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Need an eval......my recruiting gurus!

moett88

Well-Known Member
Ok my recruiting evaluators, I need some feedback. There are 2 2013 boys that go to school with Jeff that I want you to take a look at and give me your thoughts. They can be honest, good or bad because this is for me.

1) Keenan Blair (LB/QB)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w6sw16tUQk

He came in as QB but was hurt sophomore year, so there are no highlights of him for the year. These highlights are for this year, so far. He was moved to LB because of his ability to follow the play and anticipate.

2) Aaron Piper (RB/WR)
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/128898/aaron-piper

Sophomore year "Pipe" played RB for us behind another great RB we had. he did some great things and there was a link to his stuff but looks like some genius removed it and replaced it with this year's stuff. This year he has been playing WR, on special teams, and some RB. When you look at his stuff there is some tabs that will take you to his 2010 stuff. Look at 2010 stuff first.
 
Keenan - Good closing speed. I noticed all of his clips were zone coverage. Not sure about his top end speed and athleticism, but he has great instincts and tackles hard and well in the highlights. Highlights seemed to show only him doing one thing, but he was damn good at it. Need to see more. I know he is only a junior, but at 173 lbs, he is really gonna have to bulk up even to play safety, and I'm not sure he has the range to do that. Again, he is young, so things can change.

Piper - Solid change of direction guy. That last run of his was fun to watch. Problem is similar to a guy we know well around here, speedy. He goes down on first contact almost every time. He may have a better top end gear, but he isn't as quick. Small guys need to use that low center of gravity to make it hard for arm tackles to take them down to be really successful at the next level (ideal is Darren Sproles). I don't see a lot that makes me think he can be more than a return guy or a change of pace back at best. Who knows how he will look with another 40 pounds on him though (he is 160 according to the vid).
 
Don't think I qualify as a 'guru' but I took a look.

Blair looks like an impressive defender. Great read/react skills, and his angles to the ball could not be any better. Reminds me a little bit of Dizon, in that he tends to defeat blockers with his feet rather than trying to out-muscle them. Tackling form could use a little work. Leaves his feet too early at times. Needs to concentrate on dropping his hips instead of his head and driving his legs through tackles, but that's one of the easier things to fix. No mention of size, but he looks smallish in the lower body for a linebacker. It takes pretty good leg strength to play LB at the college level. Any idea what he max squats?
 
Keenan - Good closing speed. I noticed all of his clips were zone coverage. Not sure about his top end speed and athleticism, but he has great instincts and tackles hard and well in the highlights. Highlights seemed to show only him doing one thing, but he was damn good at it. Need to see more. I know he is only a junior, but at 173 lbs, he is really gonna have to bulk up even to play safety, and I'm not sure he has the range to do that. Again, he is young, so things can change.

Piper - Solid change of direction guy. That last run of his was fun to watch. Problem is similar to a guy we know well around here, speedy. He goes down on first contact almost every time. He may have a better top end gear, but he isn't as quick. Small guys need to use that low center of gravity to make it hard for arm tackles to take them down to be really successful at the next level (ideal is Darren Sproles). I don't see a lot that makes me think he can be more than a return guy or a change of pace back at best. Who knows how he will look with another 40 pounds on him though (he is 160 according to the vid).


Great eval! Thank you! If it's ok I would like to share with Keenan's mom. I have her email address only. He's a very smart player. When you talk to him he is a true student of the game. I'm pretty sure he was placed in his spot as for needs of the team. His position may change next year because we graduate several positions.
 
Don't think I qualify as a 'guru' but I took a look.

Blair looks like an impressive defender. Great read/react skills, and his angles to the ball could not be any better. Reminds me a little bit of Dizon, in that he tends to defeat blockers with his feet rather than trying to out-muscle them. Tackling form could use a little work. Leaves his feet too early at times. Needs to concentrate on dropping his hips instead of his head and driving his legs through tackles, but that's one of the easier things to fix. No mention of size, but he looks smallish in the lower body for a linebacker. It takes pretty good leg strength to play LB at the college level. Any idea what he max squats?

Thank you so much! I don't know what he squats at but I can find out. I really wanna know what direction to tell him to work on in the off season.
 
Great eval! Thank you! If it's ok I would like to share with Keenan's mom. I have her email address only. He's a very smart player. When you talk to him he is a true student of the game. I'm pretty sure he was placed in his spot as for needs of the team. His position may change next year because we graduate several positions.
Fair warning: my opinion is in no way valid.
 
Thank you so much! I don't know what he squats at but I can find out. I really wanna know what direction to tell him to work on in the off season.

I think you can tell just about every young player to spend more time on leg strength, core strength and agility drills.

You do the curls for the girls, the bench to brag and the forty to impress fans. You do leg, core and agility to be a better player.
 
I think you can tell just about every young player to spend more time on leg strength, core strength and agility drills.

You do the curls for the girls, the bench to brag and the forty to impress fans. You do leg, core and agility to be a better player.
you are so cute sometimes.
 
I think you can tell just about every young player to spend more time on leg strength, core strength and agility drills.

You do the curls for the girls, the bench to brag and the forty to impress fans. You do leg, core and agility to be a better player.

Good stuff!
 
Thank you so much! I don't know what he squats at but I can find out. I really wanna know what direction to tell him to work on in the off season.

I didn't notice the first time I watch that it listed his weight at 173 lbs. Kid has a great nose for the ball. I'm also curious how fast he is. If he runs 4.6 or better, his future is probably at safety. If that's the case, I'd advise him to get in some camps this summer to work on cover skills. It really should be no sweat for a kid his age and height to pack on 10-15 lbs of muscle in a year with any kind of real commitment to weight training.

His hips/thighs/calves are a little narrow, and it might be an uphill climb for him to pack on enough mass by next year to draw offers at LB. Not impossible for a growing kid, but he'd need to be extremely dedicated and to some degree it ultimately depends on genetics.

Nik gave some great advice. Here's my little pearl of wisdom. If he wants to play defense, tell him to forget about basketball this winter, and join the wrestling team or find a judo club for a second sport. Those sports develop balance, leverage, and core strength like nothing else.
 
I didn't notice the first time I watch that it listed his weight at 173 lbs. Kid has a great nose for the ball. I'm also curious how fast he is. If he runs 4.6 or better, his future is probably at safety. If that's the case, I'd advise him to get in some camps this summer to work on cover skills. It really should be no sweat for a kid his age and height to pack on 10-15 lbs of muscle in a year with any kind of real commitment to weight training.

His hips/thighs/calves are a little narrow, and it might be an uphill climb for him to pack on enough mass by next year to draw offers at LB. Not impossible for a growing kid, but he'd need to be extremely dedicated and to some degree it ultimately depends on genetics.

Nik gave some great advice. Here's my little pearl of wisdom. If he wants to play defense, tell him to forget about basketball this winter, and join the wrestling team or find a judo club for a second sport. Those sports develop balance, leverage, and core strength like nothing else.

Will do!
 
I didn't notice the first time I watch that it listed his weight at 173 lbs. Kid has a great nose for the ball. I'm also curious how fast he is. If he runs 4.6 or better, his future is probably at safety. If that's the case, I'd advise him to get in some camps this summer to work on cover skills. It really should be no sweat for a kid his age and height to pack on 10-15 lbs of muscle in a year with any kind of real commitment to weight training.

His hips/thighs/calves are a little narrow, and it might be an uphill climb for him to pack on enough mass by next year to draw offers at LB. Not impossible for a growing kid, but he'd need to be extremely dedicated and to some degree it ultimately depends on genetics.

Nik gave some great advice. Here's my little pearl of wisdom. If he wants to play defense, tell him to forget about basketball this winter, and join the wrestling team or find a judo club for a second sport. Those sports develop balance, leverage, and core strength like nothing else.

Have no quantified evidence to back this up but I have always believed that any player subject to regular contact in football such as linemen, LBs, safeties, RBs should spend at least one season wrestling. No other sport is as effective at developing real strength in the neck, shoulders, and back while also developing flexibility in those same areas. Ancedontal experience is that guys who wrestle have significantly fewer shoulder and neck injuries. This in addition to developing balance, leverage, and strenght as mentioned in the quoted post.
 
Ancedontal experience is that guys who wrestle have significantly fewer shoulder and neck injuries. This in addition to developing balance, leverage, and strenght as mentioned in the quoted post.
But they're much, much, much more susceptible to cauliflower ear.
 
Have no quantified evidence to back this up but I have always believed that any player subject to regular contact in football such as linemen, LBs, safeties, RBs should spend at least one season wrestling. No other sport is as effective at developing real strength in the neck, shoulders, and back while also developing flexibility in those same areas. Ancedontal experience is that guys who wrestle have significantly fewer shoulder and neck injuries. This in addition to developing balance, leverage, and strenght as mentioned in the quoted post.

I wouldn't include safeties in that. I've said a lot of times that I love wrestlers as football prospects. But I also love basketball players. As long as a guy's got enough speed, I know that if he can play basketball he can cover. Good WRs can usually ball, too.
 
I wouldn't include safeties in that. I've said a lot of times that I love wrestlers as football prospects. But I also love basketball players. As long as a guy's got enough speed, I know that if he can play basketball he can cover. Good WRs can usually ball, too.

The main reason for including safeties in this is that they end up making a lot of tough contact in the running game. A lot of safeties end up with neck and shoulder issues, the wresting can provide strength and flexibility to help prevent this. Wrestlers are also often better tacklers and your safeties can be called on to tackle bigger guys than they are who have broken the LOS.

I agree with basketball as a help in developing coordination, wind, and timing but from an injury standpoint I would like my safeties to have some wrestling time
 
I wouldn't include safeties in that. I've said a lot of times that I love wrestlers as football prospects. But I also love basketball players. As long as a guy's got enough speed, I know that if he can play basketball he can cover. Good WRs can usually ball, too.

As a general rule, I'd agree there's nothing wrong with ballin in the winter for DB's. In Keenan's case, he desperately needs to pack on some lean muscle from tip to toe. He also needs to work on getting better leverage to generate power at the point of contact without having to dive at the ball carrier. IMO, a year or two of wrestling or competitive judo would be the best/quickest way to not only fix the little problems with his physique and tackling technique, but help turn those weaknesses into strengths for him.
 
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