This section breaks down many college football games each week and highlights how 2020 NFL Draft Prospects have performed. Or look at the 2020 NFL Draft Stock page.
By Charlie Campbell.
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Stanford 23, Washington 13
In the first quarter, Adebo made a good open-field tackle coming over in zone coverage, but later in the drive, Adebo was beaten by Aaron Fuller running down the sideline and Eason dropped in a beautiful pass for 28 yards. A few plays later, Eason found a wide open tight end for a short touchdown pass. After that strong start, Stanford did a good job of harassing Eason and forcing him off his landmark in the middle of the pocket.
Early in the second quarter, Adebo had tight coverage on a short slant to knock the pass away for a third-down incompletion that got his defense off the field. Just before halftime, Adebo had tight coverage downfield to help force another third-down incompletion, but Adebo was fortunate he wasn’t flagged on the play as he held the receiver some and slapped at the ball early.
On the first play after halftime, Eason made a pretty throw, fitting a pass between a few defenders to Fuller for a good gain. However to end the drive, Adebo broke up a fourth-down slant to get his defense off the field.
Later in the third quarter, Eason laid out a nice pass to Fuller for a 37-yard gain along the sideline. It was an impressive touch by pass by Eason to drop the ball in to his receiver downfield. They tried to do it again as Eason threw for Fuller downfield along the sideline, but this time the wideout fell down on the play to let a corner come down with the ball for an interception.
Eason ended up completing 16-of-36 passes for 206 yards with a touchdown and an interception. His ball placement was not ideal on a number of throws, but he had a lot of passes fall incomplete that could have been caught, and the Washington receivers have not played well as a unit this year. Eason may enter the 2020 NFL Draft, but as a player the best thing for his development in the long run would be to return to Washington for his senior year and get another season of starting experience before going pro.
However, Washington did not test Adebo with double moves, which is what killed him versus Central Florida. Adebo has a lot of talent and needed this game to regain some confidence. Teams will surely test Adebo with double moves in the weeks to come, so he will have the opportunity to show team evaluators he can learn from his mistakes and become more disciplined. Eye discipline to not bite on double moves is a typical problem for aggressive ballhawks like Adebo, and that is something he could get coached up on.
Overall, this tape shouldn’t hurt or help Adams’ draft stock significantly. Perhaps the best thing that could happen to Adams this season is making it through the year healthy after his injury-plagued seasons in 2018 and 2017.
Oregon 17, California 7
The game didn’t start well for Herbert, as he threw his first interception of the year just in front of the California end zone. Herbert threw the ball late down the middle of the field, and that let a safety undercut the receiver for the pick. It was his first interception in 176 attempts.
During the first half, Herbert made some good throws to move the ball, but Oregon running backs had multiple fumbles to kill some promising drives and also there were some good passes that were dropped by his receivers. Late in the second quarter, Herbert made a nice play under pressure with a free rusher coming downhill fast and Herbert made a good decision to make to a jump throw to his back just over the line. That let him rip off a nice gain, and on the next play, Herbert threw a fastball into a tight window for a gain of 22 yards. However, the drive didn’t produce points either.
Late in the third quarter, Herbert fit a pass into a window downfield to get a gain of about 30 yards and set up a short rushing touchdown. On the next drive, Herbert was under pressure and took off running, but he fumbled the ball while getting tackled. He was lucky a teammate fell on the loose ball. Later on the drive, Herbert had an overthrow and missed a receiver running open for a big play.
In the fourth quarter, Herbert showed his speed as he took off on a long 26-yard run into California territory. To finish the drive, he had a receiver wide open in the flat for a short scoring strike. Herbert finished completing 20-of-33 passes for 214 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Overall, this tape won’t hurt him and will serve to confirm his high first-round standing.
There is no doubt that Herbert has an excellent skill set with a powerful arm that can drive the ball and make every throw required in the NFL. He has good field vision to work through progressions and read coverage while knowing where to go with the ball. On top of size and arm talent, Herbert is a good athlete with the ability to make some plays with his feet. The only real flaw with Herbert is his passing in the face of a heavy rush. In past games, his accuracy and ability to move the ball got significantly hindered when he didn’t have a clean pocket. When Herbert has a clean pocket, he’s deadly and will rip up a defense. But in the NFL, a top quarterback remains effective even when throwing in the face of a rush. Taking on California, Herbert did show improvement while throwing under pressure, and it will be interesting to see if he can continue to build on that in the weeks to come.
Ohio State 34, Michigan State 10
In the fourth quarter, Young had a speed rush around the right tackle to hit quarterback Brian Lewerke as he threw and cause an interception for Michigan State. Young left the game a little early and was getting attention from trainers, but appeared to be OK. Overall, this tape won’t hurt Young’s high draft grade.
Florida 24, Auburn 13
Brown was getting upfield disrupting runs in the third quarter. He came close to some sacks and drew a holding when Florida was near midfield to kill a promising drive. Brown came through with a huge play with his defense inside their own 30 later, as he bull rushed through the right guard to hit Kyle Trask’s arm as he threw. Brown caught the ball in air with a return near midfield. It was a huge play to keep Auburn down by four in the fourth quarter.
Brown has a freakish combination of size, strength, speed, and athleticism. He is a load against the run and a capable interior pass rusher. Multiple team sources told me before the season that Brown would have gone ahead of Christian Wilkins and Ed Oliver if he had entered the 2019 NFL Draft, and this tape will help to reinforce that opinion.
Henderson wasn’t tested early, but late in the first half, Auburn threw his direction and had an incompletion, as there was nothing open. Henderson was fortunate that Seth Williams couldn’t reel in a tough catch over him downfield, but he had tight coverage on Auburn’s talented wideout. Late in the third quarter, Henderson allowed a long reception downfield and it looked like a miscommunication with the safety as Henderson seemed to think he was in zone and he didn’t run with the wideout while the safety seemed to think Henderson would run with the wide out.
Henderson came back to break up a pass downfield. He was in deep off-man coverage and closed quickly on the crossing route to prevent the reception. Overall, this was a solid tape from Henderson coming off an injury. He has an excellent combination of size and speed to run with wideouts to prevent separation. If Henderson were a better tackler, he might be a top-16 pick. As it stands with tackling being a real weakness, Henderson is more of a mid-to-late first-round pick at this time.
Michigan 10, Iowa 3
For much of the game, Wirfs was solid on the edge keeping his defenders away from quarterback Nate Stanley, but speed rushers were giving Wirfs some issues, as he was allowing them to get upfield and depth into the pocket.
Wirfs struggled late, as the Wolverines defenders came through with some big plays to protect their narrow victory. In the final minutes, Wirfs lost to his defender with speed to power upfield that knocked him backward. Then defender cut to the inside to get a critical sack of Stanley that helped force a punt. Wirfs then got away with a terrible holding of an edge rusher who had him beat with speed. It happened right in front of Stanley, and it was inexcusable that the official missed the holding.
For the NFL, Wirfs has a quality skill set with size, length and athleticism. Wirfs plays with good leverage as a run blocker and sustains his blocks well. He sets up pretty well, but he definitely has some issues to clean up in pass protection for taking on NFL edge rushers. He has an inclination to bend at the waist on times. While he is quick out of his stance, he needs to get more depth in his kick slide to avoid reaching after speed rushers coming around the corner. Wirfs also needs to get better at counter moves to the inside. While he has the physical talent to play left tackle, he could better off at right tackle. Also, it might be better for him to return for his senior year to improve before going pro.
In the fourth quarter, Stanley made a few excellent throws, dropping one ball downfield along the sideline to beat coverage and then a touchdown pass down the seam that was called back by a holding penalty. Stanley finished 23-of-42 passes for 260 yards and three interceptions. This tape indicates that Stanley is not an early-round prospect like some at ESPN have suggested, and he is more of a mid-rounder who is a potential backup.
LSU 42, Utah State 6
Love made an early, beautiful throw rolling out and lofting in a completion for 35 yards as he threw his receiver open to make a pretty over-the-shoulder reception. Love then made an excellent throw on a post route for what should have been a 30-yard touchdown, but his receiver dropped the pass.
Love made a bad decision in the second quarter, throwing to a well-covered receiver and having the pass nearly intercepted. However, he bounced back a few plays later, as Love lofted in a gorgeous pass to a receiver running down the deep sideline. Love dropped the ball in with perfect placement over the close coverage to fall into the hands of his receiver for 35 yards. However to end that drive, Love threw an interception as he tossed a 50-50 fade pass in front of the end zone, but it was underthrown and closer to the cornerback to allow a leaping interception on the 1-yard line.
In the third quarter, Love made a bad decision throwing to a receiver with multiple defenders around him and the ball was easily picked off by a Tigers defender. He had another interception, but that pass was not caught by the defender, as the officials screwed up the call.
Love finished completing 15-of-30 passes for 130 yards with three interceptions. He played better than the numbers illustrate, as he made some superb throws downfield and his receivers let him down with some dropped passes. He showed a quality arm with some impressive ball placement. Love put air under the ball and lofted in some nice touch passes. Overall, this tape won’t hurt his draft grade as the game result and his stats don’t tell the story of his performance.
Burrow had a rough start though, and this was not a flawless game from him. Burrow fumbled the ball on the first drive while trying to dodge a defensive lineman, but Burrow was lucky a teammate recovered the loose ball. Burrow eventually found a receiver open on a slant for a 7-yard touchdown.
Burrow wasn’t so lucky on the next possession, as he had a pass go off the hands of his receiver and get intercepted on the tip. Burrow scrambled forward on the play and his pass on the run was a little off the mark as it was a bit high for his receiver leading to the tipped ball.
Burrow lofted in a 25-yard touchdown pass to Ja’Marr Chase late in the opening half where his receiver made a superb catch. The pass was little short, but Chase made a play for his quarterback with a leaping grab over the head of the cornerback.
Burrow later found wide out Justin Jefferson streaking across the end zone for a touchdown. That duo hooked up for a 39-yard touchdown with Burrow lofting in a deep ball to Jefferson, who had a step on the coverage to get open running into the end zone. A Utah State turnover set up Burrow to make an easy pass on a short inside slant for his fifth touchdown of the game.
Burrow finished completing 27-of-38 passes for 344 yards with five touchdowns and an interception. Burrow was efficient, but he had some poor placement on some throws that he got away with. This tape gives evidence of why Burrow tops out as a mid-rounder.
Delpit out-fought a receiver for a pass in the fourth quarter and was credited with an interception, even though replays revealed he trapped the ball. The terrible officials screwed up the review so Delpit was gifted a pick. Still, Delpit was in good position and did a nice job of preventing the reception. Overall, this was a good tape from Delpit and a needed one after a quiet start.
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