Strengths:
Size- Jonotthan Harrison possesses good size for the center position (6-3, 310). Harrison has a lean, muscular built and could easily add muscle to his frame.
Athleticism- Harrison is a very good athlete with quick feet and shows good overall movement skills, specifically the ability to change directions.
Strength/Power/Explosiveness- Plays with good upper body strength and explosion. Shows the ability to deliver a quick, violent blow and is able to lockout and control defenders. Displays good core strength. Has good explosion and is able to uncoil, lift and drive defenders at the point of attack.
Attitude- Plays with physicality and competes on every play, you can see excitement and emotion when he plays the game. Looks to finish off blocks and pick up blocks down field, which to me is all attitude and “want to.”
Base/Pad level/Foot work- Consistently plays with an ideal base, never bringing his feet close together which allows him to be effective in the run game and in pass protection. Because of his good base and core strength, Harrison is able to maintain good pad level and plays with good knee bend.
Hands- Harrison may possess the most violent and heavy hands amongst center’s in the nation. With the combination of his upper body explosion and tight hand carriage, Harrison is a fearless puncher and understands the importance of using his hands to effectively stop the charge of defenders, especially tight-shaded nose tackles.
Run Blocking- Harrison excels in the zone blocking scheme, showing the proper foot work and technique that allows him to effectively combo block with the guard, securing and getting push on defensive linemen, while keeping his shoulder’s square and coming off on linebackers. Shows explosion at the point of attack, engaging defensive linemen quickly. Effectively able to cut off penetrating defensive linemen when asked to back-block and down-block, for pulling guards. Takes good angles when releasing and climbing to the next level to block linebackers and shows the ability to dip his hips, shoot his hands and latch on defenders at the 2nd level. As I mentioned earlier, Harrison takes a violent approach when he looks to finish off blocks in the run-game.
Pass Protection- Harrison is able to snap the ball and get in to his pass set quickly, which allows him more space to work against tight shades. Harrison shows the ability to set back and over, establish a post-foot and mirror defenders in 1-on-1 situations. Harrison shows a violent punch and is able to gain hand placement to control defenders. When uncovered, does a good job helping his guards. Noticeably identifies and points out blitzers and/or line stunts.
Areas of Improvement:
Lower body Strength- In my opinion, the majority of Jonotthan Harrison’s issues stem from his lack of functional lower body strength. Although Harrison shows explosiveness off the ball at the point of attack, in solo situations, he often struggles to get push on defenders at the point of attack. In pass protection, he gives up too much ground and gets push back by the bull rush, because he is not able to generate force by digging his feet in, dropping his hips and anchoring.
Sustaining blocks- There are times when Harrison is engaged, both on the line of scrimmage and in space and can not maintain blocks because of two main issues:
1)Upper body gets too far extended out over his toes with out bringing his hips and his feet.
2)He lets his feet go dead after engaging defensive linemen or on contact when blocking
linebackers.
Both of these factors lead to Harrison falling off of blocks or allows defenders to shed his blocks, which both ultimately results in him ending up on the ground. I would like to see Harrison roll his hips, bring his feet and accelerate feet through contact. Adding functional lower body strength may help this.
Overall:
Jonotthan Harrison possesses some tools that make him a very intriguing prospect. His natural athleticism and physical demeanor really distinguishes him as one of the top center prospects in the nation. I truly believe with the proper development of strength and technique, Harrison will be a day 1 NFL starter and has a chance to be special, he is not talked about as much as the other “big name” centers, but in my opinion is one of the top 3 centers in the 2014 NFL draft.
