Welcome to Buff Nation young man. Work hard and knock'em dead. I'll be rooting for you.
I like the underdog so I watched Garcia's film last night. It is a highlight reel and I came away impressed. Sorry, De Lama, but we will agree to disagree on Garcia. IMO, if he was really 6'2" 225 with publicity, he might have been a blue chip or high 3*. I think ESPN and the local paper has his height and weight correct (6', about 215), but Rivals lists him 6'3" 235. Maybe he grew. He looks to have a body that will grow. His stats were excellent over two years. I just do not think he got that one Blue Blood offer, where his recruiting took off. Maybe he did not attend the right camps, or played baseball/another sport track instead??
On film, it is always hard to tell the level competition, as he comes from a smaller conference. However, the opponents did not look overly small, he did not look overly huge either, yet he really stood out. Garcia is a traditional stay at home run stopping/blitzing linebacker--plain and simple. I did not see him much in pass coverage. My biggest take away is it looks like the game "slows down" for him--very smart/high GPA, no panic rather patience, confident in his reads, sort of sniffs out the play (I can see why his knickname is K9), and is very efficient (not many wasted steps in those highlights) while making solid plays. He moves well, takes good angles, read/anticipates excellent (sort of the professor type) and more a technician than a brute force guy. Appears to have great tackling fundamentals, but he is just not a huge hitter--so there were not those 'wow' highlights, where the opponent is just blown up. In some highlights he shed blocks to make tackles. His smarts and patience stood out. In all, it just seemed like the game was going much slower for him--he really let the game come to him. Very steady eddy. I imagine he will be good in gap control.
As of today, it is doubtful that Garcia is the gobble-up ILB, contributing next year, but he did play big for his smaller listed size. If he comes in and is really 6'3," 235 of muscle, then he could compete some. It is hard to tell how his overall quicks and speed will translate into this roster and league. His track stats were good.
I think someone on the CU staff (or close to the CU staff) saw him in person--so perhaps they have his growth potential factored in. The question is how much he grows/fills out and maintains the quicks/speed. If he does, he could be a diamond in the rough--just a very solid/consistent ILB that any team wants. If he does not fill-out, he will maintain a great GPA and he should be good on special teams. I do not expect to see him much next year, but it would not surprise me if he pushes the RS-Frosh LB's we currently have on the roster.
