Tape of Lewis' "best interception" & other coverage at Rivals 5 Star Challenge
Rivals now has put up tape of Jourdan Lewis at the 5 star challenge. LINK: http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1379516. It starts with the interception that won him the "best interception" award. And it continues with a lot of good coverage. You can see that Lewis is small . . . but he is fast, covers well, and moves well. One small thing I personally liked was that he broke off his receiver and covered the ball when thrown elsewhere.
His recovery speed is insane and that INT was...wow! Having said that, he takes too many risks in terms of giving up big cushions. When it comes to scouting CB upside, though, I have to imagine that's the teensiest of concerns.
Also: That was an impressive competition all around.
His change of direction looks effortless... Based on those highlights, I'm trying to figure out what he could have done better???
I think Rivals chooses who 'plays well' and 'doesnt play well' in order to promote their own storylines...
If anyone watched it Live at all.. The FL DT Brantley got crushed (mentioned as a top performer), Kenny Bigelow was underwhelming, Tyrone Swoopes looked AWFUL, and many other players such as Lewis didnt get their due because they dont fit the bill for stories...
Just my two cents.
The writers know how their bread gets buttered (hint: SEC! SEC! SEC!).
to zones and different schemes, very quick hips and recovery speed. I was watching this earlier thinking he might be the best (yeah ive heard this before) of the Cass Tech DBs (Booby, Teric, TRich, Dior). Lewis seems to have all the tools and a perfect work ethic and desire to improve.
He closing speed is impressive, but the cushions he gives could bite him against speedy WRs. That being said his adjustments to the ball and his movement are fluid. He could be that shutdown type back that UM has been looking for. If he can contribute quickly how awesome would it be to see him and Countess blanketing WRs on Saturdays.
His closing speed blows me away. I thought he could have gotten flagged for PI on a number of those, but that might have just been me not understanding the PI rules for the competition. He seems to be one hell of an athlete though.
The PI rules are the same in 7-on-7, but the "referees" rarely call penalties. Our high school team had two 7-on-7 tournaments in recent weeks, and not a single PI was called either day during our games (for or against us).
Magnus,
You are correct, the 7on7 rules and NHFS rules for PI are the same. I also agree we call less PI's at a 7on7 than a HS game on average. Two reasons, one, the guys are all 4/5 star guys with speed and no pads, this leads to less banging. Second, with 5 recievers and only 3 officials we cannot possibly see everything we need to. A good official will NOT throw on a foul where he did not see the whole thing, hard to do when I have 3 guys at 15+ yards deep and I am on my own.
As an aside, how many times do these players need to see a school? I visited most all the colleges I applied to just once and felt comfortable with making a decision. I understand the process is different for athletes as their experience centers largely around the coaching staff/players with whom they will be spending most of their time. LT may just be doing his due diligence in selecting a school, waiting to take officials, etc. But why chance it when you already seem to have a pretty darn good school that is close to home, on the rise, and where you would be a perfect fit while filling a huge need? Makes me like the guys who have already committed even more.
I believe it was Isaiah Jones, but I'm not positive.
As for your second question, I would hypothesize that the school these kids pick will be a MUCH more important decision than the one you made. If the coaches don't use or develop these kids properly, it's the difference between making a million dollars (or more) and selling insurance or working construction.
I'm not sure what degree/major you had, but the financial impact of a business/humanities/whatever degree was probably less significant for you. Whether you get an accounting degree from Central Michigan or Michigan or Tiffin University, you can probably get a job on a similar pay scale if you have experience, interview well, etc.
If he had just jumped a lot higher, used one arm instead of two, and the opposing player was wearing green, it could have been one of the coolest interceptions ever.
He's listed as 5'11" which isn't that short for a DB. I think the receivers he went against we're all over 6'3".
You can probably knock an inch and 10 lbs. off of every listed height and weight you see.
I was impressed by his ability to watch the QB with his eyes while making cuts/moves to stay blanketed on the WR. Too many college DB's lose sight of the QB while covering and the WR is able to adjust to make a catch. Very nice.
but he really seems more suited to zoe coverage than man to me, but maybe I am mistaken. Does anyone else have any thoughts on this.
He's not physical enough at this point (at only 157 lbs. or so) to be great at man coverage, but I think his change-of-direction ability suits him very well for man. He just has to get stronger and learn to have confidence in his strength once he gets it.
I found these in the write-up after the video. He was apparently thrown at four times in zone allowing 3 receptions, one a touchdown. In man he was thrown at 13 times, giving up 3 receptions with the interception and 5 PBU's.
Also, it appeared that they were not throwing any underneath stuff in this competition, which might explain the cushion he was giving at the line of scrimmage, though it was also apparent he was comfortable allowing receivers to break away from him a bit too far at times. I wonder how much of this is a result of fatigue from chasing deep routes all day? Or from rarely being thrown at and trying to bait the qb into giving him some action?
This kid is going to be really good after some time in the weight room and some work with Mallory to refine his technique. Just compare this film to video of Terrence Robinson smoking some of our previous DB recuits. Makes me smile.
Anyone know how the Northeast guys did in WR vs. DB drills? I didn't heat much about those, and would be interested to hear about how the guys like Lewis and Woodard performed.
Kid looks fast, but it definitely looks like he relies on his speedy/recovery at times and gives up quite a bit of space to receivers. That might just be the formations on defense, but he gave some guys 4-5 yards of cushion, which seemed quite a bit for man-to-man. Still, an impressive performance.
One thing I noticed that I guess is par for the course now - any time a WR gets even touched going for the ball, they pull that stupid "throw the flag" motion to the ref. Yet when they are going for the ball and the CB is in the way, they basically throw the corners out of the way and are as handsy as a senior partner at the holiday party. Just annoying, and kind of reaffirms the characterization of WRs as the prima donnas of football.