fishypete
FinHeaven Elite
Please tell me that Jake Long isn't another Robert Gallery. Maybe I'm getting hysterical here, but didn't Gallery have the same glowing reports as Jake Long does now. Gallery couldn't handle speed rushers at all. Please tell me I'm wrong.
Outside of both having played in the Big Ten, I don’t think the two players could be described in the same sentence. There were evaluators in the NFL when Gallery entered the draft — some even on the Oakland Raiders’ staff, who were obviously tuned out by Al Davis — who felt that Gallery’s short arms would never allow him to be more than a guard in the NFL. His lack of base strength and power have also been regularly exposed in the pros. Jake Long has long arms, is bigger, stronger and much more powerful in the lower body.
I could see where some concerns could creep in. Florida DE Derrick Harvey showed that Long could be caught off-guard. But Long looked much more comfortable in the second half and helped shut down Harvey later in the game, never giving up a sack. Vernon Gholston also gave Long trouble throughout his career, but keep in mind that Gholston is as physically gifted as most any pass rusher in the NFL and represents the highest level of competition Long will see in the pros.
The reality is that Long was not utilized in a blocking scheme that best displayed his talents during his final two years of college. When asked to come off the ball flat-backed and move a defender one-on-one, he is extremely powerful as a run blocker. So, to answer your question, evaluators see Long much more closely resembling Tony Boselli or Jumbo Elliott than Gallery, whose arm length and base strength limitations have proven to make him best-suited inside.
— Chris Craig, San Diego
Chris,Outside of both having played in the Big Ten, I don’t think the two players could be described in the same sentence. There were evaluators in the NFL when Gallery entered the draft — some even on the Oakland Raiders’ staff, who were obviously tuned out by Al Davis — who felt that Gallery’s short arms would never allow him to be more than a guard in the NFL. His lack of base strength and power have also been regularly exposed in the pros. Jake Long has long arms, is bigger, stronger and much more powerful in the lower body.
I could see where some concerns could creep in. Florida DE Derrick Harvey showed that Long could be caught off-guard. But Long looked much more comfortable in the second half and helped shut down Harvey later in the game, never giving up a sack. Vernon Gholston also gave Long trouble throughout his career, but keep in mind that Gholston is as physically gifted as most any pass rusher in the NFL and represents the highest level of competition Long will see in the pros.
The reality is that Long was not utilized in a blocking scheme that best displayed his talents during his final two years of college. When asked to come off the ball flat-backed and move a defender one-on-one, he is extremely powerful as a run blocker. So, to answer your question, evaluators see Long much more closely resembling Tony Boselli or Jumbo Elliott than Gallery, whose arm length and base strength limitations have proven to make him best-suited inside.
