Rashan Gary Evaluation

Submitted by Ball Hawk on
The regular season is wrapped up now and looking forward to the bowl game. One year ago every analysis called Rashan Gary the player of the decade. First kid to be rated 5 stars on every recruiting service. Judging by what you saw of him this year, do you think he lived up to the high expectations? Being a true freshman and lining up against experienced linemen is asking a lot. Before the season, there was talk about him moving inside. Do you think he will play inside? I don't have that film watching eye like some of you and I only noticed him when he made tackles. How would you grade him?
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funkifyfl

December 8th, 2016 at 10:32 AM ^

I despise when posts like OP get downvoted. This is the exact type of discussion I come here for. OP was basically asking how Gary performed relative to expectations. I didn't take OP to be negative. Honestly, after all the hype, I was surprised that Gary didn't get more PT and make more highlight reel plays. There were maybe a handful that stand out, but considering how much we heard about his ability to play right away, it's fair to say he had an excellent true freshman season and simultaneously say that he was a bit under the radar (in large part due to excellent players ahead of him).

 

Notwithstanding the foregoing, I fully expect Gary to wreak havoc in the Orange Bowl and tear shit up Clowney-at-SC style next year.

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pinkfloyd2000

December 7th, 2016 at 8:49 PM ^

And I'll say this: I don't think I've ever seen a Michigan defensive player have to fight through SO MANY holds. Every time I was at the Stadium for a game this past season and said, "OK, on this play, I'm just gonna watch Gary," my inevitable follow-up was something like, "Wow, he was held BAD on that last play."

 

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Night_King

December 8th, 2016 at 8:23 AM ^

Taco Charlton was held literally on 50% of passing downs I want to say. It was absolutely sickening that not ONE of them was called. He still balled out and nearly had double digit sacks in basically 8-9 games. Looks like he could sneak in the first round for sure. 

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The Fan in Fargo

December 8th, 2016 at 9:13 AM ^

Agreed pinkfloyd. They gave quite a few replays of him on tv getting held and he was still managing to squirm his way around the lineman. Too talented is maybe why they didn't get the calls? He needs to complain and throw his arms up to the dipshit elder refs with the poor eyesight or are too winded to get up and down the field anymore. I don't intend to mean elder in relation to being a dipshit. However if you are over 40, I'm sure you read this and think that of me so go to hell!! He will be good next year. Damn good!

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Night_King

December 8th, 2016 at 8:22 AM ^

Honestly teams are going to have more trouble with Mo Hurst than Mone. But we definitely have some beef up the middle. Look for Winovich to be maybe even more of a benefactor than Gary, as teams will pay more attention to Rashan and Winovich will come flying off the weak-side edge. 

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Night_King

December 7th, 2016 at 8:53 PM ^

I think he's going to stay as a DE and he's going to have a breakout season next year. You could see he has all the physical traits and abilities. In fairly limited snaps he had really nice impact. By the time he's a junior he is going to be an all-american. 

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I Like Burgers

December 7th, 2016 at 8:55 PM ^

Tough to evaluate him. Did he live up to my lofty expectations? No. I doubt anyone here thought he would finish with 1 sack and 5 TFL for the season. Or if I said, who will have a better year: Gary or Gedeon, and offered 100:1 odds on Gedeon would anyone have picked him over Gary? I thought he would be more impactful even on heavily talented line.

Plus, you have someone like Christian Wilkins or Ed Oliver out there who was in the same class just blowing the hell up (19 TFL, 5 sacks). Gary's lack of impact is one of the many head scratchers from this season.



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I Like Burgers

December 7th, 2016 at 9:17 PM ^

No.  Didn't say that at all.

Oliver was THE star on a relatively untalented Houston line, and they played against AAC competition.  Swap the two players and maybe Gary has the same type of season.  Maybe not.

I DO know, however, that just about everyone here was expecting more than 1 sack, 5 TFL, and to be lauded for simply "looking active" (as you put it) in his last regular season game.

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carlos spicywiener

December 7th, 2016 at 9:41 PM ^

1) He played heavily in garbage time, where refs basically stop calling holding

2) The depth and quality of the defensive line reset most people's reasonable expectations for freshman year stats. He had plenty of "almost sacks" which were good enough for me.

3) The Gary - Gedeon comparison makes no sense

One is a starter and in position to feature heavily, one isn't.

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I Like Burgers

December 7th, 2016 at 10:42 PM ^

Cool.  So expectations for Gary were for him to be a garbage time backup role player, that we were excited to "look active" in game twelve and get some "almost sacks."  Got it.

For what its worth, in the season preview Brian predicted him to be a starter with double digit TFLs, and 6 sacks.  Basically what Christian Wilkins and Ed Oliver wound up doing in their freshman seasons.

I mean....you do get that this entire thread is about evaluating Gary's season and whether or not people thought he lived up to the high preseason expectations?  Right??

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Lou MacAdoo

December 7th, 2016 at 11:52 PM ^

Spicyweiner, you're being an ass. I don't care what meltdown this poster had in the past. He's responding to the OP's question honestly. He's speaking the truth. The expectation for the number one recruit in the country was that he'd be a part of the stacked two deep, that would rotate regularly, and that he may even become a starter. We were all giddy and expected him to make an instant impact. He didn't meet those expectations. If he had played better perhaps he may have earned more playing time. He didn't. It's ok to say this. Hopefully he dominates next year.



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Everyone Murders

December 8th, 2016 at 7:57 AM ^

First off, props to Spicyweiner for acknowledging he was coming on a bit strong (and for Lou MacAdoo calling him out on this).  It takes a big man to admit he's wrong (and a bigger man to laugh at that man).

And I agree that I Like Burgers seems to be expressing his honest opinions, and would go further and say that they're thoughtful and interesting opinions.  And he was taking a bit of a beating for them - at times, ad hominem.  Are his opinions the truth, though?  I don't know.  (Not even sure what "truth" means in 2016.)  /ducks/

As many others pointed out, we had an experienced and extremely talented D-Line before Gary joined the fray.  Just because Gary didn't have a statistically eye-popping year doesn't mean that he wasn't learning and physically developing.  Most telling to me is that I did not see a big drop-off when Gary was rotated in.

Ndamukung Suh was good but not a force of nature as a freshman/RS freshman (19 tackles - off the bench).  And really was very good but not lights out in his RS sophomore year (34 tackles, now as a starter).  Thereafter, he became a monster on the line.  I think that Gary is along the same path, and may actually be ahead of that path.  Heck, he might even be on a Jadeveon Clowney path where he blows up as a sophomore.

My view is he's doing fine.  I maybe expected a few more highlight reel plays because hopes run high before any season, but he held his own as a true freshman on a tremendous defensive line.  No complaints here.

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ak47

December 7th, 2016 at 11:10 PM ^

He didn't have a bad year but I bet if you had told people he'd have less of an impact and get less snaps than chase winovich when he was supposedly pushing to start in the off season nobody would have thought it was possible. And if I like burgers want to make a comparison to another freshman nick bosa had a statiscally better year but I'm not going to pretend I watched a lot of osu games.

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pescadero

December 8th, 2016 at 1:26 PM ^

Suprisingly close. Gary played one more game than Oliver.

 

Ed Oliver vs. Oklahoma and Louisville:

62 snaps

5 TFL

4 sacks

2 passes batted

1 Forced fumble

 

Rashan Gary entire season:

~300 snaps

5 TFL

1 sack

0 passes batted

0 Forced fumbles

 

...and Oliver play NT, not DE - where it's much harder to rack up those stats.

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borninAnnArbor

December 8th, 2016 at 7:01 AM ^

I think you also have to consider how many times Gary was a step behind one of the other D linemen who got the sack, or funneled a QB or RB to someone else who got the stat. Then there was all of those times Gary stretched a running play to the sideline for a no gain or a gain on 1 when a lesser player would have given up 5 or 6 yards. For a freshman playing with the rest of the nfl caliber d line I thought he did great, and only someone who quantifies plays by stats alone would think he did not have a great first year.



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Danwillhor

December 7th, 2016 at 8:58 PM ^

He needs to develop an inside rush game, get a bit stronger and a bit more of the tiny detials down but he played at a high level for any true freshman. In fact, there were times this year I thought he should have come in for Taco/Wormley when one of them were obviously gassed. He's on track.

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Wolfman

December 8th, 2016 at 12:41 AM ^

but that was out of necessity. He was the starter from the time he stepped on campus. OSU, and you should recall this, lost a shit-ton to the NFL and needed to replace four members of their 8 man rotation. Gary had the luxury of learning from Wormley, Taco along with the interior DLmen. He was pancaked on a few trap plays as many true freshman are. He also displayed the almost impossible task of getting around his end when his assignment was contain. He showed good his freshman season and was not asked to do the things Oliver did. Remember Oliver immediately became Houston's best DLman as soon as he took place in their first practice. Such was not the case with Rashaun. We are really going to benefit from him not being forced to start immediately and had the time to learn Don's complex defensive assignments. He was and will become even more of a significant impact player in the next two seasons. 

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