Reader and contributor Matt Rocha emailed me this week to suggest some prospects to keep an eye on ahead of the 2010 draft. Based on week one performances, here's Matt's notes from last weekend - it's well worth a look.
CB Perish Cox (6-0, 195 lbs) Oklahoma St
Four career kick returns for TD’s. Looks very good against the run (fought off FB to make a tackle). He has good ball skills (broke up a pass in the end zone against WR A.J. Green). Good awareness. Great leaping ability and coverage skills against WR A.J. Green (he was trailing Green on a crossing route and jumped in over Green to knock down the ball). He's playing like a top five pick. He had a 74 yard kick return. He broke up another pass to A.J. Green. Very good at staying in the WR hip pocket. He had four passes broken up in week one.
To read the rest of Matt's scouting report, click here.
CB Patrick Robinson (5-11, 194 lbs) Florida St
He did a great job on one play to jam WR LaRon Byrd (6-4 215 lbs) at the line of scrimmage. He is very good at jamming WR’s. Times his jumps well to break up the pass. Outstanding feet, very little wasted motion when changing direction. Great at flipping his hips and running with WR‘s. Misses some tackles. He looks a little lighter than his listed 194 lbs. He is the best cover CB I scouted in week one.
CB Kareem Jackson (5-11, 192 lbs) Alabama
Looks a little bigger than his listed 192 lbs (good weight). Very good backpedal and great feet. Stays on his WR hip. Rear smooth and fluid when turning and running with WR. Very impressive cover guy. He was able to stay on Virginia Tech fastest WR’s hip downfield. Looks to be the best cover CB for Alabama even though his teammate CB Javier Arenas has a bigger reputation. Made an interception on great coverage, but he caught it out of bounds; good ball skills.
CB Marquis Johnson (5-11, 192 lbs) Alabama
Good feet, looks fairly fluid when turning and running with WR. Gave up a TD on busted coverage. Good at jamming WR and still being able to keep great coverage. Broke up a pass after jamming WR then jumping the slant route to knock the ball away. Good change of direction.
S Byron Evans (5-11, 194 lbs) Georgia
He played three years as a CB. He runs a 4.26 40-yard dash. Outstanding range. Great acceleration to ball carrier. Big hitter. Has some nastiness in him (he went out of his way to knock WR Dez Bryant on his ass during a running play that was over, as to intimidate him. Bryant had to go to the side line to gather himself). He always wants to get a hit on the ball carrier i.e., gang tackle guy. He was so intent on getting a tackle that he pushed OT Russell Okung out of the way. Timed his hit just perfect on WR Dez Bryant and jarred the ball out of his hands (very hard hit). Good open field tackler.
RB Javarris James (6-0, 215 lbs) Miami
Runs with good power/does not go down easy. Very patient runner. Good cutback runner. Nice vision at finding running lanes. Made a outstanding block on DE which decleated him.
RB Craig Cooper (6-0, 202 lbs) Miami
Outstanding kick returner, he looked like Devin Hester as a returner. Great speed and change of direction. Great burst and ability to make defenders miss tackles. He was lined up as a WR and had a reception for a TD.
DT Allen Bailey (6-4, 290 lbs) Miami
Former LB, then DE, now 3-technique DT. Looks to have gained good weight, small waist for a 290 lb man. Getting double teamed a lot vs. Florida St. Hustle guy. Has a swim move. Does a good job of driving back o-lineman. Got a sack by getting good penetration into the backfield. Gets consistent penetration.
WR Danario Alexander (6-5 215 lbs) Missouri
Forty-six inch vertical jump. His size allows him to break tackles. He reminds me of Plexico Burress. He is more of a possession WR due to his size and lack of speed.
CB Carl Gettis (5-11, 200 lbs) Missouri
Good speed. Broke up a pass. Looks good against the run. Willing to fight off a block to make tackle. He stripped the ball from Illinois WR and his team recovered the fumble.
RB Kendall Hunter (5-8, 190 lbs) Oklahoma St
Good speed. Looks bigger than his listed 190 lbs. He keeps his legs churning when defenders have hold of him which enables his to get a couple of more yards, his legs don’t go dead.
SS Lucien Antoine (6-1, 215 lbs) Oklahoma St
He made a good tackle for loss by knifing past the fullback to tackle the RB in the back field. He forced a fumble. Hard hitter, not a passive guy.
RB Roy Upchurch (6-0, 201 lbs) Alabama
He has good vision, good speed, good agility, and great power for a 200 lb RB. He ran over one defender to score a TD and ran over another one later in the game (injuring the other player). He does not get that many carries despite his obvious talent. He runs angry looking to punish defenders. Easily breaks arm tackles. He fumbled the ball (stripped from behind). He is a backup player but very talented.
2 comments:
Awesome stuff. Keep it coming. I think CB and RB will be major areas of focus for us next year.
They're certainly two areas the scouts and front office will be looking at closely during the college football season. I think there's going to be some depth at defensive back in 2010, but with running back I'm not so sure. It's not going to be a great year for RB's.
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