I just watched all that and this is what I think:
6-3, 251 lbs, 33.8" arms, 4.31 shuttle, 17.36 3cone,113" bj, 34.5" vert, 20 reps, 1.63 sec split
First thing I want to say is that if you do not think that he is quick then I really do not know what to tell you. His shuttle and 10 yard split times are objective measures and he measures up with any of the other top pass rushers in this class. On tape you can see the suddenness as he is constantly in the backfield. He does not have the creme de la creme athleticism of a Ware or Barr but he is not far off. I am interested to see how his explosion develops as his core strength as it is now limits him athletically. There is upside from a physical standpoint not only for raw strength but also in the burst capacity.
The one thing that does not show up in those metrics which is perhaps the strongest part of his game is his balance. He is tremendous in keeping his feet. You see him vaulting over cut blocks and absorbing a blows from multiple combination blockers in the run game and he stays on his feet. He sometiemes stays blocked but he doesn't supply IHOP much at all.
He is an easy projection. Now this is not to say that my opinion here has more merit. What I am saying is that he was asked to do at BSU the exact same thing that he will be asked to do here. He rushed up field, used his long arms to keep the OT from punching him and stopped the run on the way to the QB. They will be able to refine the techniques that he is already working on rather than ask him to do something new.
This is important because he is a juco transfer and a junior. He only had two years of experience.
When he keeps low, uses his hands well, and keeps moving he can be a force. He has a multitude of pass rushing moves. He can do the club-rip and dip which is the classic move. He has counters for it to club or spin his way back inside. I have seen him also try to employ a swim move to disengage but lets just say it's a work in progress. His balance that I mentioned earlier lets him maintain that initial burst despite taking or delivering a blow himself a blow.
Where he runs into problems is when he stops his feet, short arms his club, or stands up off the snap. He is relatively inexperienced and some of the tackles like for example versus Wyoming could not make him pay for it but consistency in his technique is something he is going to need to improve on. I don't think this is him taking plays off so much as he gets out of rhythm. Rep him rep him rep him.
I don't feel too bad about that because you can see where he has been coached and where he is taking what he is learning in the classroom and applying it to the football field. Watching him carry out his assignments defending the option is a good sign. He is patient and disciplined. He is not fooled by play action or misdirection either. He doesn't have tunnel vision as you see him sniff out screens, fleaflickers, HB passes, and reverses most every time. I will say that he will sometimes overpursue and I kept on waiting for him to get burned for abandoning contain but to his credit he never was. A cutback runner like McCoy will destroy him though.
A lot of successful runs were made to the B gap near him and I think that many people criticized him for that but he had outside contain on a lot of those sprints. The 3T next to him would get sealed inside and they sprinted right up the hole. Oregon State made a good amount of mileage doing that for example.
He is pretty good versus the run. He has active hands, good balance and a very good motor. He doesn't take plays off very often to my eyes. When he keeps moving, he does a good job using his hands to shed blocks. He is a solid wrapup tackler and he can bend well to breakdown in space against jukes and hesitation moves. he also has a bit of nastiness to his game. He will hit a guy low when he is engaged high or vice versa and he has no qualms about laying out an unsuspecting ball carrier or blocker. He likes to hit. People that want attitude on defense will like him.
Where he struggles against the run is in his lack of strength. I saw this manifest in two ways. First, if a long armed, strong OT was able to get his mitts on him then his lack of strength allowed for the OT to hold the block. He would not have the arm strength to get those mitts off even if he got a good first step. If the OT was able to set on him to hit him square, he would accordion. He has lean hips and no bubble to speak of. He desperately needs to improve his core strength because when he was being squashed he was as good as on the ground. He will be getting with Woicik on Monday I hope because Peters and Williams will exploit that all game long.
If someone is looking for a single game to watch to get an idea of the good and bad of his game, look at the Nevada game. They kept him away from Bitonio for the most part but in the first half Bitonio did get his hands on him, he was sealed inside and could not get away giving up a huge crease outside off tackle. Bit got him a time or two more. He would abuse the RT and then in the second half he was able to pin his ears back and just rush the passer as BSU got up multiple score. You can see him get pressure matched up on Bitonio with the spin move, dip and rip etc.
He needs to get stronger, refine his technique and just see more reps but I can see why they like him.
