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2010 NFL Draft Stock Up
Jahvid Best, RB, California Best lived up to his name against Minnesota as he dominated the Golden Gopher for 131 rushing yards on 26 carries and five touchdowns. Best showed elite athletic ability. He runs with a good pad level and keeps his feet moving after contact. He is very quick in tight spaces and can move laterally at a high level. The coaches clearly don’t trust him much in pass protection, but he profiles like Chris Johnson as a runner with his ability to put his foot in the ground and explode past a defense.
C.J. Spiller, RB, Clemson Two of my criticisms of Spiller this offseason was that he wasn’t an exceptional punt return and he was a mediocre pass blocker. While he still isn’t as physical as I want him to be as a blocker, he was an elite punt returner against Boston College. He had three returns for a total of 119 yards including a 77-yard touchdown return in the first quarter.
Charles Brown, T, USC Brown showed his athleticism and awareness very well in this game against poor competition with Washington’s defensive ends. He did a good job picking up a defensive line stunt and was very aware. He shows agility in space. Brown seems to finish his blocks and is a good run blocker, but I want to see how he is tested against California.
Jake Locker, QB, Washington I have watched three quarters of film so far on the USC-Washington matchup. Locker has average arm strength, but he has great mechanics and has some upside with his athleticism. A few times he was inconsistent. I was impressed with Locker because of his poise under pressure and accuracy. He missed the slot receiver once who was wide open for a touchdown on a skinny post. Instead of going through his progression reads he just zoned in on his tight end.
Early in the first quarter on 3rd-and-6, the flaker ran a hitch route and had five yards of separation. Locker hesitated and didn’t make a throw. He has time to correct this, and I think he has some talent, but he doesn’t have elite talent like Mark Sanchez or Matthew Stafford. Locker will likely stay for his senior year, and he does have first-round potential down the road.
2010 NFL Draft Stock Down
Carlos Dunlap, DE,
Florida Dunlap’s “performance” against Tennessee was the worst piece of crap I have watched on tape in the last two years. I can’t put it into words how bad it was, but I am going to try.
In the early part of the game, Dunlap made a few good plays against the run, executing leverage, staying low, and setting the edge. Outside of those two or three plays, it was all downhill from there. He showed absolutely no effort the rest of the game and I have lost respect for Urban Meyer for not benching him. He was soft. He lacked physicality. He didn’t care. He didn’t want to be there.
Before a play was even half over, he would quit running and half-jog over to where the ball-carrier was tackled. The Tennessee right guard threw him to the ground – no contest. The left tackle locked onto him and he showed no fight. He was blocked easily by a 235-pound tight end. He was not interested in playing football and Florida was playing 10 vs. 11 nearly the entire game on defense.
This was ugly, and I don’t think an elite player would put out such awful game tape – ever; much less on national television in a pretty hyped game.
Tim Tebow, QB, Florida I tried to tell people all of this spring and summer hype about Tebow improving his mechanics was B.S., and I was right. Tebow hasn’t improved as a passer since his sophomore season.
Urban Meyer doesn’t care about Tebow; Tebow carried the ball 24 times. Tebow showed poor ball security holding the ball in his left hand where it could be easily stripped. Tebow made an awful throw on an easy hitch route to the near hash. It was supposed to be high to the outside shoulder, but instead it was very low to the ground to the inside of the receiver and Eric Berry recorded an interception. In the red zone, Tebow telegraphed the entire play to his receiver staring him down. Tebow better enjoy his time playing quarterback because it isn’t happening in the NFL.
Selvish Capers, T, West Virgina Good news first: Capers is an intriguing talent who plays with great effort, finishes his blocks, and has good speed. Now with the bad news, and after watching this pathetic performance (which I can’t fault him for – he played hard) I have to say I can’t see him going off the board in the top 50 picks.
Capers plays with very bad technique. He clearly is a poorly coached player. He has no idea what to do with his hands, his footwork is sluggish, he lacks balance, he lacks instincts, he lacks awareness, he is on the ground a lot, etc.
Capers is a tight end in an offensive lineman’s body. He is an extremely raw prospect and it will likely take him 2-plus seasons in the NFL on the bench before he develops unless I see some drastic improvement this season. Al Davis will be targeting Capers in the mid first round-to-second round.
Anthony McCoy, TE, USC McCoy was a terrible blocker against Washington showing a major lack in physicality. He has little experience catching the football. Seems destined for the late rounds until he produces on tape.
Stafon Johnson, RB, USC Johnson lacks cutting ability. He can’t plant his foot into the ground and explode out of it. He doesn’t run hard and is not a physical back despite his 210-pound frame. Johnson had a huge fumble in the red zone and simply seems to lack a competitive instinct. Johnson lacks speed to turn the corner on a defense. He is part of a reason why I say USC’s backs are so highly overrated.
Joe McKnight, RB, USC I like McKnight’s straight-line speed. However, there isn’t much I like about him besides this.
McKnight put up impressive stats, but if you actually watched the film you would see how absolutely dominant the USC offensive line was. He had U-Haul-sized lanes to run through, and when this wasn’t there, he didn’t do much to create for himself in terms of breaking tackles and running through traffic. McKnight doesn’t break tackles in the open field and he doesn’t do a good job of evading tacklers. Yes, he has some speed, but he lacks agility and vision. He isn’t an elusive back.
2010 NFL Draft Stock Stable
Syd’Quan Thompson, CB, California Thompson’s stock is stable, but that is because I don’t like him very much to begin. He is slow, lacks recovery speed, and simply lacks acceleration closing in. He is without a doubt in my mind the best cornerback in run support in the nation. He is very tough and physical showing great technique in the open field. He is willing to take on a block. The problem is he is 5-9 (or shorter) and is not fast.
Tyson Alualu, DL, California Cal plays the 3-4 base defense, and Alualu plays both 5-technique defensive end positions very often. He is a very active player with a great motor. Alualu has good upper body strength and does a good job of setting the edge. He has strong hands and displayed some quickness. He likes to use the swim move. Alualu lacks explosive athleticism and is a little stiff. I counted three sacks in this contest, but Alualu looks like a mid-to-late round prospect. He can play end in the 3-4 base in the NFL or kick inside to defensive tackle in the 4-3 scheme.
Eric Decker, WR, Minnesota Eric Decker is currently my No. 4 receiver in the nation. He was before the contest against Cal and he is after the contest. I love his hands and concentration. On his first touchdown pass he showed a lot of toughness by taking a huge hit from the safety while hanging onto the football. Decker ran a great sluggo route (slant and go) and really sold the corner. The corner completely bit because Decker bent his knees and changed speeds acting like he was going inside for the slant. He moved out of the cut and showed good concentration on the touchdown catch. Decker is a very big target over the middle.
Joe Haden, CB, Florida Haden was hardly tested in this game, as Tennessee opted to throw the ball underneath and rarely throw it at all. On a speed out, Haden showed poor route recognition and was late reading the quarterbacks’ eyes. On a corner blitz, he showed good speed closing in and a great second effort recovering to put a big hit on the quarterback.
Eric Berry, S, Tennessee Eric Berry had a great game, which is what I expected out of my only 5-star player and No. 1 rated prospect in the nation. His comfortability in space and ability to diagnose the run is on an elite level. He could start for half of the teams in the NFL right now. He plays very under control and really shows a lot of confidence when breaking down a tackler.
Berry was Tim Tebow’s cryptonite as Tebow never escaped Berry once 1v1. He made a beautiful interception showing his elite ball skills; it was a very low ball and he had to react quickly to make the play. His tackling technique is textbook. People that think Taylor Mays is better should be looked at in a funny way; it isn’t even close who the best player in the nation is. The only question is: What nickname will Chris Berman give him?
Brandon Spikes, ILB, Florida On one play early in the game, Spikes showed bad instincts diagnosing the wrong gap. The rest of the game, he just anticipated Tennessee running it up the middle – so I can’t give him too much credit since Tennessee’s play calling was so vanilla. He missed two tackles in a row in the first quarter, and on one of them he showed poor technique not wrapping up. He just flew in like a human torpedo and didn’t bother using his hands. He filled gaps quickly, but like I said we can’t give him too much credit because Tennessee didn’t test his lateral movement or pass coverage in zone. Spikes was pulled because he had tendinitis in his Achilles heel. He is probable to play against Kentucky.
Mike Pouncey, G, Florida Pouncey had a solid game, but his technique got very sloppy late. He showed some athleticism and strength often dominating in the run game. He was impressive in pass protection early and he was light on his feet. He closed off an angle on an inside run showing good intelligence and knowledge of the play. A few times I saw him bend too much at the waist.
Click here to see how this has affected the 2010 NFL Draft Prospect Rankings.
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