The question surrounding Anthony Solomon’s recruitment was never where he would fit in Michigan’s defense, but simply whether he would ever suit up for the Wolverines. At 6’1 and 200 pounds and with a depth chart and class distribution that is one Price is Right announcer away from begging him to come on down, Solomon would be competing with at most two others to be the heir apparent to Khaleke Hudson at Viper.

I was hoping to get a look at how Viper-like his skill set looked over a whole game, but we didn’t get that due to injury. It looked like Solomon was hurt his shoulder late in the third quarter, coming out for one play here and there over the next couple series before exiting the game for good early in the fourth quarter. The last clip of the film indicates that it either was indeed a shoulder injury or he has a penchant for low-cost Cable cosplay. Despite the injury, we were able to get a good look at Solomon’s athleticism and field awareness in the Florida 7A championship against quality competition in Lakeland, a team that finished ranked #19 nationally on Maxpreps and featured Florida signees TE Keon Zipperer and OG Deyavie Hammond.

[After THE JUMP: ever-snap film and scouting]

Every-Snap Film

[Solomon is #11 and usually lined up at MLB. He has his wrists wrapped with white tape and white wristbands near his elbows.]

Scouting

Solomon made a number of heady plays from his middle linebacker spot that make me think he might be able to hack it there if he doesn’t pan out at Viper. At 00:24 he sees the back delay behind the line and thinks screen, so he comes screaming up from the middle zone he was in to then cover the back. It shows that he’s able to diagnose and react quickly, and it also shows how much space Solomon chews up in a hurry. Solomon doesn’t get past his blockers at 1:38 but does have the field awareness to realize when he’s been pushed too far upfield and spins away, working back to the play downfield. At 3:14 and 3:40 Solomon takes a good angle to the ball-carrier, and he showed throughout the film that he was adept at this on plays that broke into the open field; there was only one time he took a low angle, and it appeared to be a calculated risk in which he was betting (correctly) on his athleticism. On the opposite side of the coin, the run at 6:14 really emphasizes how patient Solomon can be. He lets his linemen do their job and waits to track the path of the back, stepping down as he sees the C gap open. Solomon gets his pads low, which allows him to slide past a fullback and attack the back from the side.

There are a few more examples of Solomon reaping benefits from breaking down to hit. At 00:37 he’s put in a position that he won’t be often at Michigan—having to take on a block straight up—but he does a really nice job getting his hands under the lineman’s pads and keeping track of the running back’s path, and Solomon shows some athleticism and strength in being able to get low and launch himself at the back while the lineman still has hands on him. Then at 5:19 a slanting DT causes the guard to lunge at air, in the process losing his balance and beginning his rapid descent to the turf. Solomon stops, watches the back pick his gap, and drops the pads to assist on the tackle.

Aquinas’ coaching staff moved Solomon around occasionally, and his time on the edge allows us a small glimpse into what plugging Solomon in at Viper might look like. The play at 1:04 is more like what he’ll see at Michigan than when he’s at MLB, as he has help staying clean from a lineman and comes off the edge untouched. Solomon shows how quickly he can change direction here, but he takes a very flat angle to the backfield when he needs to be coming around tighter to the line. 1:10 is another play where Solomon comes free off the edge, and he gives the quarterback less than two seconds to get the ball out. Solomon was typically very quick in tight but at 6:59 it feels like he’s slow-playing things, I’m guessing in case it’s a bootleg. You’d like to see him attack the mesh point faster but he was disciplined, at least. With such a shallow mesh point at 7:15 there’s not much he can do coming off the opposite edge. They ran away from him when he lined up on the end and thus we end up with a lot of clips of backside pursuit. It’s worth noting that he displayed good motor throughout, but particularly at 4:26 when he pursued to the sideline after getting blocked.

Then there are the group of plays he was able to make due to his athleticism. At 2:04 Solomon flows well, and he again displays impressive change of direction in stopping quickly enough that the leading lineman can’t engage fully with his hands. This allows Solomon to escape and get in on the tackle. Solomon then flips his hips with ease to turn and run with the tight end at 2:48, and I’m pretty sure that’s four-star, nearly top-100 prospect and Florida signee Keon Zipperer. Solomon’s obviously also watching the quarterback, because he knows when he’s able to leave his man to get upfield and help force the ball carrier out of bounds. At 2:57 Solomon takes a couple false steps after hitting the top of his drop but shows off his acceleration and a smooth change of direction in his pursuit of the quarterback. It also seems noteworthy that the opposing player who throws a block near the 43-yard line and then lowers himself to pick off Solomon ends up being the one who takes the brunt of the contact, as Solomon ends up spinning him. Solomon’s blitzing up the middle at 4:46 and smartly hesitates to let the pulling lineman through, then shows off his acceleration/closing speed in getting to the quarterback. It’s a straight-line rush, true, but man, he’s fast. Then a blocker’s would-be redirect attempt with one arm is shrugged off by Solomon at 5:47, and he decides to go under the pile instead of over. Going over is the safer pursuit angle, but he is explosive enough that he’s able to leap and clear the mass of bodies to get in on the tackle.

Summary

Solomon has the speed, athleticism, and smoothness in flipping his hips to carry a tight end down the field or come screaming off the edge on a blitz, so right there he has the most basic skills needed to play Viper down. One potential issue is that he plays upright when coming off the edge, often taking too flat an angle on the unblocked rushes he got into the backfield. If he can get around the line tighter and develop a little bit of bend he could be a bonafide Viper, but there weren’t any instances in this game where he was trying to get around a tackle on the edge so it’s difficult to project. Solomon has the speed to hit the mesh point (or the quarterback) in the backfield but sometimes slow-played his edge rush to make sure contain wasn’t broken; other times he was run away from, leaving us with little to evaluate except backside pursuit (read: motor). The thing about taking too flat an angle is it seems to me to be something that’s eminently teachable, and he has the quick change direction and, most importantly, rapid acceleration out of that change in direction to play Viper.

As a middle linebacker Solomon showed patience in reading the run game, and though he was prone to taking a false step or two he’s quick enough and changes directions fast enough to recover. He also showed that he has a habit of keeping his pads low when approaching contact and is a fundamentally sound two-arm tackler. He isn’t a violent tackler like Khaleke Hudson, but he was able to get the job done and doesn’t have any bad habits in that area to erase such as launching a shoulder at his target or wrapping up with one arm.

The film shows a player who should be a plus in coverage and be able to hold his own in the run game mentally and physically. Solomon has the speed to be a viable piece of the blitz game, but he’ll need to work on taking the right angle to the backfield and bending the corner to more effectively turn his speed into quarterback pressures or TFLs. He showed intelligence in the run game befitting a middle linebacker, but he would need to put on about 30 pounds without losing any of his explosiveness for that to be a viable position option at Michigan.