Creeper Van Originals: Mentor vs. Medina Comment Count

Ace

Last Friday the Creeper Van made its way east of Cleveland to Mentor, home of defensive end Tom Strobel and the Cardinals, to watch them take on the Medina Bees. I was greeted in Mentor by a pre-game downpour, which had me worried about being able to shoot film, but then the skies cleared to reveal this, which subsided my concerns entirely:

DPP_0001

What does this mean? Oh, time for some football.

Anyways, I'm guessing you care far less about double rainbows than Tom Strobel, so here's the part where I tell you Mentor won 45-7 while Strobel recorded ten tackles, three tackles for loss, a sack, and two QB hurries in a little over three quarters of action. Highlights are short—Medina did their best to run to the weak side (Strobel always flipped to the strong side) and roll their pocket away from him—but relatively spectacular:

[EDIT: Original video didn't play due to copyright issues with the song I used, but this one should work fine.]

Scouting

Considering Strobel's opponent did everything within their power to stay away from him—both running and passing—and he still managed to finish with double-digit tackles and multiple stops behind the line, I thought he had a pretty outstanding game. I have now seen each of the three players recruited for strongside defensive end in this class—Strobel, Matt Godin, and Chris Wormley—and Strobel impressed me the most, just edging out Godin.

At this level of competition, Strobel utilized his superior strength by essentially doing the same thing on every play: bull-rushing the offensive tackle, pushing him 3-5 yards into the backfield, then either heading for the quarterback or peeling back towards the line of scrimmage to make a play on the running back. While this strategy is entirely unsound against college competition—any good offensive coach would've realized that Strobel repeatedly opened up a big crease off-tackle and run right at him—it worked quite well since his side was avoided entirely, to the point that I think he was being coached to play this way. It certainly worked.

While Strobel isn't the quickest player, he did a good job of getting off the snap and shooting right into his blocker, getting his hands into an offensive lineman's chest before his counterpart could get a hand on him. This allowed him to get great leverage, both in terms of pushing his man off the line and in helping him disengage from his block. Strobel recognized plays quickly and there wasn't a play when he couldn't shed his block and get two hands on the ballcarrier if one was within reach. When Strobel got his hands on someone, that was it for the play—his upper-body strength is impressive.

One area where I had a mild concern was with Strobel's will to play to the whistle. He had a great motor off the snap, always pushing his blocker back and trying to disrupt the play early, but there were a couple long-developing plays in which he was loafing a bit instead of tearing towards the opposite sideline. This only occurred on plays that were across the field later in the game, so perhaps fatigue (doubtful, considering his initial burst) or simply the fact this game was a blowout (far more likely, IMO) played a factor, but it would be nice to see him finishing every play around the ball like I saw with Matt Godin.

The other point of concern for me was with Strobel's lack of variety in his off-the-snap moves—he bullrushed, again and again, without showing much else except a quick shove to the inside that wasn't quite a full swim move. Again, there are some obvious explanations for this: the bullrush kept working, so there wasn't much of a reason to switch things up, and Medina almost never attempted a pass without rolling the pocket away from Strobel and throwing quickly. There just wasn't enough of a reason—or many opportunities—for Strobel to switch things up.

At 6'6", 265 pounds, Strobel certainly has the size to come in and be an immediate contributor, and I think he has the best chance of doing so out of the three recruits coming in at the five-tech. He needs to add a couple pass-rush moves to his arsenal (or at least utilize a couple more), but he showed a lot of ability against both the run and the pass and the motor to be in and have an impact on a lot of snaps.

Photo Gallery

Mentor had a pretty cool pre-game video tribute to the seniors, if you're wondering what the second picture of the scoreboard is all about. Strobel is #36, and also the guy who's bigger than everyone else:

This Week

I'm deciding between heading to the Prep Bowl, which features Matt Godin, Wyatt Shallman, and Detroit Catholic Central facing off against James Ross and Orchard Lake St. Mary's for the Catholic League title, and going back to Ohio to catch Kyle Kalis's St. Edward squad take on Cincinnati Moeller. I've seen OLSM twice this season and DCC once, plus the game being at Ford Field means it may be more difficult to get good film, so right now I'm leaning towards seeing Kalis play for the first time. Your suggestions are encouraged in the comments.

Comments

Ace

October 17th, 2011 at 1:10 PM ^

Are you in another country? The EMI content is the audio track, but usually YouTube just links to the song on the video page and it plays normally. It's working for me right now. I know they just block those videos in Germany, however, for some reason.

[EDIT: Crap, it's blocked everywhere. Should have a new video up with a different song in 20 minutes or less.]

freernnur5

October 17th, 2011 at 1:11 PM ^

Hey Ace, what is your email that I could ask you a couple questions? I am trying to make it out to the Thousand Oaks vs. Oaks Christian game this Friday since I want to see Jordan Payton in person and I had a couple questions for you so that I could possibly provide a good writeup.

MichFan1997

October 17th, 2011 at 2:20 PM ^

Kyle Kalis. If you really wanted to see Godin, Shallman, or Ross again this year, there is always playoff time. I'd really like to see some original stuff on Kalis on this site tho.

SKIP TO MY BLUE

October 17th, 2011 at 3:20 PM ^

I need to know that we have a great guard coming in next year after watching the MSU game. Thanks for the update on Strobel, I am hopeful he will be able to contribute next year at SDE.

WolvinLA2

October 17th, 2011 at 3:46 PM ^

I hope Strobel comes in ready to own fools at the 5-tech so we can redshirt Godin and Wormley, let them grow and progress, then slot one at the 5-tech with a year separating him and Strobel and the other at the 3-tech.

beast

October 17th, 2011 at 4:18 PM ^

is a bad team. Evident by that blowout. I feel sorry for that tiny TE that has to block him. He doesnt seem to have great speed and his "fast twitch" quickness kind of looks so-so. But then again he is a bigger guy. I can't really get much from this tape other than he is bigger than everyone and plays like it. He destroyed whoever was across from him simply by bull rushing and knocking them over. Id like to see some tape of him against better NW ohio opponents. 

 

....Ace your doing a great job transitioning this segement from Tim to you.