artds

April 13th, 2012 at 9:51 AM ^

The only film of him I could find on youtube was from the Elite Big man camp.

 

I would need to see more before I can understand why some are hyping him as the potential top player in the state. He doesn't look abnormally quick or strong for a DE in his film. He's definitely dominant on the film, but his competition looks smaller and slow.

It doesn't leave you saying "Wow!" like the film of Taco and Mathis at the L.A. camp from last week.

Magnus

April 13th, 2012 at 9:58 AM ^

There's some video of him from the Adidas Invitation last week, too.  He's only a sophomore and 6'6", 275 lbs., so I imagine he's not going to wow too many people with his speed.  I don't put much stock in camp film, but he moves pretty well and when you've got that kind of size as a sophomore, a lot of schools are going to come calling.

artds

April 13th, 2012 at 10:10 AM ^

Gotcha. I do worry sometimes though about guys that who develop that kind of size that young. You don't know if they're going to keep growing to a point that they can no longer play their projected position once they're in college.

Look at Lawrence Thomas for example. He was recruited to play LB by every major D-1 program in the country because he was 6'4 230 as a sophomore. However since he arrived in East Lansing he's pretty much eaten himself out of a position and is now listed at 280 lbs.

Magnus

April 13th, 2012 at 10:21 AM ^

Eh, football players football players.  Linebackers become defensive ends, ends become tackles, etc.  It happens all the time.  Brandon Graham was a highly touted linebacker and turned into a very good defensive end instead.  Prescott Burgess and Jonas Mouton were highly touted safeties who grew into pretty solid linebackers.

artds

April 13th, 2012 at 10:32 AM ^

Right, but when you recruit based on need, and a guy who was recruited for a position turns out not to be able to fill that need, it can put you in an undesireable position, especially if you turned other recruits away. Anyway, we're getting a bit off topic now. The scouts all sure seem to be excited over this kid, so I'm interested in seeing more from him. It's also nice that in-state kids seem to be getting more looks in recent years from recruiting services and non-midwest schools than they used to.

Magnus

April 13th, 2012 at 11:11 AM ^

Well, I think most coaches can/should see that high school sophomores/juniors/seniors are going to grow and develop.  If a kid is 6'6", 275 lbs. as a sophomore, then he's probably going to add another 15 lbs. or so by the time he's a senior and maybe grow an inch or two.  If you've got a 6'2", 205 lb. cornerback, well, there's a good chance he's going to be 220 or so and he'll probably end up at safety.

If a coach is recruiting by need, he should be taking those things into account.  You shouldn't be recruiting Jonas Mouton to fill a need at safety or Tim Massaquoi to play wide receiver.

WolvinLA2

April 13th, 2012 at 12:27 PM ^

Exactly.  Plus, if you have a kid who's huge and athletic as a sophomore, you bring him in and figure out where he fits in.  Maybe McDowell puts on 25 lbs and becomes an athletic DT or OT.  Maybe he doesn't put on much more weight, and instead works firming up his weight and becomes a more athletic 275, which would be perfect at SDE. 

Also - you can move guys around based on need.  Last year, Roh and Black were both WDEs.  Now neither of them are, because we have other good WDEs and not as many good 5- and 3-techs.  The coaches will figure it all out.