Who is Devin Bush Jr.?

Submitted by EGD on

I was only planning to make the Mike McCray diary a one-off.  But Bodogblog suggested I take a look at Devin Bush Jr. as well, so why not?  Again, I used the MGoVideo every-snap videos from the spring game.  Bush was on the blue team, so I used the Wilton Speight footage this time.

As you might expect of a guy who’d been wearing the winged helmet for only a few weeks, he looked a bit tentative and had some issues with getting overpowered—especially by some of the juniors and seniors.  But he also looked like a guy who knew what he was doing out there; he did make a couple really nice plays and demonstrated the kind of potential that shows why Harbaugh made him such a big priority in the recruiting class.  Here’s how I saw it:

Play #1: White running something resembling Power-O to the left, but with the LT kicking the EMLOS (Charlton).  Bush makes a good read and gets to the point-of-attack quickly, but Khalid Hill comes through and clamps onto Bush, sealing him inside for the duration.  No harm because Charlton won his block and white ran this into a corner blitz.  Grade -1; Hill dominated Bush on this play.

Play #2: Play-action pass from an offset I-form.  Bush reads and drops into underneath coverage.  Ball thrown deep and Bush irrelevant.

Play #3: Shotgun formation with pocket moving right at the snap.  Bush in man coverage on the RB, who stays in to protect.  Bush attacks the QB late but is irrelevant as Speight releases the pass well before Bush arrives.

Play #4: White running some kind of trap or counter play that Wormely annihilates from the backside.  Bush is charging downhill at the snap; he impacts Newsome, sheds, and works to the point-of-attack to assist on the tackle.  Grade: =

Play #5: White fakes an iso to Isaac then tosses to Perry on the end-around, coming to Bush’s side.  Blue wants to spill this to the sideline; Newsome gets out on him and shoves Bush ten yards downfield, but Bush does keep an outside arm free and doesn’t allow a cutback lane.  Grade: =; made the right read, gave up a lot of ground to Newsome but the play was always going outside.

Play #6: Passing play; Bush covering the short middle zone and gets good depth; Isaac leaks out late but irrelevant as Speight throws to a WR on an out cut.

Play #7: Bush blitzing B-gap.  It’s a running play.  Jake Butt had come in motion behind the formation and set up as an H-back at the snap; Butt picks up Bush and stones him.  Isaac has a huge hole to the backside on what looks like a designed counter, he hits it for a big gainer.  Grade: -0.5; another play where Bush got his ass kicked but it probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway.

Play #8: Play-action pass; white runs a mesh concept with TWJ and Mitchell coming from the left and Butt coming from the right; Blue busts and Butt winds up all alone in the left flat for a TD.  I think this is on Watson, who followed Mitchell inside instead of passing him off to a safety.  Bush was fine, I guess.

Play #9: White runs the banana-type play with the QB faking a pitch left, then rolling right and throwing to the fullback on a shallow cross—except in this case, the “fullback” is Khalid Hill, who started the play flexed out in the slot on the opposite side of the formation.  Bush was off-camera for most of the play but is the LB chasing down Hill after the reception, FWIW.  Grade: ??

Play #10:  Inside run to the opposite side of the formation from Bush.  He checks his gap, then pursues; Bush is not relevant as the tackle is made well before he arrives, but Bush does nicely shed an offensive lineman who tries to delay him.

Play #11: Quick-hitter to the fullback on Bush’s side.  Bush and the fullback disappear into the same pile at the LOS.  Not the most difficult play but I’ll give Bush credit here for a fast accurate read and for sticking his nose into the melee.  Grade: +0.5.

Play #12: Bush’s best play so far.   White does the same thing as on Play #7, where a TE (Sean McKeon) comes in motion behind the offensive line and sets up as an H-back right in Bush’s gap.  This time, they run right at him.  McKeon comes out and hits Bush, but Bush keeps his outside arm free, sheds, and fills to force a bounce.  Good play, and I really like how he dealt with this the second time after seeing it earlier.  Grade: +1

Play #13:  This is either a bust by walk-on Mike Wroblewski or Blue got seriously RPSed by the alignment.  White has three receivers in a bunch to the right side of the formation.  The lead receiver, TWJ, runs a hook route; Wroblewski is lined up over him and follows TWJ the whole way.  I think when TWJ released to the left, Wroblewski was supposed to have stayed home let Bush pick TWJ up—but since Wroblewski stayed on TWJ, Bush is covering air and Perry comes open in the area Wroblewski vacated.  Both Bush and a deep safety head over there to bracket Perry.  There is no way they can make it in time.  Speight steps up in the pocket and could easily have Perry, but Bush has opened up a huge running lane, which Speight takes.  Hard to ding Bush too much on the play, since neither of his choices were good—but if he’d stayed home, then Speight couldn’t have scrambled and the safety would probably have done more about Perry than Bush anyway.  Grade: -0.5

Play #14: White runs a counter to the left side, away from Bush.  An OL comes out on him and seals Bush away for the duration.  Grade: -1.

Play #15: Another counter, with two OL pulling to Bush’s side this time.  Godin, Mone, and Kemp destroy the blocking, however and Isaac is trapped in the backfield.  Bush comes down and tackles for loss.  Grade: =; competent play but not worthy of a plus.

Play #16: Bush times a blitz well and is quickly into the backfield; Gentry (seriously, did Blue draft ANY of the tight ends?) whiffs on him, then breaks Brian’s cardinal rule by going upfield and trying to still block him; Bush then knocks the mystery fullback (#33?) off his pins for a 2-for-1.   Grade: +1; it was a good play by Bush, but mostly the function of the blitz call and the fact he was going against Gentry and an obscure walk-on fullback.

Play #17:  Passing play, Bush comes on an outside blitz, isn’t going to get home.  Speight throws in the opposite direction so Bush irrelevant.

Play #18:  Power-O to the right side of the formation.  Bush is aligned to the left; he can’t get off the downblock and is sealed the entire play.  Grade: -1.

Play #19: The Wilton Speight bootleg touchdownBush not particularly relevant to the play, shoots his gap and gets hung up inside; Speight rolls outside and has clear sailing to the end zone. 

Overall grade:  -1.5.  Felt worse than it was, I suppose, as Bush got pushed around pretty good by the upper classmen.  But he usually seemed to be in the right spot, which is pretty impressive for an early-enrolled freshman in his first spring game.  With more reps and some college S&C, looks like Bush will be a real factor down the road.  

 

 

Comments

Bodogblog

August 12th, 2016 at 12:53 PM ^

Thanks for looking at this.  I thought he did very well for himself, but I'm probably mentally +1'ing him on plays where he ends up where he should be, though someone else makes the tackle.  I'll have to review the film again (the link is blocked at my work), because I also thought he popped some blockers in the mouth pretty good.  But I could just be seeing what I want to see. 

I'm hoping his pedigree and early enrollment get him advanced along that curve in time to help this year, hopefully by mid-season.  I know it's asking a lot, and they big payoff probably won't come until he's older, but he seems like the perfect LB to have behind a dominant DL.  Great instincts and desire and ability to attack the football. 

1VaBlue1

August 12th, 2016 at 1:43 PM ^

Interesting stuff - thanks for taking the time to review and post this!  I feel good about Bush, I think he'll contribute a lot this year, though with some growing pains.  Hopefully, the first half of the season will be all he needs to slow things down a little.