- Sophomore: 4 picks, 6 PD
- Junior: 3 picks, 8 PD
- Senior: 3 picks, 4 PD
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i like the bob sanders comparison quite a bit, too. he's absolutely elite. mays' size and lack of injury history should rule out sanders-like durability concerns.
teams do tend to pick high-INT guys at safety in the top 10. a ballhawk is incredibly valuable to have in the secondary, especially a guy who can patrol center field and come down with the ball. however, it's hard to overlook having an enforcer like mays back there. even if he doesn't get a ton of picks, he'll likely break up passes because he damn near decapitates people.
there's also the possibility of bringing him on blitzes, something that should terrify every quarterback.
i agree about curry's floor being quite high. i think mays' may be something around chuck cecil, though cecil did have 16 picks in 95 career games.
i don't think there's really a bad pick between the two; it just comes down to preference. i've seen mays play more, therefore i'm more comfortable with him. plus, he's a flashy, exciting pick. and a tribseman.
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As I stated in the Rey Who thread...the problem I saw with Mays was that he is looking so much for the BIG HIT that he forgets to wrap up with his arms.
I don't know if it is indicative of the way he always plays or not, but the guy I saw in the first half was lowering his shoulder and leading with it....and leaving his arms down...so players were able to bounce off him on at least 2 big gains (one for a TD). To me, a safety that can deliver the BIG HIT is great...but his first responsibility is to act as the LAST LINE OF THE DEFENSE...which makes good tackling technique a PREMIUM. I didn't see that yesterday.
Still, if I have a chance for Curry, Maualuga and Mays at #5 (with no trade down)...I have to go Curry. He has great potential (as high as the other 2 IMHO), but has a much higher floor due to better techniques (and less emphasis on the BIG HIT).
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i like the bob sanders comparison quite a bit, too. he's absolutely elite. mays' size and lack of injury history should rule out sanders-like durability concerns.
teams do tend to pick high-INT guys at safety in the top 10. a ballhawk is incredibly valuable to have in the secondary, especially a guy who can patrol center field and come down with the ball. however, it's hard to overlook having an enforcer like mays back there. even if he doesn't get a ton of picks, he'll likely break up passes because he damn near decapitates people.
there's also the possibility of bringing him on blitzes, something that should terrify every quarterback.
i agree about curry's floor being quite high. i think mays' may be something around chuck cecil, though cecil did have 16 picks in 95 career games.
i don't think there's really a bad pick between the two; it just comes down to preference. i've seen mays play more, therefore i'm more comfortable with him. plus, he's a flashy, exciting pick. and a tribseman.
i like the bob sanders comparison quite a bit, too. he's absolutely elite. mays' size and lack of injury history should rule out sanders-like durability concerns.
Good point about the durability concerns.
But just to play a little devil's advocate, I feel like Mays' size may prevent him from doing a lot of the stuff Sanders does in the run game. Sanders' small stature actually seems to help him avoid getting knocked around by o-lineman. He roves around the D a lot like a short RB does in the backfield. Plus, he's got elite agility (6.70 3-Cone) and short-area quickness (3.95 short shuttle), something that Mays may not have - FWIW, he was timed at 4.33 in the shuttle in HS.
And it would've been nice to have seen Mays play a little less centerfield & a little more in the box this year. You probably watched more USC games than I did, but I don't remember noticing him making play after play near the line of scrimmage in any of the games I watched.
teams do tend to pick high-INT guys at safety in the top 10. a ballhawk is incredibly valuable to have in the secondary, especially a guy who can patrol center field and come down with the ball. however, it's hard to overlook having an enforcer like mays back there. even if he doesn't get a ton of picks, he'll likely break up passes because he damn near decapitates people.
Just added PD/PBU stats above. Mays' aren't as good as Sanders', but they're trending upwards, which is a good sign.
there's also the possibility of bringing him on blitzes, something that should terrify every quarterback.
i agree about curry's floor being quite high. i think mays' may be something around chuck cecil, though cecil did have 16 picks in 95 career games.
i don't think there's really a bad pick between the two; it just comes down to preference. i've seen mays play more, therefore i'm more comfortable with him. plus, he's a flashy, exciting pick. and a tribseman.
I wonder if Al Davis cares about that. I know that he attends services on the high holidays (he has a seat reserved in the front row & no one's allowed to speak to him...seriously); maybe he can take Taylor next year. I'd be happy with either Curry or Mays. Same deal as you: I've watched more of Curry, so I'm more comfortable with him.
The only thing that concerns me at all about Curry is that he may be a little tight-hipped. I've seen him get juked a few more times than I'd like, though I've also seen him make some great open field tackles.
As long as he has a good 3-cone time, I don't think it's a serious concern.
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As I stated in the Rey Who thread...the problem I saw with Mays was that he is looking so much for the BIG HIT that he forgets to wrap up with his arms.
I don't know if it is indicative of the way he always plays or not, but the guy I saw in the first half was lowering his shoulder and leading with it....and leaving his arms down...so players were able to bounce off him on at least 2 big gains (one for a TD). To me, a safety that can deliver the BIG HIT is great...but his first responsibility is to act as the LAST LINE OF THE DEFENSE...which makes good tackling technique a PREMIUM. I didn't see that yesterday.
Still, if I have a chance for Curry, Maualuga and Mays at #5 (with no trade down)...I have to go Curry. He has great potential (as high as the other 2 IMHO), but has a much higher floor due to better techniques (and less emphasis on the BIG HIT).
As I stated in the Rey Who thread...the problem I saw with Mays was that he is looking so much for the BIG HIT that he forgets to wrap up with his arms.
That is kind of the same problem Rey has.
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Fiesta Bowl: Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Texas Longhorns
January 5, 2009
Ohio St. vs. Texas
Pre-Game: 5:40 p.m. MST
Kick Off: 6:00 p.m. MST (8:00pm ET)
TV: FOX Sports
Two guys who I would keep an eye on Monday Night
One thing I have noticed in Laurinaitis, is that a couple of years ago he woukd have a hard time covering TE's. But over the past 2 years he really has mastered that part of the game. Lets see how he matches up Monday night. He would be a great addition to our LB corp.
James Laurinaitis Ohio State LB Highlight Video
the second would be Malcolm Jenkins. he should be a first rounder and has amazing talent. he would be a great addition to our secondary.
CB Malcolm Jenkins Highlights OSU vs USC 9/13/08
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