Hello: Jordan Paskorz, Take II Comment Count

Brian

jordan-paskorz All right, back to Paskorz: he's a 6'4", 230 pound LB/DE who will play "spinner" or… no. You know what? I give up. Everyone in the comments calls it deathbacker, so deathbacker it is. This guy's playing deathbacker.

GURU RATINGS

Scout Rivals ESPN
3*, #62 DE 3*, #28 WDE 78

Prepare to hear an inordinate amount about Paskorz and his brother during the 2010 and 2011 Notre Dame games: the elder Paskorz is a fullback at Notre Dame.

It appears ESPN rushed to get an evaluation up as soon as Paskorz committed, because as I was assembling this he went from 40 (unrated) to 78 and picked up an evaluation. The most interesting portion of it as regards Michigan:

At the high school level he plays from a "two" point stance and could be considered as an outside linebacker / defensive end hybrid prospect in the right fit. Overall, we feel he will fit best more as a traditional defensive end. He could be asked to play from a "two" point, but seems best suited to play near the line of scrimmage in an attacking fashion.

This is a Greg Robinson recruit like a 5'8" guy with dreads is a Rodriguez recruit. The ESPN evaluation spends a lot of its time talking about that three-point stance and flaws in his technique that come from not being in it. The implication: Michigan got Paskorz's offer out more quickly than a lot of other school because the others were waiting to see if he could put his hand down full-time; Michigan doesn't care.

The rest of the ESPN evaluation is moderately positive, praising his size and frame but saying stuff like "displays ability to" BLANK "but needs to be more consistent." Solid is deployed frequently, and his style of play is dubbed "workmanlike."

About a year ago, Jim Stefani ran down some rising junior tight end prospects and listed Paskorz #2 nationally. That ranking is old, though, doesn't encompass everyone's junior year, and should be taken lightly.

OFFERS

Minnesota, Virginia, and Pitt were Paskorz' other major offers.

STATS

I couldn't find even a whisper of any.

FAKE 40 TIME

Scout's profile lists a 4.74 combine time, which was a combine time and shouldn't be FAKE.

VIDEO

None available.

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

And it's flimsy indeed here, with very little to go on other than ESPN's evaluation and yawns from Scout and Rivals. It's so sparse here that I actually watched Paskorz's highlight reel in an effort to form an opinion—usually a futile task for non-tailbacks—and came up with this: yup, that's a two-point stance.

As the younger brother of a highly recruited player, Paskorz is not a sleeper in any way and we should take the rankings at face value. You might be able to argue that he's a better fit at Michigan because of the deathbacker slot and that an internal ranking at M would have him higher—and evidently did than most major schools. But this is another generic three-star with little upward mobility and eh offers. Paskorz's most direct comparable is a Spytek or one of those workmanlike—there's that word again—defensive linemen from the mid-90s.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

When OH LB Antonio Kinard committed the assumption was he was also destined for deathbacker, but he's listed at 200 pounds, not Paskorz's 230. With Michigan is pursuing a number of other guys—Ken Wilkins, Marcus Rush, Will Gholston (though don't get your hopes up there, I guess)—for the spot Kinard might be regarded as a middle linebacker recruit eventually.

Comments

wolverine1987

May 28th, 2009 at 12:45 PM ^

mobility." Hmm, don't want to read too much into that sentence, but it sounds like Brian has a little of the "why so many 3 stars?" mentality toward our current commit list that others here have been critical of?

Either way, I give up trying to interpret the coaches and I'll just have faith they know what they're doing in their recruiting strategy--three star recruits are gong to be in every class in numbers anyway, so questioning is useless.

The only thing I don't get is the early nature of the commits from these guys--it would seem that guys without a lot of major school offers and lower ranked would not need to be brought in so soon, but ...

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

May 28th, 2009 at 12:51 PM ^

I realize it's already pretty clear that the GERG defense is more 3-4 than 4-3, but in case anyone needs any further evidence that we're going to basically be a 3-4 team next year, the fact that Michigan is horning in on Virginia's defensive recruits (Paskorz, Rush, Wilkins, Baublitz, etc.) should about finish it up.

stubob

May 28th, 2009 at 1:05 PM ^

Now, can I get a Deathbacker shirt? Preferably like Death from Family Guy, but with a facemask sticking out?

Speaking of which, what's the deal with shirts at the moment? Am I an idiot and not seeing the link on the site?

Wolv54

May 28th, 2009 at 1:07 PM ^

as you can tell these national scouts do a lot of this ranking with only looking at highlight films and attaching flimsy cliches to a quick evaluation report. There are 3 components that are essential to doing an accurate evaluation and until a scout does all three, I wouldn't put much merit into their evals. First, they have to see the film because there they get the intial impression of the player's abilities, attributes, etc. Then they have to do two evals on a guy in person; one in shorts running drills, and another in pads playing full speed. Anything short of that is just an opinion based on a small sample of a kids' highlights. Two things I saw in the first 10 seconds of clips; has to get stronger at the point of attack and he uses his hands well. Other than that, the highlight film showed a guy making a few plays. Oh, and yes he was in a two-point stance...woooo!

He showed some nimble feet and change of direction ability, but I would look for him to morph into a Tim Jamison type once he gets into a 3 point stance. Maybe an OLB on the weakside or a situational DE.

I think RR is morphing this program into a lighter quicker team in all areas. I think he has seen the light and its headed away from 330lb guys in the trenches towards the slot ninjas and 210 LBs.

medals

May 28th, 2009 at 1:13 PM ^

Works much better than ESPN's "outside linebacker / defensive end hybrid" or "spinner" which sounds like a part to a dishwasher.

Onas

May 28th, 2009 at 1:14 PM ^

I blame the tapering of the latter Carr era less on the softening of an aged coach and more on the lack of Spytek. We had Spytek... we knew.

WolvinLA

May 28th, 2009 at 1:42 PM ^

Some of the lower rated guys I can understand the negative reaction from people.

But when your program runs an offense or defense (or both, in our case) that utilizes players outside of traditional positions, this goes out the window, slightly. The deathbacker on defense and the slot ninja on offense are positions that don't get evaluated as such by the services and thus these guys get compared against players that won't be playing their position in college.

Many of the major programs don't have much use for these tweener types, so they often don't have the impressive offer list that a really solid true linebacker or true WR would have. That doesn't mean they aren't a perfect fit our offense or defense. If these players are getting offers this early that are, um, committable, I'd say our coaches are sold. I think we should be too.

wolverine1987

May 28th, 2009 at 3:38 PM ^

I'm not sure defensive tweeners fit at all into your statement that "major programs don't have much use for these tweener types" On the contrary, teams in the SEC and the south in general pioneered the trend of finding tweeners-guys that move from safety to linebacker, linebacker to d-line-in order to increase team speed.

I agree with you on the offensive side, but defensively not so much. And that's why a "generic three star," as Brian put it, is somewhat troublesome to me, when we accept a commitment in May.

But shit, they know more than I do, so I have to caveat the above.

Don

May 28th, 2009 at 1:53 PM ^

I guess it's better than "spinner" or "shambling" or "cement-footed," but if the defense plays well are we due for all kinds of references to "The Quickening?"

markusr2007

May 28th, 2009 at 2:04 PM ^

I don't know how many players Rodriguez plans on signing for 2010, but Paskorz is going to provide Michigan some much needed depth on defense. I'm impressed with his frame, but looks like speed will be a challenge. One year under Barwis and a RS later, this guy could really contribute in 2011.

That said, Michigan really does need some high, high caliber recruits on defense over the next 8 months. I hope Rodriguez, Robinson and Tall really start reeling them in.

myrtlebeachmai…

May 28th, 2009 at 2:24 PM ^

I found this... it's from LAST season (i.e. 07-08 his sophomore year), so not the most current, but none the less I think impressive? for a Soph.

38 takles/12 sacks in 9 games

He also apparently plays basketball (F), good for agility?

michiganfootballblog

May 28th, 2009 at 2:46 PM ^

from the video I watched was that he shed blocks extremely well. He always seemed to have his eyes on the second level, and had good separation and timing when he needed to break free. He didn't seem to have that extra spark or jump in his step, and obviously isn't the fastest guy around. I don't want to be the first to say that he has fullback potential, but he does.

WolvinLA

May 28th, 2009 at 2:55 PM ^

A lot of people here have complained about his speed, and I haven't seen him run so I can't really touch on that. Are we assuming then that his 40 time is super fake? Brian reported a 4.74 from Scout, which he said was a combine time and likely not too fake. That's quite quick for a DE/LB in his junior year. Really, if there is a DE who has decent size and runs anything under a 5 before he gets to UM, I'd be happy with it.