Posts tagged RSP

Vertical Goodness: Stephen Hill

0 Comments read Players, Wide Receiver
Calvin Johnson was a better prospect than Stephen Hill, but the 2012 Combine Stud has the fundamentals to become a dangerous X receiver.

Because I’m tired of picking on Stephen Hill…

I’ve been critical of the Georgia Tech receiver all week, but I’ve also been saying that the star of the Combine is more than just a gold medal winner 2012’s Underwear Olympics at Lucas Oil Stadium. Hill is a legit prospect with NFL starter upside. Although I’ve spent several pages analyzing what Hill doesn’t do, one play can encompass most of his strengths. On the surface, one good play to several not so good ones might seem heavily weighted to the negative. However, there are certain talents that don’t require lengthy analysis to value. Continue reading →

WRs Stephen Hill and Marvin Jones: Going Deep

0 Comments read Players, Wide Receiver
Think Cal receiver Marvin Jones is strictly a possession guy? Think again.

This week I have been spotlighting the craft of playing receiver and using plays from the careers of Georgia Tech’s Stephen Hill and Cal’s Marvin Jones as examples. Yesterday, I profiled two crossing routes that couldn’t have been run more different from each other. Today, I’m going deep and examining a vertical play from both receivers.

What’s fascinating about spotlighting Hill and Jones is that outside of Techwood and Berkeley campuses, these receivers seem like polar opposites to the general public. Hill played in a run it and chuck it, triple option offense where he averaged 30 yards per catch for a stretch this year. Hill looks like the next generation mutant receivers – X-men that begin with Homer Jones and continues today with Calvin Johnson.

Marvin Jones played in a west coast offense at Cal. Steve Young says Jeff Tedord’s offense during Aaron Rodgers’ time at Berkeley was literally the 49ers offense of the dynasty era. I don’t think much as changed conceptually. Jones was the high-reception, third-down bail-out “Z” receiver during his final years with the team.  Mr. Reliable. Under the safeties. Under the radar.

But Jones blew the lid off that perception at the Senior Bowl and Continue reading →

WRs Stephen Hill and Marvin Jones: Managing Physical Play (Short)

0 Comments read Players, Wide Receiver
Marvin Jones can tell a story that keeps cornerbacks guessing because he has harnessed his physical talents. Photo by John Martinez Pavliga.

Greatness lies not in being strong, but in the right use of strength.

– Henry Ward Beecher

Georgia Tech wide receiver Stephen Hill is tall, fast, and has a frame that will likely support another 10-15 pounds of muscle without sacrificing his 4.36-40 speed. Cal wide receiver Marvin Jones is a shade under 6’2″ and 200 pounds and he appears to have the type of physique that wouldn’t add weight if he injected liquified Crisco with an IV. Yet if I were building a team from scratch and you asked me which receiver I’d rather have catching passes from my quarterback, at this moment I’d take Jones despite the fact Hill’s physical skills are uncommon.

I understand that Hill has a higher ceiling of potential than Jones and this makes his draft stock more valuable. If I have a stronger team with a veteran that I know will help Hill become all the player he can be then I’d consider pulling the trigger. However, Jones is likely a draft day bargain.Therefore, if my team needed a receiver that could play both the “x,” and the “z,” I’d take my chances with Jones later.

The reason is how each player harnesses his strength, speed, agility, and hand-eye coordination to manage physical play. The frequency and intensity of physical play is the greatest difference between the college and pro game for a wide receiver. Hill and Jones have the talent to thrive in the NFL, Continue reading →

Georgia Tech WR Stephen Hill: Speed Kills – Now Learn How To Aim!

0 Comments read Players, Wide Receiver
Georgia Tech WR Stephen Hill ran the 40 in a blistering 4.36 seconds at the NFL Combine. See why speed is a valuable raw material - emphasis on raw material. Photo by Hectorir.

The late, great Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis coined the phrase “speed kills.”  There was a time Davis prized speed the way a trained gun enthusiast prized a competition model Glock. But late in his career, Davis’ love for fast-moving players seemed more like a warning for addiction.

If Davis were alive to see Stephen Hill’s 4.36-second, 40-yard sprint on Sunday, he’d probably get a contact buzz just from watching the Georgia Tech receiver on Lucas Field’s track. It’s hard to blame Davis, speed is a lot like a loaded gun. Capable of great power, it can disable an opponent without even pulling the trigger – sometimes without even removing it from the holster. However in untrained hands, it’s often more dangerous to those handling it. Continue reading →

Wake Up Call: Notable 40 Times

0 Comments read Matt Waldman
Arian Foster breaks a ton of big runs, but the stopwatch at the NFL Combine ran out of juice before he crossed the finish line. See who else lost the Underwear Olympics, but helps NFL teams win games. Photo by Wade Rackley.

Riddles for you. What do you call a wide receiver that runs in the 4.61-4.72 range in the 40 at the NFL Combine or Pro Day?

What about a running back that runs 4.66-4.69?

A bust?

Yeah, in February. Maybe in April. But you better try on some different labels for the guy come September.

NFL starter. League receptions leader. Perennial Pro Bowler. Super Bowl star. Here are some notable 40 times for players in the annual Underwear Olympics broadcast on NFL Network. Continue reading →

Reads Listens Views 2/24/2012

0 Comments read Reads Listens Views

[youtube=http://youtu.be/jV5ioewi4pk]

Lot’s happening right now. Here’s a partial list:

2012 Rookie Scouting Portfolio News

April 1 is just around the corner, and I’m still studying film for the 2012 publication. So far I have evaluated 144 prospects at QB, RB, WR, and TE. I’m expecting to watch another 10-20 players before I publish. The 2012 RSP will be available through a link I provide here for $19.95. Past issues are also be available (2006-2011).

Beginning this year, 10 percent of each 2012 RSP sale will be donated to the organization Darkness to Light. Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse should be a top priority in this country and this organization provides programs that “raise awareness of the prevalence and consequences of child sexual abuse by educating adults about the steps they can take to prevent, recognize and react responsibly to the reality of child sexual abuse.”

Learn more Continue reading →

Temple RB Bernard Pierce: All About The Angles

0 Comments read Players, Running Back
Nothing better than a power back behind an angle blocking line that gets the job done. Even then, a good runner like Bernard Pierce has to improvise.

Author’s Note: If you haven’t entered the RSP Guess the 40 Contest for a chance to win a free past issue of the Rookie Scouting Portfolio, details here. Alshon Jeffrey still hasn’t run, so there’s time.

Wednesday night, I Tweeted that there’s little better than watching a good angle blocking scheme in action. It’s like watching Joe Frazier walk right up to his opponent and deliver an uppercut that floors him. The adrenaline rush that comes from watching that kind of moment is similar to a runner and offensive line taking it to a defense.

Bernard Pierce and the Temple offensive line did just that in this year’s New Mexico Bowl. The Temple runner had a box score total to the tune of 25 carries, 100 yards, and 2 scores. Pierce is a no nonsense, down hill runner with just enough agility and burst to set up a block or a defender for a few extra yards.

Although nothing here is meant to provide a definitive evaluation of Pierce’s skill as a football player, I’m showing you two plays that I believe is salient analysis. As with the analysis I’ve been doing lately, all plays can be seen a little better if you click on the photo. Any laughter from the stills of Pierce in pass protection is meant to laugh with him, not at him. Continue reading →

N.C. State TE George Bryan: Great Hands

0 Comments read Players, Tight End
Great hands for a tight end means more than catching the football. N.C. State tight end George Bryan demonstrates below. Photo by Mark van Laere.

[Author’s Note: Click the photos and they will enlarge in a separate window.]

N.C. State tight end George Bryan was second in career touchdowns (17) among active FBS tight ends in 2011. If you’ve watched Bryan play you know that he’s an in-line tight end personified. Somewhere in the range of 6’4″, 265 pounds, Bryan is a plodder when it comes to foot speed and ball carrying agility.

But what he lacks in swiftness of foot he compensates with great hands. A skill that extends beyond the meaning that most people think. Continue reading →

Rueben Randle: Why The Sideline Arm Matters

0 Comments read Players, Wide Receiver
Reuben Randle has a lot of promise, but even top tier prospects have small issues with technique that can make a big difference. Photo by Evan Cranford.

The little things matter – especially in a sport known for being a game of inches. Most people think of those valuable inches as every blade of grass ahead of a runner or defender in a north south direction. East west inches matter, too. So do the small techniques that players often forsake. Techniques we know are important, but we generally ignore until something bad happens.

LSU receiver Rueben Randle made a terrific play against Florida on October 8, 2011 that culminated a 4-catch, 127-yard, 1-touchdown performance. However, there is a small technique that Randle – and many ball carriers – consistently don’t perform that can make a big difference in the outcome of a game. Randle never carries the football under his left arm.

This is a small technique that isn’t going to keep him from earning a starting job in the NFL. It won’t keep him from becoming a productive receiver for your fantasy team. And it won’t keep his team from winning . . . or will it? Continue reading →

Oklahoma State QB Brandon Weeden: Less Tarrantino, More Gump

0 Comments read Players, Quarterback
Forrest Gump doesn't inspire people to think "great quarterbacking," but 18 years wiser, I'm beginning to think every passer needs some Gump. Brandon Weeden against Baylor shows why. Photo by Loren Javier.

Jason Bailey of Flavorpill wrote a piece this month in Atlantic Online that bemoans the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences selection of Forrest Gump over Pulp Fiction for its Best Picture award in 1994. He characterizes the choice as one of the worst decisions in the history of the Academy Awards. I love Pulp Fiction, it’s a stylish and cooler story than Forrest Gump. But calling the decision a slam dunk injustice is foolish.

Pulp Fiction’s fragmented plot line, hip soundtrack, sparkling dialogue, and self-ware winks and nods to the audience elevates a specific genre of film making to postmodern art. Forrest Gump is a simple story of a tall tale. However, a great theme of Forrest Gump is that in life, wisdom trumps intelligence. Everything Gump accomplishes in life comes from a common sense deeply ingrained by his momma’s lessons and what I would call a genetic capacity for profound wisdom.

Many of you probably won’t agree with me about what I see in Gump, but I don’t blame you. We live in an a highly intellectualized society that values the bells and whistles of technique, theory, and gamesmanship over common sense, simplicity, and unadorned truth. The fact that an Internet writer from this generation would see Pulp Fiction as the vastly superior movie to Forrest Gump comes as no surprise.

Its symptomatic of how we value intellect over wisdom. Think I’m wrong? Atomic weapons, Continue reading →