Been going through all of the Senior Bowl equivalent of the All-22 footage for the National team, paying particular mind to the OL/DL matchups.
There are some players that I didn't really know that I needed to go back and look at, but now I do.
First is Quinn Meinerz of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Pach, he's one for the list. He's got everybody buzzing. He was a LG there but Dolphins coaches have been cross training him at Center and he's been phenomenal. He came in 6032 & 320 lbs, and he carries it really well. He has 33" arms and better than 10" hands. I'd cite the wing span but I swear they did something with the wing span measurements this year they somehow screwed them up. But anyway. Nasty as hell, was burying Levi Onwuzurike and Osa Odighizuwa into the dirt, and nobody else could do that to Onwuzurike. Very mobile, very athletic looking. There's just a level of fight in him that you can tell translates.
But another guy I'm going to have to go back and watch is Spencer Brown of Northern Iowa. I didn't know anything about him but he's practicing really, really well. He measured 6084 and 315 lbs. and for a guy that is 6'8.5" he really doesn't come off on tape like he's built awkwardly tall or anything like that. I've seen plenty of too-tall looking tackles that aren't built for good leverage. He's not that, at all. Really good lateral movement, good hand use, natural heaviness to him, just a smooth player who is more than holding his own in drills that should favor the defensive player. He bumped up from facing FCS players to facing guys like Rashad Weaver, Daelin Hayes, Ade Ogundeji, Jonathan Cooper, Tarron Jackson, and Shaka Toney...and he's the one dominating them.
I've mentioned DIllon Radunz of North Dakota State before. The thing about this practice footage that really hits you hard, something you already know but with this footage you can really just see how deep the rabbit hole goes on this one, is how GOOD he would be in a zone scheme. His lateral burst is phenomenal. On these zone plays he and the left guard are both supposed to be moving lateral at the same time and he's practically mowing over his own linemate within two steps. He fared well, overall, in the pit drills. He does well in pass pro (didn't let up a sack in 2019). But it's this mobility that will intrigue all these teams that are going to try some variation of Kyle Shanahan's system this year. He's really punchy, feisty, too. That shows up on NDSU tape and it's there in practice footage too. He measured 6055 & 304 lbs., with 33.25" arms, just over 9" hands. Good measurements for the FCS kid. Importantly, the pure strength looks like he fits right in among these guys, and that's the thing that would be hard to tell from FCS footage.
This guy is one that Pach has on his underclassmen list, but I hadn't looked at, and that's James Hudson of Cincinnati. The first thing that stands out about him is you're seeing all these OLs who look like OLs and then you see a guy line up at right and left tackle who looks like a tight end. He measured well, 6043 & 302 lbs. with 33" arms and amazing 11" hands. And he shows strength and anchor in these practice reps. But he carries the weight like a defensive end (his former position) or a tight end. He moves like that too. He was one of the guys in practice that was just mostly unassailable.
The last guy I'll mention here is Robert Hainsey from Notre Dame and that's just because I hadn't looked at him. I saw them play this guy at Center, at Left Guard, at Right Guard, and Right Tackle. And no matter where he went, he won the rep. There's not anything about his build or mobility that reaches out and grabs you. He measured 6044 & 302 lbs. with 32" arms and nearly 10" hands. But he's just really smart, really well coached, uses his hands well, and anchors really well. He's not a guy that you'd say is sexy for the zone like Dillon Radunz, but he clearly is a guy who's no stranger to zone blocking.
Suppose I should mention that Creed Humphrey of Oklahoma and Aaron Banks of Notre Dame looked themselves. There's nothing about what they did out there that felt like they gave me new information.
www.bluechipscouting.com
