Simpleton
DCC 4Life
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2013
- Messages
- 17,564
Since the other thread turned into mostly arguing over our dumbass offseason moves I decided to make my own thread instead of burying this in the other one.
Anyway, I watched Tulsa's OL vs. Oklahoma St., Ohio St., Houston from 2021 and Cincinnati in the AAC championship from 2020. All very legit competition against some of the best defenses in the country, going against guys who will be in the NFL like Tyreke Smith, Zach Harrison, Myjai Sanders, Logan Hall, David Anenih and JT Tuimoloau (top 5 2021 recruit at Ohio St.).
50,000 foot view, this guy is more legit than I thought. His hand placement/usage, particularly in pass pro, make him look like he just started playing football 18 months ago, and his footwork/pad level is all over the place. The hand placement is about as bad as I've ever seen, but yet he still dominates or at least stalemates guys about 85% of the time.
It's funny because his situation is the opposite of a highlight reel, where you see a few awesome plays from a guy and overlook the other 40 plays in a game where they didn't do much. His horrific technique leads to these splashy ~3-4 anti-highlight plays a game where he looks like he's never played football that get all the attention and overshadow the other 40 plays where he's locking up guys like Tyreke Smith and David Anenih who are both probably getting drafted tomorrow.
But my main takeaway is that when this guy is centered and balanced pass rushers just stop moving, even when his hands and set points are all over the place. These are all-conference types, and in some cases future NFL guys, and their legs/momentum just go dead on contact. If Philbin is worth anything, combined with having vets like Tyron and Zack around to teach him technique, this guy should be a borderline Pro Bowler by year 3.
Random Thoughts:
Good
That's Brock Martin of Oklahoma St. and David Anenih of Houston, both 1st team all-conference last year. In each play Smith's hands are just kind of hanging out around his waist, he's shuffling his feet without any sort of crisp set, and once they're in range he just clamps these guys and dumps them on the ground.
Anyway, I watched Tulsa's OL vs. Oklahoma St., Ohio St., Houston from 2021 and Cincinnati in the AAC championship from 2020. All very legit competition against some of the best defenses in the country, going against guys who will be in the NFL like Tyreke Smith, Zach Harrison, Myjai Sanders, Logan Hall, David Anenih and JT Tuimoloau (top 5 2021 recruit at Ohio St.).
50,000 foot view, this guy is more legit than I thought. His hand placement/usage, particularly in pass pro, make him look like he just started playing football 18 months ago, and his footwork/pad level is all over the place. The hand placement is about as bad as I've ever seen, but yet he still dominates or at least stalemates guys about 85% of the time.
It's funny because his situation is the opposite of a highlight reel, where you see a few awesome plays from a guy and overlook the other 40 plays in a game where they didn't do much. His horrific technique leads to these splashy ~3-4 anti-highlight plays a game where he looks like he's never played football that get all the attention and overshadow the other 40 plays where he's locking up guys like Tyreke Smith and David Anenih who are both probably getting drafted tomorrow.
But my main takeaway is that when this guy is centered and balanced pass rushers just stop moving, even when his hands and set points are all over the place. These are all-conference types, and in some cases future NFL guys, and their legs/momentum just go dead on contact. If Philbin is worth anything, combined with having vets like Tyron and Zack around to teach him technique, this guy should be a borderline Pro Bowler by year 3.
Random Thoughts:
Good
- Consistently roots guys out in the run game when he isn't over-aggressive and off-balance
- Very good acceleration/short area quickness to climb to the 2nd level
- Mentioned above, but when he gets his hands on guys and he's centered, they go to sleep
- Even when guys get to his upfield shoulder, often due to his sloppy hand use/footwork, he is usually able to ride them past the pocket with his length
- Very good quick setting guys, when he quickly gets on top of opponents and lands his punch it's over
- Surprisingly handled top competition consistently despite playing with very little refined technique
- Hand placement/punch timing looks like he's never played football and is the root of most of his problems and penalties in the pass game. His hands are usually either resting around his waist as he waits for his opponent to make the first move, or they're out wide moving around as he shuffles in his set
- As a result he often ends up exposing his chest and is forced to bear-hug opponents as they get into his chest
- Pad level is inconsistent, often stands straight up in pass pro
- Over-aggressiveness leads to leverage/balance issues in the run game
- Angles/timing are inconsistent on combo blocks on zone runs when moving to his next target off the initial block
- Set points in pass pro are often random
That's Brock Martin of Oklahoma St. and David Anenih of Houston, both 1st team all-conference last year. In each play Smith's hands are just kind of hanging out around his waist, he's shuffling his feet without any sort of crisp set, and once they're in range he just clamps these guys and dumps them on the ground.
