Saturday 1 August 2009

Suh-perstar?



In all the premature discussions about next year's draft class, one name is mentioned quite a lot (although admittedly not as much as Tim Tebow). Ndamukong Suh (DT, Nebraska) recently topped Rob Rang's list of 2009 seniors and you'll also find he's top of our 'ten to watch for 2010' on the right hand side bar. So what's all the fuss about?

"I popped in a Missouri v Nebraska game last night to check out Suh. The guy is amazing. The 76/16/7.5 (tackles/TFL/sacks) line speaks volumes as to his consistency, especially since Nebraska did a lot from the 3-4 (NT for Suh)."

"There was one series in the 1st quarter where Suh threw the C out of the way one play, split a double team to get pressure the next, then blew up a run by blowing into the gap the play after. Absolutely dominant. Oh, he also runs like a LT (seriously, he may be more athletic than Jason Smith) and hustles to chase down screens and the like. I'd have to see more games to be sure, but he probably would've been given a top-10 grade by me this past year."
-Kyle Rota, College Talent Scout

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

If this guy stays as dominant as he looks right now, we'll probably need the Broncos to completely fall apart in order to be able to get him.

Erik

Rob Staton said...

I hope it's that way round if it happens Erik! I still think as a 4-12 team, injuries or not last year, the Seahawks have a lot of proving to do this year.

Anonymous said...

Hey Rob,
Does he have the stoutness to be a nose tackle in our defense? The team seems really set on Mebane being the under tackle(3 tech). Suh is only 305 and seems to be more of a penatrator then a guy who can withstand a double team. Would he work as a NT?

Rob Staton said...

He's played NT in the 3-4 for Nebraska, so I'm guessing he possibly could for Seattle in the 4-3.

However, Seattle rotate their DT's so much during a game, legitimately you could have Mebane and Suh spelling each other, at least during Suh's rookie year.

Kyle Rota said...

So I watched another Nebraska game, this time against VT. Suh actually made a huge blunder that might of cost NEB the game, a late-hit call on a RB clearly out of bounds. Aside from that, however, Suh played very well. Against VT there was a lot more 4-3 than 3-4, whether that is due to it being earlier in the year, or just how matchups worked, I don't know. He was operating mainly from the 3-technique spot and just murdered the RG all game long... IIRC that RG will play on Sundays, too.

I think if we took Suh I'd rather move Mebane back to the 1-technique. I'm not terribly impressed with his ability to anchor against double-teams, and while he continues to throw OL out of the way when he wants to, he is better when the play isn't directly at him (of course, he's so good at using his hands to shed blocks that this isn't a real weakness, and he does a good job beating OL, but an NFL double-team might overpower him). If we drafted Suh and moved Mebane back to his natural spot, I think we'd have the best pass-rushing DT combo in the league and arguably the best run-stopping too.

Rob Staton said...

The way the team will be set out under Mora means there'll always be room for one more stud on the defensive line, either at DE or DT. Mebane did fine in the one last year anyway, so if he had to move back - it wouldn't be a huge loss.