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Slimm's 2013 prospects (underclassman)

Pachyderm_Wave

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Since I've long been exhausted myself on this year's prospects and see no point in talking in circles about it any longer, I always like to refresh myself by looking forward to next year's crop of talented players. The truth is, I'd rather watch 3 hours worth of games on college prospects than sit through 3 hours of a Dolphins game. That's just me.

This is a thread that I'll use to talk about some of my personal favorites for the 2013 class....

Whenever I want to look for talented but potentially very underrated college defensive players, I always like to start in Starkville. Mississippi St. never lets me down in this aspect, as I always find gems there. I found Fletcher Cox there almost a year ago before anyone other than his parents even knew who he was. Trace it back to kids like Pernell McPhee, K.J. Wright, etc... even Fred Smoot.

One kid who constantly popped off the screen for me over the past 2 seasons for Mississippi St. in the secondary is a kid by the name of Nickoe Whitley....

Let me make this perfectly clear.... this kid is without a doubt one of the most violent hitters and explosive tacklers that I've ever seen patrol the secondary of a defense in the SEC. He was only a redshirt sophomore this past season, and missed the last 4 or 5 games of the season with an achilles injury, and so far during the spring he's been held out of spring practice while he continues to heal. He'll be ready for fall camp and to resume his role as the enforcer in the Bulldogs' secondary come September.

He's such an explosive and violent hitter, that I've listened to receivers and coaches talk about how they had to scale him back in practice in the past in order for Dan Mullen and coach Koenning to run their offense. Receivers Arceto Clark and Chad Bumphis were afraid to catch passes over the middle in practice due to Whitley knocking their helmets off.

Whitley redshirted his first year on campus before taking over and starting 11 games as a freshman and earning SEC All-Freshman Honors. In addition to his devastating hitting power and precise control he exhibits in his striking (putting his hat on the football) which leads to forced fumbles, he also possesses excellent range and ball skills. He's already accumulated 7 interceptions in only 20 starts.

He'll be a redshirt Junior this upcoming season and I think he'll probably go ahead and enter 2013 draft as an underclassmen, although that's strictly my assumption.


Here's a few clips that illustrate his rare combination of ball skills, range, and devastating hitting power, along with the precision in which he uses his ability to strike in order to put balls on the carpet, and ball carriers out of the game.





This is probably the part that best sums up his physicality and explosive ability as a striker. On the first play here vs. Kentucky, he comes up and takes out a 300+ pound pulling guard in open space by the name of Larry Warford, knocking his helmet off and knocking him clean to the ground.... and still comes off to make the tackle on the ball carrier and force a fumble. You just don't see this type of ability out of a safety.

The following play, La'Rod King tries to make a move on him with the ball in his hands in the open field, but with no success. Whitley comes in full speed and puts a precise strike on the football to cause yet another fumble.

Less than 3 minutes into this game, he's been in on 2 tackles, forced 2 fumbles, resulting in both players leaving the game for a short period:


[video=youtube;XW7EsnIzOnY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW7EsnIzOnY[/video]











This is the new breed of safety that you don't come across often. The combination of ball skills, explosive and accurate striking, and ability to cause turnovers makes him a rare breed of safety. The type of kid that teams look for to play in a Quarters coverage who can force turnovers both by coverage downfield, and in run support.

I look for him to be one of the best defensive backs in all of college football this upcoming season. In fact, along with Corey Broomfield and Johnthan Banks, Mississippi St. has one of the best secondaries in the entire country... perhaps the best in the SEC. That's saying something.
 
This is an incredible one-handed interception of Ryan Mallett during Whitley's freshman season that provides a glance at his range and ball skills:


[video=youtube;mj7fW1eu1Aw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj7fW1eu1Aw[/video]
 
Another one vs. Cam Newton:


[video=youtube;N1IRmP7e48o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1IRmP7e48o&feature=related[/video]
 
He comes in like a patriot missile in pads here and puts down Spencer Ware who's one of the most physical backs in the SEC with assurance:


[video=youtube;p9UvE3IjCeI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9UvE3IjCeI[/video]
 
Here's another example of his rare ability to strike not only with extreme violence, but surgical precision on Washaun Ealey. This was one of the biggest plays of the season for Mississippi St.'s defense and probably turned their season around:


[video=youtube;n5oLdJoeJpA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5oLdJoeJpA[/video]
 
He actually knocked himself out in the process here when he hit Emory Blake... one of the best receivers in the SEC who will get plenty of attention as the upcoming season unfolds:


[video=youtube;TqZuGvYqQJU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqZuGvYqQJU[/video]
 
If he doesn't kill himself before getting into the NFL I'd take him. Where would you project him as of now as I have absolutely no idea? Lol
 
If he doesn't kill himself before getting into the NFL I'd take him. Where would you project him as of now as I have absolutely no idea? Lol


These clips don't even really do him justice. Provine produces a lot of good high school players from the state of Mississippi and I've watched him play for 2 years. He looks like 1st round talent to me.

By the end of this upcoming season, he'll be mentioned as one of the best safeties in the country. He already is.... people just don't know it yet.

If there's one question scouts will have about him it'll be long speed. He's probably a high 4.5 or low 4.6 kid on a stopwatch, but his game speed is much faster because he doesn't take false steps away from the action.
 
Great ability for sure, but could he be another Bob Sanders and ends up getting himself broken all the time?
 
Now this next kid is another very talented underclassman that I like by the name of Stedman Bailey. He's from Miami and was high school teammates with Geno Smith at Miramar, also his quarterback at West Virginia. Bailey was recruited hard by several SEC schools.... I think he had 5 offers from SEC schools.

He's not a big receiver at around 5'10", 190... but he does what I like to see. He runs his routes at full speed. That's one of the first things you have to learn as a route runner in order to be effective at it and set DB's up in order to separate.... and he's a consistent hands catcher that doesn't allow the ball into his body. He consistently does a few things on tape that are essential in order to be a big time player, and quality NFL wide receiver prospect:

1. Defeat the jam at the LOS with technique
2. Separate against man coverage via route running
3. Ability to track difficult passes with the eyes over the improper shoulder
4. Displays the attitude that the ball is his in 50/50, or jump ball situations
5. Block downfield and on the perimeter with tremendous effort

He exploded this past season as a sophomore with 72 receptions, 1,279 yards, and 12 TD's. Averaged almost 18 yards per reception.


In this first clip, the first thing I take notice of is the shell coverage. They're playing a C2 with press-man across the board underneath with the cornerbacks. Bailey immediately defeates the press coverage at the LOS and gets a seam release to the inside. He gets the DB to turn his hips on his 4th step which is exactly how you coach it. Once the DB flips his hips, Bailey shoots back across his face and threatens the seam that the safety is responsible for. Dana Holgorson likes to "tag" the backside receiver routes... in other words, the receiver adjusts his route on the fly by reading the coverage. Bailey sees that the safety is flat footed and looking in the opposite direction towards the strength of the formation (the 2 receiver side) and Bailey stretches him vertically... runs right by what is supposed to be the last line of defense in this shell look. In Cover-2 the safeties are required to be deeper than the deepest receiver, and wider than the widest receiver....in this case he's neither... and Bailey runs right by him and continues to separate at the top of his route until the ball arrives.

Then he delivers a stiff arm and displays his RAC ability:



[video=youtube;RNFu9m60KpM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNFu9m60KpM&feature=related[/video]
 
What you're looking at right here is the only TD reception that Morris Claiborne gave up all season... it was to Stedman Bailey.

If you really study this matchup, it was an outstanding 1-on-1 battle all game between these two. Bailey never backed down the entire game and was extremely physical with Claiborne the entire night. He blocked him, fought him, scored on him.... you name it.



[video=youtube;DjQw3d4lNM0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjQw3d4lNM0&feature=relmfu[/video]
 
In this situation, Bailey displays the clutch in his gut.

It's 4th down & 10 with the score tied and the game on the line. You can clearly see that the CB and safety have Bailey bracketed here pre-snap in an attempt to double cover him.

This clutch reception was never supposed to happen by design:



[video=youtube;dWww3kR5tH4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWww3kR5tH4[/video]
 
This is what I mean by he understands how to attack the football in the air in 1-on-1 situations against tight man coverage. In 50/50 situations, he has the attitude that the ball is his. You must possess this trait to develope the trust in your quarterback. Geno Smith has this trust in Stedman Bailey.

Nevermind that he does it with one hand:



[video=youtube;DpC3UjA2x10]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpC3UjA2x10&feature=relmfu[/video]
 
Concentration... tips it to himself in the endzone for the touchdown.


[video=youtube;aMfK4xL8fQ8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMfK4xL8fQ8&feature=relmfu[/video]
 
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