Slimm's Underrated Prospects (Underclassman)

[Pachyderm_Wave]

Slimm I was reading ESPN's early look at the 2013 draft and they mention a couple of sleepers. One is Anthony Barr from UCLA who's 6'4" 235 lbs and has 12 sacks...and the other is a LT from Central Michigan by the name of Eric Fisher who is 6'7" 305 lbs and a senior. I did some research and it seems he's climbing up boards pretty quickly, some have him as a late first round-early second round prospect...it's the first I've heard of him. Have you seen this kid play?


http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/page/hotread-2013-nfl-draft/nfl-hot-read-10-things-know-2013-draft

Absolutely I've seen a lot of both. I think Eric Fisher is the best Senior tackle in the class, which you'll find in the thread where I made my November rankings for Seniors. He reminds me a little bit of Joe Staley when he came out of Central Michigan, except better. I believe the Chippewas have two of the more underrated Senior prospects in this entire class. One being Fisher, the other being safety Jahleel Addae, who I'm convinced is the most athletic safety I've seen. Jake Olson at right tackle is a good player too.

Barr was playing runningback his first two years at UCLA and just switched to the defensive side of the ball this year. He's produced from the linebacker position, but it came after I made this thread, which is based off what I've seen of their sophomore tape. Obviously Barr playing linebacker hadn't happened yet.

Lastly, I do agree with Mel regarding Cordarrelle Patterson. He's going to be the #1 WR on my board if he enters the draft. It's a possibility he's not going to have the grades to return to Tennessee. Entering the draft will be the only option that makes sense. He can't go back to JUCO, it's only for freshman/sophomores.

 

[DKphin]

Safety:

Nickoe Whitley - Mississippi St.

Matt Elam - Florida

Lamarcus Joyner - Florida St.

Ahmad Dixon - Baylor

Hakeem Smith - Louisville

C.J. Barnett - Ohio St.

Isaiah Lewis - Michigan St.

I would not call Elam as underrated. There is more than one service that rates him as the 1-2 safety if he decides to leave UF.

 

[Pachyderm_Wave]

I would not call Elam as underrated. There is more than one service that rates him as the 1-2 safety if he decides to leave UF.

Obviously. Of course he's not underrated anymore, but he was prior to the season. I've talked about how underrated I felt Elam was prior to the season going all the way back to July, and believed he was ready to put it on display as a Junior and become one of the elite defenders in the SEC....

http://www.finheaven.com/forums/showthread.php?318883-Slimm-s-2013-prospects-(underclassman)/page4



Now that he's gone out and proven that by having dominant performances inside the SEC on his way to leading Florida to a top 5 defense, they're beginning to see how good he really is. He was a great player last year as a sophomore despite Florida's defense not being nearly as good. His dedication to film study was going to allow him to go from being an extremely solid, assignment sound player, to being an elite player.

All the "services" you're reading were most likely hyping up liabilities such as T.J. McDonald as premier players circa the time period I was attempting to direct attention towards where the real talent lies.

Elam isn't underrated anymore, and they're a little late in my estimation.

 

[datruth55]

Absolutely I've seen a lot of both. I think Eric Fisher is the best Senior tackle in the class, which you'll find in the thread where I made my November rankings for Seniors. He reminds me a little bit of Joe Staley when he came out of Central Michigan, except better. I believe the Chippewas have two of the more underrated Senior prospects in this entire class. One being Fisher, the other being safety Jahleel Addae, who I'm convinced is the most athletic safety I've seen. Jake Olson at right tackle is a good player too.

Barr was playing runningback his first two years at UCLA and just switched to the defensive side of the ball this year. He's produced from the linebacker position, but it came after I made this thread, which is based off what I've seen of their sophomore tape. Obviously Barr playing linebacker hadn't happened yet.

Lastly, I do agree with Mel regarding Cordarrelle Patterson. He's going to be the #1 WR on my board if he enters the draft. It's a possibility the he's not going to have the grades to return to Tennessee. Entering the draft will be the only option that makes sense. He can't go back to JUCO, it's only for freshman/sophomores.

I saw a little bit of highlight tape from one of Eric Fisher's games against Michigan State. Pretty good feet, good punch, plays with good bend...looks athletic enough to play in the ZBS. If the juniors come out (Luke Joeckel, Jake Matthews, Taylor Lewan) where would you put Fisher among them?

 

[Pachyderm_Wave]

Behind Joeckel as the #2 tackle in the draft... right there in the neighborhood with Jake Matthews. I suspect Matthews can play left tackle. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if he stayed another year just to switch over the left side to prove it if Joeckel moves on.

As an aside, I think Jeff Nady for Nevada is a really underrated player that I may be higher on than most.

 

[DKphin]

Sorry, I did not notice when this thread was originally posted

Obviously. Of course he's not underrated anymore, but he was prior to the season. I've talked about how underrated I felt Elam was prior to the season going all the way back to July, and believed he was ready to put it on display as a Junior and become one of the elite defenders in the SEC....

http://www.finheaven.com/forums/showthread.php?318883-Slimm-s-2013-prospects-(underclassman)/page4



Now that he's gone out and proven that by having dominant performances inside the SEC on his way to leading Florida to a top 5 defense, they're beginning to see how good he really is. He was a great player last year as a sophomore despite Florida's defense not being nearly as good. His dedication to film study was going to allow him to go from being an extremely solid, assignment sound player, to being an elite player.

All the "services" you're reading were most likely hyping up liabilities such as T.J. McDonald as premier players circa the time period I was attempting to direct attention towards where the real talent lies.

Elam isn't underrated anymore, and they're a little late in my estimation.