B1G Notes

Thought I would start a thread with some notes on players I noticed while watching the Big 10 conference games. I'll try to limit the notes to juniors and seniors who may be draft eligible next year. Could be interesting to look back at these when all the draft profiles come out.

Hopefully some other college football watchers will post here as well. Or start another thread for a different conference.

 

Busy holiday weekend, so I was only able to catch one half of the Minnesota-TCU game and the Nebraska-BYU game.

Minnesota's senior cornerback Eric Murray looked very good. They threw at him a lot but he was always pretty tight to the WR.
TCU is in the big 12, but their senior kicker Jaden Oberkrom had a great day. 3 for 3 and a big leg.

Tough loss for the Huskers, but junior WR Jordan Westerkamp looks good. Always seems to come up with some big catches. 7 for 107yds and 1 TD.
Huskers punter Sam Foltz, a junior, has a big leg, but got injured. No updates that I've seen as to the extent of the injury.
Senior CB Daniel Davie looked horrible. Consistently beat.
BYU has some big WRs in junior Nick Kurtz (6'5") and senior Mitch Matthews (6'6") and Terenn Houk, a senior at 6'5". All three showed well.

 

Cool, thanks for doing this!

Probably won't have much of a chance to catch many games this year, to include NFL, so I appreciate you taking the time to jot down some notes.

I read that the Gopher secondary may be the best in the B1G. I live about 45 minutes from their campus so if I watch any college ball it'll likely be a Gopher game. Will have to keep an eye on Murray.

 

All I have to say is Su'a Cravens USC safety would look good in the black and gold, it worked out well the last time the Steelers drafted a safety from USC in Polamalu.

 

1st half of Wisconsin vs Miami (OH). 37-0 so not much of a game, so take the performances with that in mind.

QB Joel Stave Sr - 6'5" looked very good, accurate and would go thru his progressions. Not pressured very much so he had a lot of time to work. He had one ill-advised throw deep while rolling out to the right that was picked, but it was 20-0 so he probably took the chance. Still underthrown and on the run. Could have kept it and ran for a lot of yards. Had some throws in tight windows though.

WR Alex Erickson SR 6' - Nice hands catcher, one of the Badgers leading catchers past 2 yrs I think. Jared Abbrederis clone. Had one easy drop. Also did the punt returns. Had a real nice return down the sideline, but also muffed a punt trying to run up on a short punt. Some coaching may clear that up in the future.

WR Robert Wheelwright JR. Pro ready frame. Had some nice catches and got a lot of passes in the first half. One double catch on the sideline and a drop near the goal line. Will need to keep an eye on this guy.

WR/FS Tanner McEvoy SR. Played offense and defense and was all over the place. One pick on D and seemed to be around the ball most of the time. Played wildcat QB on O and WR. Had a catch or two. Not overly big or a burner but you have to like his football IQ. Not sure where he'd fit in the NFL quite yet. Prob a 3rd WR.

LT Tyler Marz SR. Not impressed. Seemed inaccurate with his punch and slow in kickslide. Missed a couple blocks going to the 2nd level.

Tried to watch SR CB Darius Hillary on D, but they didn't throw his way much. Had a great open field TFL, broke down and made the hit. One long pass down the sideline but he was all over it, squeezing the WR out of bounds.

 

McEvoy is intriguing. He may be one of those guys that has just enough athleticism to make a go of it. WI admissions doesn't concede for athletics so we know he has some intelligence, and being a QB he may have solid football smarts and understanding. He only started playing defense last year, and this offseason is when Chryst moved him to WR as well. I didn't know that he got an INT against Miami (OH), so that's nice to see! I like him. (I'm a Badger fan)

 

Paul Christ will break your heart GB Steel

 

Oregon vs Michigan State

Just getting to last week's game. Lots of first half action, good game if anyone got to see it.

MSU - 1st half
QB Connor Cook SR - nice stats but nothing spectacular. 2 TDs and 1 INT. Capable but did nothing to impress so far. Hit some small windows and overthrew others.

TE Josiah Price JR - QB security blanket, nice TD grab, didn't get to see much of his blocking. Not a speedster, Miller like in that regard.

WR Aaron Burbridge SR - 6'1" 210 Seemed to be the most targeted and did fairly well. Nothing flashy.

The offensive line is MSUs storyline coming into the season. A lot of upperclassmen with experience.
C Jack Allen SR - 6'2" 296. Good leader with some nasty. Needs to sustain his blocks a touch longer imo, he seemed to get that initial pop then try to move to the 2nd level.

LT Jack Conklin JR - 6'6" 325. Good run game blocker and seemed to improve his pass blocking as the game went along. Had trouble mirroring on early drives but got better.

Didn't see much of RG Donovan Clark SR. Will try to watch him more 2nd half. He did move to the left side outside the tackle when MSU wanted to run heavy left.

DE Shilique Calhoun SR - IIRC he was thinking about coming out in the draft last year. He needed to stay. Seemed lazy to me, contrary to what Kirk Herbstreit was saying during the game. Saw the bull rush, spin move, and rip/swim. Spin move was really slow moving. He seemed to be complacent on getting off blocks just like in his bull rush. I just did not see the urgency in anything he did, unless he was unblocked. No pursuit from the backside even in the redzone and end of half drive. Saw him jogging a couple times in pursuit when he was within 5-10 yds of ball carrier. He did have one "chase" sack. He lined up on the left and right sides.

S RJ Williamson SR - Had a nice INT watching the QBs eyes on a deep throw. Dropped another INT on an overthrow to an intermediate route but it would have been a tough diving catch. Camera angles didn't give me much else to see.

A lot of underclassmen on their defense.

 

Not yet, I recorded it so I could watch it this week. Guess I should edit that "nothing flashy" comment for this game!!

 

Finally got back to the 2nd half of the Mich St - Oregon game. Great finish btw.

On defense, I focused almost entirely on DE Shilique Calhoun. Just don't see anything worth a mention. Was out briefly in the second half due to an injury, but came back late in the 4th. I don't see a motor or any killer instinct.

WR Burbridge had two very nice catches. Highpointing the ball on one. Extending out horizontal for another.

Senior WR Kings was the go to guy on 3rd down and had some nice catches. Manny Sanders like frame.

C Jack Allen impressed me so I focused on him a lot. Showed good awareness to help other lineman and could usually turn the defender nicely in the run game. They did some line shift where the LG became the C, and J. Allen became the RG. He pulled left on both plays I think. Tripped once but seems the staff is comfortable with him on the move.

Wanted to watch the safety Williamson but the camera angles were tough to catch the secondary. Will try to get him in subsequent games.

QB Cook made some nice reads and throws, but had others that were not so good. More ups than downs. Had one play where he made a checkdown and good decision, jump hopping to the left after the primary WR on the right was covered. But as they ran the same play later on, he threw to the primary receiver without reading the defense and it was nearly picked. Coachable stuff, and the occasional bad throw seemed to be footwork related.

 

I've watched all the Nebraska games so far and two guys from their recent opponents stuck out to me.

Northwestern defensive lineman Dean Lowry. 6'6" 290. Senior. Planted a mailbox in the Huskers backfield and made a home there. He could be a nice pick up for DE depth. 10 career sacks so far. Has played in 13, 11 and 12 games for the 3 previous seasons showing some durability.

Rutgers linebacker Quentin Gause 6'1" 235. Senior. Has a nose for the ball for sure. Probably more of a 4-3 guy so who knows if he is on the Steelers radar. I watched the Husker offense more than the Rutgers players, but he kept making plays.

Sidenote: Junior LB Hardy Nickerson plays for Cal. Son of our former LBer with the same name. Just saw his name on some random article today. Just thought it was interesting.

 

http://www.steelersdepot.com/2015/11/steelers-draft-watch-list-series-volume-3/

this write-up sees him more as a 4-3 will linebacker. 6'1" 225. Has the size to play both S/LB, he would definitely need to be paired up with a rangy FS.

 

Yeah he played safety his freshman season, the last 2 seasons he has played more LB. I wouldn't rule out safety for him in the NFL, he's a good blitzer plays the run well and does good in coverage.

 

Lowry sounds like an intriguing prospect. Size, production and durability. Worth taking a flier on at a position of need. Not sure that Walton has been playing recently so would be nice to grab some more bodies.

 

Waiting for the Nebraska-Iowa game to start, I watched the most of the Houston-Navy game. Not the Big Ten but thought I'd include this guy for later on. Houston ILB Elandon Roberts. 6' 235. Team captain which is nice. Had a great game. Couple sacks and TFLs. I know ILB is not much of a need, but he diagnosed plays very quickly, indicating film study and/or football IQ. Seemed more quick in short areas than fast, so he'd probably be more of a run stuffing LBer a la VW98. Could be a 7rd or UDFA pickup if they think they need to add to the fold.

I haven't seen any other Houston games this year, so if anyone happened to catch any, I'd be interested on your take of the guy.

 

What does the tape say on Bosa DE Ohio State, got to see a few plays today and looked like a high motor guy and was giving the Wolverines all they could handle. My cousin is a Buckeye fan and he seems to think Bosa is the real deal and wouldn't fall to Pittsburgh

 

Your cousin is right. Bosa is a legit prospect and has the national attention as well. Probably a top 5 pick. I have the OSU-MSU and OSU-Mich games recorded to look at guys when I can. I wasn't going to focus on Bosa though, because I figured he's out of reach. I do want to see how the MSU o lineman handle Bosa so I guess I will pay some attention there. I like the two guards and center for MSU. For OSU, I'll probably focus on the safety Bell if I can on defense and o-line when they're on the field.

 

Finally got to watch a Duke game I recorded on 10/10. This was against Army and the game was nowhere near close. So the competiton must be kept in mind.

Wanted to check out their safety Jeremy Cash. 6'2" 210lbs. Seemed to play almost exclusively at the line of scrimmage. Even closer than the LBers on most plays. The defensive coaches are definitely playing to his strengths. He was all over the place making plays. Timing the snap perfectly on many occasions, he would tackle the QB just as the handoff was delivered or getting the RB right as he got the ball. Very quick on his play recognition and could track the ball well in the backfield. He got cut a couple times on low blocks where he didn't use his hands to fight them off, but he sorts thru the blockers very well and was usually free to make plays. Around the ball a lot, getting one fumble recovery and a 2nd F.R. but was later ruled down. Could not get an indication of his speed though as he never dropped in coverage this game that I saw or could see with the TV coverage. So this is the question with his game I would guess. An excellent guy in the box and near the LOS and a good tackler. His skill vs the pass is unknown to me with this game. All Star games and DB drills at the combine may help get a better picture. Army did run the ball a lot so the opportunities were limited as well.

The only other guy to stand out on defense was a freshman LBer. Another safety Deondre Singleton -JR - got injured in the second half after an average day. The other safeties were pretty small 5'9" and 5'8".

No one on Duke's offense caught my eye. I really only watched the skill players for this one. Junior Anthony Nash 6'5" 200 had a good day but did not seem very athletic. Caught all the balls with his hands though.

QB Thomas Sirk - JR - was pretty accurate when he threw it, but he is used a lot to run the ball. Just not a whole lot to judge other than his running ability. Would probably return for his SR season I would guess.

 

What are your feelings about CB King from Iowa? Seems like a really good fit for us.

 

I've got 3 Iowa games recorded plus the big 10 championship game to watch. I did watch the Iowa-Nebraska game after Thanksgiving. The only thing that stood out on that game was the fumble on his punt return. I tried watching him on most plays but the action was usually away from him. He was also suspended for the first quarter of that game for being late or missing a team meeting. Hopefully I'll watch those games pretty soon.

article on his background
http://www.hawkcentral.com/story/sp...-tragedy-and-record-setting-success/76338880/

 

Cameron Sutton from Tennessee seems to have some coverage skills but is not known to be a good tackler. He's a junior so maybe he won't declare. Another guy that intrigues me is Will Redmond out of Miss state. Rated pretty highly on most sites but injured his knee and missed most of the season. He's a senior and maybe he'll fall some, he could be a rd 3 flier if his rehab goes as expected.

Anyone seen some games on Sutton or Redmond?