ckparrothead
Premium Member
Player: Jarron Gilbert
Year: Senior
School: San Jose State
Position: DE/DT
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 287 lbs.
Age: 22
Arm Length: 35 5/8ths inches
Hand Size: 10 1/4 inches
Career Stats: 145 Tackles, 42.0 TFLs, 21.5 Sacks, 15 Passes Defensed, 3 Forced Fumbles
2008 Stats: 52 Tackles, 22.0 TFLs, 9.5 Sacks, 3 Passes Defensed, 2 Forced Fumbles
2007 Stats: 49 Tackles, 7.5 TFLs, 4.0 Sacks, 4 Passes Defensed, 1 Forced Fumble
*Stats provided by NFL Draft Scout (http://www.nfldraftscout.com/)
Most Unique Attribute: Burst
Areas For Improvement: Weight, Ball Skills
Projected Round: 1st
My Take: I feel like I am late to the party on Mr. Gilbert, but I can't feel too bad about it because it seems like everyone is late on him. I only started looking into him this last Monday, and I've been nattering on about him, like a teenage girl, ever since. The thing I should get out of the way is, I caught onto him by simply reading some reviews of Monday's Shrine Game practices. The bottom line is, sometimes a guy that plays for little ole San Jose State slips under the radar and you don't generally get to see them on television as much.
Every year I like to try and skim the Shrine practice reviews and see if I can catch wind of the next Marques Colston or Brandon Marshall (Hula Bowl). There seemed to be a near consensus, even on the first day of Shrine practices, that Jarron Gilbert was dominating the practices. So, you take a look at some stats, dig into his background, see if you can find some video, and go from there as best you can.
The stats are rather unearthly. This is a guy that played Defensive Tackle all year long and he accumulated 22.0 tackles for loss. Patriots fans creamed themselves about Shawn Crable's 28.5 tackles for loss in 2007, but Crable played a hybrid outside pass rush position specifically designed to put him in position to make those plays behind the line of scrimmage. It's a different story when you go from a down defensive end as a junior, accumulating only 7.5 tackles for loss, to a straight up 3-Technique Defensive Tackle as a senior with 22.0 tackles for loss.
I was going to have to just wait to see him in the Shrine Game this weekend, or wait until he gets brought up to the Senior Bowl next week (trust me, he'll get brought up), but luckily someone close to him has a habit of cutting up some quality highlight films, as well as videos of other impressive accomplishments, and posting them on the series of tubes known as the interwebs. There are four videos of him out there, and I had a lot of fun watching all four of them. One amazing video is of him crouching down under water in the 3 foot shallow section of a hotel swimming pool, then exploding upward and jumping clean out of the pool and onto the deck, landing on his feet. Talk about explosion. Another video is of him squatting 635 lbs. Yowsa. The video also has still shots of him dead lifting 655 lbs. Double yowsa.
The real good stuff was in his Junior and Senior highlight films. I watched them in progression, just to see how he came along from one year to another. What I saw made me think this unknown that had been pegged for a mid-Day 2 prospect, is actually a 1st rounder waiting to happen.
The first thing that jumps out at you is his burst. That's something you might suspect when you see a 280-290 pound man jump clean out of a swimming pool. There are two ways you really see that in the highlights, though. One is his get-up, going from his stance to having his opponents trying to dig their way out of a hole only two-steps into his rush. Sometimes it doesn't look fair. But the other thing that I really like, probably even more, is his standing acceleration, or rather the way he closes on the football. Once you've made it through the trash in the trenches, your standing acceleration is going to guide how effective you'll be at influencing the play. If you're not able to close fast enough, the quarterback may Dan Marino you and your pass rush will have been all for naught. Or even worse, he could Michael Vick you and make you look the fool. Size and arm length plays into this as well, as a larger guy closing on the football tends to throw up more panic signs than a smaller guy. Anyway, one thing that truly does stand out about Gilbert is his suddenness to the football. It looks pretty violent, and violent is good.
But really, when I'm trying to figure out what is unique about him, what I wanted to point out is how complete his profile looks (to me). He's got excellent burst, long arms, great upper and lower body strength, ideal height, ideal production, and as far as I know he hasn't killed anybody.
His hand use is tremendous, and he regularly displays a variety of pass rush moves. I haven't seen him play full games yet, but with a full set of tools in his tool box, you can imagine him setting up his opponents early in the game for different moves later on. He puts on a quality spin move that should be effective against interior OLs. He has a swim move that sees him regularly on the quarterback's hip before he can even execute a handoff (Anyone remember Tecmo Super Bowl? Think Bruce Smith). If he gets worked to the outside, he uses his hands to rip the offensive lineman away and get back into the play, displaying good motor a number of times on extended action. He makes plays against both the run and the pass. He shows the ability to keep offensive linemen away from his body. I like his lateral speed, he is able to outrun offensive linemen to the outside and beat them around the corner. He should be excellent at stunts.
At some point, you're left wondering...what haven't I seen this guy do really well? Normally when you're looking at a guy's highlights, you're seeing maybe 2 or 3 minutes worth of choice plays. His highlights run more like 9 or 10 minutes. The volume itself is impressive, not a lot of guys make this many physically dominant and impressive plays.
Who does he remind me of? I kept thinking something between a La'Roi Glover, Kevin Williams or Tommie Harris. Or perhaps Luis Castillo...without the steroids (I think)...
What are they saying about him? Without providing more of the quotes, since I started looking into him on Monday he's not disappointed at the subsequent Shrine practices. In fact, pretty much every single source that has discussed players at the Shrine practices, has mentioned that Jarron Gilbert is dominating. Most of them have him as the most impressive player there, although Jamon Meredith is coming up very strong as well. Most recently, San Francisco area scout Todd Brunner has given him some glowing comments.
What does it mean for Miami? Well, you have to admit...this staff is full of suckers for exactly this type of player, starting all the way at the top with Bill Parcells. He doesn't seem to even care how many of these guys he already has. If he sees one, he wants him. So, whether we have Langford, Merling and Starks here or not, when a guy comes out flashing the skills that Gilbert has, and if he somehow, some way manages to remain so grossly underrated all the way until the end of April (which I severely doubt), then he has to be on radar. We don't know that any of those three players (Langford, Merling, Starks) is more than a run stopper. Merling and Langford were pegged by many as exactly that, coming out, and neither displayed great pass rush skills during their rookie seasons (I know, I know, give them time). Gilbert has the size, strength, burst and hand use to be a dominant pass rusher as a 3-4 DE.
Plus, any of you familiar with our following of Phil Merling a year ago knows that many of us considered him a very strong chase player and thought that he could eventually move to outside linebacker in this heavy scheme that sees Matt Roth playing that spot. I know that seems less likely now, given all the extra chunk that Merling seemed to stuff into his gut and his butt during the season, but the fact of the matter is if the coaches didn't agree with that assessment of Merling as a potential chase player they would not have had Merling playing outside linebacker for entire games during the preseason (surprisingly few people noticed that, too).
All I'm saying is that, between Merling's flexibility, and Vonnie Holliday's age/contract, Miami has the flexibility to grab the best player they can get their hands on at various stages of the draft even if it means adding yet another DE/DT type. And if he somehow got to the 2nd round, this one might be too good to pass up.
Of course I could be way off. As my friend and colleague Boomer says many a time, I'm just a guy on the internet.
Year: Senior
School: San Jose State
Position: DE/DT
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 287 lbs.
Age: 22
Arm Length: 35 5/8ths inches
Hand Size: 10 1/4 inches
Career Stats: 145 Tackles, 42.0 TFLs, 21.5 Sacks, 15 Passes Defensed, 3 Forced Fumbles
2008 Stats: 52 Tackles, 22.0 TFLs, 9.5 Sacks, 3 Passes Defensed, 2 Forced Fumbles
2007 Stats: 49 Tackles, 7.5 TFLs, 4.0 Sacks, 4 Passes Defensed, 1 Forced Fumble
*Stats provided by NFL Draft Scout (http://www.nfldraftscout.com/)
Most Unique Attribute: Burst
Areas For Improvement: Weight, Ball Skills
Projected Round: 1st
My Take: I feel like I am late to the party on Mr. Gilbert, but I can't feel too bad about it because it seems like everyone is late on him. I only started looking into him this last Monday, and I've been nattering on about him, like a teenage girl, ever since. The thing I should get out of the way is, I caught onto him by simply reading some reviews of Monday's Shrine Game practices. The bottom line is, sometimes a guy that plays for little ole San Jose State slips under the radar and you don't generally get to see them on television as much.
Every year I like to try and skim the Shrine practice reviews and see if I can catch wind of the next Marques Colston or Brandon Marshall (Hula Bowl). There seemed to be a near consensus, even on the first day of Shrine practices, that Jarron Gilbert was dominating the practices. So, you take a look at some stats, dig into his background, see if you can find some video, and go from there as best you can.
The stats are rather unearthly. This is a guy that played Defensive Tackle all year long and he accumulated 22.0 tackles for loss. Patriots fans creamed themselves about Shawn Crable's 28.5 tackles for loss in 2007, but Crable played a hybrid outside pass rush position specifically designed to put him in position to make those plays behind the line of scrimmage. It's a different story when you go from a down defensive end as a junior, accumulating only 7.5 tackles for loss, to a straight up 3-Technique Defensive Tackle as a senior with 22.0 tackles for loss.
I was going to have to just wait to see him in the Shrine Game this weekend, or wait until he gets brought up to the Senior Bowl next week (trust me, he'll get brought up), but luckily someone close to him has a habit of cutting up some quality highlight films, as well as videos of other impressive accomplishments, and posting them on the series of tubes known as the interwebs. There are four videos of him out there, and I had a lot of fun watching all four of them. One amazing video is of him crouching down under water in the 3 foot shallow section of a hotel swimming pool, then exploding upward and jumping clean out of the pool and onto the deck, landing on his feet. Talk about explosion. Another video is of him squatting 635 lbs. Yowsa. The video also has still shots of him dead lifting 655 lbs. Double yowsa.
The real good stuff was in his Junior and Senior highlight films. I watched them in progression, just to see how he came along from one year to another. What I saw made me think this unknown that had been pegged for a mid-Day 2 prospect, is actually a 1st rounder waiting to happen.
The first thing that jumps out at you is his burst. That's something you might suspect when you see a 280-290 pound man jump clean out of a swimming pool. There are two ways you really see that in the highlights, though. One is his get-up, going from his stance to having his opponents trying to dig their way out of a hole only two-steps into his rush. Sometimes it doesn't look fair. But the other thing that I really like, probably even more, is his standing acceleration, or rather the way he closes on the football. Once you've made it through the trash in the trenches, your standing acceleration is going to guide how effective you'll be at influencing the play. If you're not able to close fast enough, the quarterback may Dan Marino you and your pass rush will have been all for naught. Or even worse, he could Michael Vick you and make you look the fool. Size and arm length plays into this as well, as a larger guy closing on the football tends to throw up more panic signs than a smaller guy. Anyway, one thing that truly does stand out about Gilbert is his suddenness to the football. It looks pretty violent, and violent is good.
But really, when I'm trying to figure out what is unique about him, what I wanted to point out is how complete his profile looks (to me). He's got excellent burst, long arms, great upper and lower body strength, ideal height, ideal production, and as far as I know he hasn't killed anybody.
His hand use is tremendous, and he regularly displays a variety of pass rush moves. I haven't seen him play full games yet, but with a full set of tools in his tool box, you can imagine him setting up his opponents early in the game for different moves later on. He puts on a quality spin move that should be effective against interior OLs. He has a swim move that sees him regularly on the quarterback's hip before he can even execute a handoff (Anyone remember Tecmo Super Bowl? Think Bruce Smith). If he gets worked to the outside, he uses his hands to rip the offensive lineman away and get back into the play, displaying good motor a number of times on extended action. He makes plays against both the run and the pass. He shows the ability to keep offensive linemen away from his body. I like his lateral speed, he is able to outrun offensive linemen to the outside and beat them around the corner. He should be excellent at stunts.
At some point, you're left wondering...what haven't I seen this guy do really well? Normally when you're looking at a guy's highlights, you're seeing maybe 2 or 3 minutes worth of choice plays. His highlights run more like 9 or 10 minutes. The volume itself is impressive, not a lot of guys make this many physically dominant and impressive plays.
Who does he remind me of? I kept thinking something between a La'Roi Glover, Kevin Williams or Tommie Harris. Or perhaps Luis Castillo...without the steroids (I think)...
What are they saying about him? Without providing more of the quotes, since I started looking into him on Monday he's not disappointed at the subsequent Shrine practices. In fact, pretty much every single source that has discussed players at the Shrine practices, has mentioned that Jarron Gilbert is dominating. Most of them have him as the most impressive player there, although Jamon Meredith is coming up very strong as well. Most recently, San Francisco area scout Todd Brunner has given him some glowing comments.
What does it mean for Miami? Well, you have to admit...this staff is full of suckers for exactly this type of player, starting all the way at the top with Bill Parcells. He doesn't seem to even care how many of these guys he already has. If he sees one, he wants him. So, whether we have Langford, Merling and Starks here or not, when a guy comes out flashing the skills that Gilbert has, and if he somehow, some way manages to remain so grossly underrated all the way until the end of April (which I severely doubt), then he has to be on radar. We don't know that any of those three players (Langford, Merling, Starks) is more than a run stopper. Merling and Langford were pegged by many as exactly that, coming out, and neither displayed great pass rush skills during their rookie seasons (I know, I know, give them time). Gilbert has the size, strength, burst and hand use to be a dominant pass rusher as a 3-4 DE.
Plus, any of you familiar with our following of Phil Merling a year ago knows that many of us considered him a very strong chase player and thought that he could eventually move to outside linebacker in this heavy scheme that sees Matt Roth playing that spot. I know that seems less likely now, given all the extra chunk that Merling seemed to stuff into his gut and his butt during the season, but the fact of the matter is if the coaches didn't agree with that assessment of Merling as a potential chase player they would not have had Merling playing outside linebacker for entire games during the preseason (surprisingly few people noticed that, too).
All I'm saying is that, between Merling's flexibility, and Vonnie Holliday's age/contract, Miami has the flexibility to grab the best player they can get their hands on at various stages of the draft even if it means adding yet another DE/DT type. And if he somehow got to the 2nd round, this one might be too good to pass up.
Of course I could be way off. As my friend and colleague Boomer says many a time, I'm just a guy on the internet.
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