Well, he's a Dave Wannstead product. Some people may have an issue with that, but Zach DID play more games for Wanny than any other coach. I was rarely disappointed in our defense when Wanny was our coach (the offense and special teams is another story), so I'd have no problem taking a defensive player from Pitt.

I like him. He would be a great 4th round pick.

.....................................................................................
“I'm here" You're welcome!" - Kenny Powers



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/2009 04:03PM by eesti.

He looks pretty good, however I did notice that a few of his tackles came 10 yards down field.

Yeah but we dont know what the defensive call was. Say you drop your lb in coverage and the back pops free up the middle it will be a nice gain but unlike crowder he doesnt miss many tackles. Infact he led the nation in tackles last year.

Or, what about Beckwith?



James Laurinaitis - Ohio State (HT: 6'3" | WT: 240)
Projection: 1st Round

Strengths:
-great athlete, was considered a good NHL prospect in high school
-son of former wrestler Joe "Animal" Laurinaitis
-productive, 3-time All-American
-continues a rich tradition of Ohio State linebackers
-speed, can get sideline to sideline as fast as any MLB in the country
-sinks his hips very well and doesn't miss tackles
-smart and instinctual, reads and reacts to the QB extremely well in the passing game
-versatile, will be able to play inside or outside depending on who drafts him

Weaknesses:
-can be too aggressive
-over pursues some plays to the sidelines and gets caught out of position to make a tackle
-probably would have been the 1st LB off the board in the 2008 draft, but elected to come back and is facing a much better LB crop

Darry Beckwith - LSU (HT: 6'1" | WT: 232)
Projection: 2nd Round

Strengths:
-has good speed for a MLB
-will be able to play inside or outside in a 4-3 scheme
-great tackler who simply does not let his guy loose
-quick recognition skills along with his speed allow him to get to the ball almost instantly
-devoted in the locker room and unquestioned leader of the LSU defense
-powerful player who can shed blockers at ease

Weaknesses:
-is very limited in his pass rush abilities
-decent cover man, but lacks the ball skills to excel in coverage
-has been injury prone, even missed playing time this year due to a knee injury
-very stiff in his hips and loses his man when forced to turn and run

Dannell Ellerbe - Georgia (HT: 6'1" | WT: 234)
Projection: 2nd-3rd Round

Strengths:
-extremely strong for his size
-plays faster than his 40 time would indicate
-experience, has seen playing time since his freshman year and started the past 2 for a good Georgia defense
-reads and reacts to the play action as well as anyone
-shows the ability to shed blockers quickly and move to the football
-wrap up tackler who rarely makes mistakes

Weaknesses:
-been involved in some off the field incidents, notably an automobile accident in 2006 as a result of alcohol and another case involving theft.
-stock is slipping due to a poor senior season
-had a lingering knee injury all year in 2008
-has a tendency to take bad pursuit angles and relies on his speed too much

Worell Williams - California (HT: 6'0" | WT: 250)
Projection: 3rd Round

Strengths:
-big frame, strong and powerful
-surprisingly agile, moves well in space
-an absolute hammer, can deliver punishing hits
-tackles low and once he has a hold of his man, he doesn't let go
-runs through blockers when pursuing in the backfield

Weaknesses:
-not very smart, struggles to recognize what is going on around him
-always out of position to make the tackle
-doesn't understand zone coverage and is a liability on passing downs
-won't be able to gain much weight if he wants to stay at linebacker

Jason Phillips - TCU (HT: 6'1" | WT: 234)
Projection: 4th Round

Strengths:
-4 year starter on a good TCU defense
-never had any injury problems
-very productive, recorded 310 career tackles
-one of the faster inside 'backers in this class
-does a lot of things well, can contribute in many areas
-hard worker who plays with determination
-works his way through traffic well and is disciplined in his route to the football
-decent pass rusher for only being 234 lbs.

Weaknesses:
-lacks agility and quicker RBs and TEs lose him easily on passing downs
-a little on the small side, and although he succeeded rushing the passer in the Mountain West, in the NFL he will be swallowed up by larger blockers
-even with his speed, he's not very good at chasing down plays to the sideline
-vulnerable to big plays because of his aggressiveness

Jasper Brinkley - South Carolina (HT: 6'2" | WT: 275)
Projection: 5th Round

Strengths:
-amazing physical tools, when healthy can run under 4.7 at 270-275 lbs.
-runs through blockers like they aren't even there and gets to the quarterback at ease
-when at full steam, nobody hits harder than Brinkley
-has a good variety of pass rush moves

Weaknesses:
-is more of a blitz linebacker than coverage and is not good at reading the quarterback
-has a long string of injuries including a season ending ACL tear in 2007
-relies on his physical ability rather than playing smart and makes a lot of mistakes in pursuit and in coverage
-not very smart and will struggle to pick up complex defensive schemes
-has been known as being shy and distant, not exactly the type of traits you want to hear about your middle linebacker

Derek Nicholson - Florida St. (HT: 6'2" | WT: 233)
Projection: 5th Round

Strengths:
-brother AJ was drafted in 2006 by the Cincinnati Bengals
-plays with a mean streak and has a motor that never quits. Relentless in his pursuit of the ball carrier
-takes a good path to the ball and is good at locating the lane to stuff it
-good open field tackler

Weaknesses:
-has seen his fair share of injuries, including an ACL tear in 2006
-not as good of an athlete as his brother and will need a strong showing at the combine
-a bit undersized for a MLB, may be better off switching to the outside
-doesn't excel at anything and needs to find his role on a team to be effective
-doesn't have good ball skills and has never been much of a playmaker
-blockers can swallow him at the point of attack

Scott McKillop - Pittsburgh (HT: 6'2" | WT: 240)
Projection: 6th Round

Strengths:
-extremely productive, 151 tackles as a junior, 126 as a senior
-hard worker who strives to get better
-plays with an intensity that's rarely seen, incredible mean streak
-great run stuffer, tackles well and knows his role
-delivers big hits in the running game and can force fumbles

Weaknesses:
-slow for his size, will not be able to run to the corner in the NFL
-terrible in coverage because he can't keep up with TEs, makes a living in college by playing behind his man and making the tackle
-doesn't offer much of anything in the pass rush
-plays too upright and can get pushed around
-needs to run well at the combine or his stock will fall

montequi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well, he's a Dave Wannstead product. Some people
> may have an issue with that, but Zach DID play
> more games for Wanny than any other coach. I was
> rarely disappointed in our defense when Wanny was
> our coach (the offense and special teams is
> another story), so I'd have no problem taking a
> defensive player from Pitt.


--stay away!! he's got wanny stink on him, he could infect the rest of the team with loser-itus

> -probably would have been the 1st LB off the board in the 2008 draft,
> but elected to come back and is facing a much better LB crop

How exactly is that a weakness?

cool link. Actually that first source you put up I was thinking, damn I knew the guy didnt get any respect but 6th round for a guy that lead the nation in tackles with 155 (thats like what 13 tackles per game!) and the next year with 126 (still like 10 per game) and he gets pushed to the sixth...

Your question about bechwith, to be honest i have seen some LSU games but i didnt know about him until after the season so I (like most fans) was just watching skill guys like qb wr rb. I have the senior bowl on DVR (best way to look at players in pad after the season is over) and I looked at the underarmour roster. He is on the south team and when I looked at the game again yesterday I couldnt find him (maybe he is their I only skimmed through the first half). I will have to watch him at the combines. Maybe someone who has really watched him can give a better input. However i think it is interesting that bechwich has 3 stars and mckillip has 4 but they have bechwich earlier.

Also on maualaga the quote "One drawback is his recklessness, as he seems to sacrifice awareness for explosion, which could lead to gap trouble. His tackling also suffers for this, as he sometimes gets his head down and loses track of his target."

This is a tremendous understatement. I got a chance to really watch this guy and I dont think he is even worth a first day pick. I hope that we dont draft him. he will impress in shorts (awesome physical speciman) but if you watch a game he not only has terrible instincts and over persues alot, he misses tackles (in the rare times he is in the area) also he has a poor motor. PLEASE DONT PICK THIS GUY MIAMI!!! we already have a guy that is a great physcial speciman but is terrible in space and take terrible angles his name is chowder, lets not release him and the get his hawaiian counter part.

Maualuga hater.

You always have been.

.......and you said yourself you have barely seen him play.

---------------------

"When you suck long enough, you get a Hickey"

Reppa, the quote you posted about Rey:

"One drawback is his recklessness, as he seems to sacrifice awareness for explosion, which could lead to gap trouble. His tackling also suffers for this, as he sometimes gets his head down and loses track of his target."

Aren't a lot of those "weaknesses" coachable? Occasional recklessness and guessing can a lot of times be tamed and focused. And any slight problem with form or finishing execution that a guy with the kind of hitting power/explosive tackling that Rey has seems like it can be coached up and easily polished. These observations don't seem so intrinsic to his play that they should force him out of the 1st round in my opinion.

Reppa, there are 8-10 first round picks off that USC defense and you "expect" him to have 100+ tackles. Come on man.

---------------------

"When you suck long enough, you get a Hickey"

Lofa Tatupu: started 25 games at USC

He finished his USC career with 202 tackles, nine sacks, seven interceptions, three fumble recoveries, three forced fumbles, 18 pass deflections, and one touchdown.

Rey Maualuga: started 22 games at USC

272 tackles, 9 sacks, 5 ints, 2 fr, 2 ff, 1 TD

Maualuga is a bigger version of Tatupu and LT is a Pro Bowler.

It's apples and oranges comparing one defensive scheme to another.

USC has 3 LB'ers that could go in the first round, another that will go on the first day, a Safety and a DE who will be a top 20 picks next year.

Pit has McKillop.

.....................................................................................
“I'm here" You're welcome!" - Kenny Powers

Yeah those stats make it hard to argue against Maualuga.

Your turn Reppa.

---------------------

"When you suck long enough, you get a Hickey"

Aqua&Orange Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yeah those stats make it hard to argue against
> Maualuga.


Ha haa, yeah I LOVE a good debate. First off I would like to say that aqua you have to make those types of arguments that eesti just made to get ya weight up...

> Your turn Reppa.

Ok lets see what the reppa has for you kids today. Eesti, it seems that your arguments are incomplete, true lofa had 25 games 202 tackles... and one touchdown but that was over a 2 year period.

Now Rey may have had 22 starts but his 272 tackles are his career numbers. Think about it this way you play about 11-12 games per year so 22 starts is about 2 years. If you look at his two year numbers between the two the real comparison is at the bottom:


Lofa
2 years at USC : 202 tackles, nine sacks, seven interceptions, three fumble recoveries, three forced fumbles, 18 pass deflections, and one touchdown.

Rey
2 years at USC : 158 tackles, six sacks, 3 interceptions, 0 Forced fumbles, and one touchdown

THATS ALMOST 50 TACKLES DIFFERENCE!!! and all other numbers for rey vs lofa is almost half...

You wanna make a comeback aqua or are you going to continue sitting behind eesti? When I have more time I will dig into the actual breakdown of lofa's numbers cause looking at 202 in two years he had to have gotten of to a really slow start cause 100 tackles per year is decent but not tremendous.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2009 09:14AM by Miami Reppa.

eesti Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> USC has 3 LB'ers that could go in the first round,
> another that will go on the first day, a Safety
> and a DE who will be a top 20 picks next year.
>
> Pit has McKillop.


I honestly would take a guy that is a stand out on an average team than a stand out on a dominant team cause you always have to wonder is this guy really this good or does his team make him look good. Now when you have a guy that is on an average defense/team and is putting up huge numbers that guy is called 3rd round talent but the reality is he is usually as good if not better then those guys in the first round, ie joey porter...

now mckillop is on a decent middle of the road team and he is putting up huge numbers, who is helping him? Pitt when 9-4 in a conference that is turned upside down and doesnt have any real consistently dominant teams (maybe west virgina). The fact that they only have mckillop (on defense) shows my point.

Miami Reppa Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> eesti Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > USC has 3 LB'ers that could go in the first
> round,
> > another that will go on the first day, a Safety
> > and a DE who will be a top 20 picks next year.
> >
> > Pit has McKillop.
>
>
> I honestly would take a guy that is a stand out on
> an average team than a stand out on a dominant
> team cause you always have to wonder is this guy
> really this good or does his team make him look
> good. Now when you have a guy that is on an
> average defense/team and is putting up huge
> numbers that guy is called 3rd round talent but
> the reality is he is usually as good if not better
> then those guys in the first round, ie joey
> porter...

I don't think the question was "who you would take" but "who is going to get more action" Obviously the guy on the team with fewer play makers.

I agree that my comparison was not fair but to do a fair comparison we would have to meet in the middle somewhere.

Tatupu played for USC for two years after transferring from Maine so he was a starter for the 03 and 04 season.

Maualuga started for USC from the second game of the 06 season and the 07 and 08 season so lets use their junior and senior years as the comparison.

RM 07, 79 tackles, 10.5 TFL, 6 sacks, 1 int
RM 08, 80 tackles, 2.5 TFL, 0 sacks, 2 int, 1 TD

He did have 3 sacks and and INT in the 2008 Rose Bowl vs Illinois.

LT 03, 98 tackles, 11.5 TFL, 3 sacks, 4 ints, 1 TD
LT 04, 104 tackles, 13.5 TFL, 6 sacks, 3 ints

So to sum it up LT had 43 more tackles over those two years (RM missed 3 games and LT missed 1)

Rey is 6'2 255, LT is 6'0 242. They are very similar in size and physical abilities, both run about a 4.8 40. I think LT was/is a more focused player and benefited coming from an NFL family. RM is a bit of a clown but I think he flashes big play ability when he is focused. (Rose Bowl). I believe he was rewarded because of Tatupu's success in the NFL and the obvious comparison. RM is a bigger hitter which stand out more to the pundits. RM has the potential to be as good or better but still has a lot to prove.

I don't want to sound like I am sticking up for him because I actually agree that he was a bit over hyped. I would not take him over Laurinaitis or Cushing anyway and I would not take him in the top 20. I think he is the 7th or 8th best LB this year. Curry, Arakpo, Brown, JL, Maybin, Cushing then RM...in that order. ( I am still torn between Cushing and Mathews).

.....................................................................................
“I'm here" You're welcome!" - Kenny Powers



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2009 06:23PM by eesti.

eesti Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> I don't think the question was "who you would
> take" but "who is going to get more action"
> Obviously the guy on the team with fewer play
> makers.

yeah you may be right about getting opportunities. yo you sound like a serious college head. I have a fantasy college football league and am lookin for some comp. I had to run away with the title last year. I dont know if you do fantasy college football, if so and you are interested let me know I am lookin for people...

DolphinSam Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Or, what about Beckwith?
>
>
>
> James Laurinaitis - Ohio State (HT: 6'3" | WT:
> 240)
> Projection: 1st Round
>
> Strengths:
> -great athlete, was considered a good NHL prospect
> in high school
> -son of former wrestler Joe "Animal" Laurinaitis
> -productive, 3-time All-American
> -continues a rich tradition of Ohio State
> linebackers

Like Andy Katzenmoyer and Bobby Carpenter?

McKillop measured at 6'1, 244. He ran a 4.79 40, did 27 reps of 225, and had a 35.5 inch vertical. McKillop was in the top 5 among LB in the bench press, vertical jump, and 60 yard shuttle. Laurinaitis ran a 4.82 and did 22 reps of 225.

Reppa,

Lofu's junior year (which was his last at USC) only 1 player on that D was selected in the 1st round at that was at #31, Mike Patterson.

His sophomore year only 1 player from that D was a first round pick, Kenechi Udeze.

Compared to Maualuga:

Maualuga senior season there are 3 players that will be drafted in the first round other than him....Brian Cushing, Clay Matthews, & Taylor Mays.

His junior season Cedrick Ellis was a top 10 pick. Everson Griffen also started this past year and he is a future top 15 pick.

So, RM has played with 5 first round picks!! LT played 2.

Most of the people from LT's defense was drafted after the 3rd round. Where most of RM's defensive mates will be in the top 3 rounds.


Its hard to make alot of plays when there is alot of talent......yet RM still put up great numbers.

---------------------

"When you suck long enough, you get a Hickey"

Aqua&Orange Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Reppa,

>
> Its hard to make alot of plays when there is alot
> of talent......yet RM still put up great numbers.

This is true, i cant argue with that. Also they have a tremendous front 4 who often time suck up rb stealing potential LB tackles. however I still stand by my opinion that RM is not worth a first round pick and you can feel his stock already starting to slip... bye bye rey.

Yeah, I hope it slips right to us.

It would be the biggest steal in history. Rey Maualuga at #25.

---------------------

"When you suck long enough, you get a Hickey"

Somebody is going to fall. Maybe not to us but it will have a domino effect on the draft.

Players whos stock has dropped IMO...

Malcomb Jenkins
Andre Smith OT
Rey Maualuga ILB
Everette Brown DE/OLB
Matt Stafford QB
Michael Oher LT

Players whos stock has risen...

Connor Barwin OLB/DE
Sean Smith CB
Heyward-Bey WR
Lawrence Sidbury OLB/DE
Jason Smith LT
Eugene Monroe LT
Aaron Curry LB
Clay Mathews LB
Donald Brown RB

.....................................................................................
“I'm here" You're welcome!" - Kenny Powers

Nicks' stock is climbing as well.

---------------------

"When you suck long enough, you get a Hickey"