It’s another week in the books of the college football season. With three weeks down and many more to come it’s time for another 2019 NFL Draft update. This week on tap features Florida State AT Syracuse, LSU AT Auburn, Ohio State AT TCU, and USC AT Texas. Let’s not waste any time and get right into it. Who stood out for better or worse forecasting future NFL success?
Florida State AT Syracuse
I’m sorry but I had to turn this game off in the third quarter. Is any team more embarrassing than Florida State? How do you have so many highly rated recruits and lose to a basketball school? They didn’t just lose, they lost 30-7. Willie Taggert ain’t it. The only player I saw of note was Brian Burnes. He’s really athletic but is really undersized at 235 for an edge player. That’s at 6-foot-5 too! However, he clearly showed that he was the best player on that defense for Florida State. Two sacks, 4 tackles for loss, and a pass deflection is a good showing in my book. The problem is I have no desire to watch Florida State again. That’s okay, I’ll see all that I need to on Burnes at the combine.
LSU AT Auburn
It was my first look of Jarrett Stidham on the season besides for brief channel changing to the Washington/Auburn game. The reason why I didn’t focus more on that game is that Washington was outmatched physically. Washington’s offensive line looked like wide receivers when they tried to block Auburn’s front. The fact that the game was close is a miracle. This LSU game was a much better representation of future NFL players.
I saw all I needed to on Jarrett Stidham. The conclusion that everyone should come away with is that he’s not very good. Anything more than a draftable backup is just a flat-out wrong hypothesis. Stidham’s stat line of 16-28, 198 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 interceptions is the sole reason why Auburn lost this game. I’m going to show you why Stidham isn’t worth the hype.
Throw one that you will see is a designed bootleg to the top of the screen. Auburn runs a lot of these sorts of plays as a run-heavy offense in Gus Malzahn’s system. This bootleg is designed to help the quarterback by cutting the field in half giving him an easier read. What does Stidham do? He stares at the same guy for a half an hour and throws a pick. Hey, Jarrett? If no one is open you can always throw the ball away! The sideline is staring at you. Second, watch the velocity on that ball. A lot of NFL quarterbacks maybe fit that ball in but the velocity was nothing special to speak of.
*Quick note: The guy who intercepted the ball, Grant Delpit, is an NFL player with a very high ceiling. He’s not draft eligible until 2020.
Throw number two you will see something every NFL quarterback needs to be able to do. Just hit the open guy for easy touchdowns. You don’t get open receivers nearly as often as you do in college. When you get handed an open touchdown based on a good play call, I expect you to get the job done. Stidham misses Davis by a mile. Additionally, I’m going to show you another clip of a quarterback I like in Drew Lock. Do you want to see the difference in what an NFL guy looks like compared to what a backup level prospect looks like? Compare these two and tell me how Stidham remotely looks like an NFL prospect. By the way, Auburn ran the ball 10 more times than they threw it for one simple reason and it’s not hard to figure out why.
Throw number three all you need to watch is Stidham’s eye level. Typical pick and stick college bs here. Stidham stares down his first progression, he goes back to his running back check down for a half a second, then says screw it I’m throwing it anyway. First, he should know that Greedy Williams is a first round pick. Why are you staring at that side of the field to begin with? The thing that separates the good from the elite at the quarterback position is their ability to read progressions. Stidham doesn’t have a clue how to do it nor is he coached to do it in Auburn’s system.
Before I shift to LSU, boy do I love Auburn’s defensive tackles. LSU ran the ball 42 times and averaged 2.9 yards per carry. Derrick Brown and Dontavius Russell ate LSU’s offensive line for breakfast. Brown was highly recruited and dominated all day Saturday. 9 tackles are no joke for a DT. He’s a rare talent for the position and just might go inside the top 10. Outside of Ed Oliver, Brown just might be the guy you want at this position. Russell is a four-year starter who just does his job and continues to get overlooked. Russell isn’t as skilled as Brown but he sure is powerful and uses his hands well.
On the LSU side, they have some really good defenders on this roster. They have a player I like at each level of the defense (Draft eligible wise). Rashard Lawrence = stud. Sheds blocks well and plays the run. Devin White = might be the next Deion Jones. Speed, range, instincts all outstanding. Greedy Williams = first round corner. How many corners does LSU have to produce before we just give them the benefit of the doubt that they’re good before they even reach the NFL?
Ohio State AT TCU
TCU was a feisty matchup for Ohio State. TCU’s defense is undersized by they play their ass off for Gary Patterson. The offense was also a challenge for the Buckeyes. Shawn Robinson is the highest rated recruit in the history of TCU’s program. While just a true freshman, Robinson gave them problems and made it a game which was all I was looking for.
Dwayne Haskins might be the best quarterback Urban Meyer has ever had. Physically he looks like Cardale Jones but isn’t draft eligible yet. The weapons are much harder to scout. Every wide receiver they have just looks like a better or worse version of Ted Ginn. Nobody ever takes over and becomes the guy for an extended period. There’s no Michael Thomas on this team. Austin Mack couldn’t catch a cold if it hit him in the face. God is he bad. The rest of them who knows. Parris Cambell is interesting. K.J. Hill? Johnnie Dixon? Terry McLaurin? They all just might be guys?
The real star of the show was Nick Bosa. I don’t have to waste much time here because he’s awesome. TCU did everything that could and he still made an impact. They ran the ball away from Bosa and he was double teamed pretty much every snap. That alone tells me that he’s the real deal. I think there’s a chance that Nick is better than brother Joey. Remember, Joey Bosa had 5 sacks during his final year at Ohio State. Brother Nick has 5 sacks in three games. Just watch him bend around the edge and attack the football. I would be shocked if Bosa isn’t a perennial Pro Bowler. Keep an eye on the injury if it holds him out of a bunch of games but either way it shouldn’t affect his draft stock.
The bad news in this game was that Bosa did exit with what appeared to be a groin injury. Not to worry, Dre’Mont Jones stepped up and made his impact felt. Jones is an interesting prospect from this sense. If you want a defensive tackle that eats running backs in the run game than Jones is not your guy. At 6-foot-3, 286, I’m not even sure he is a defensive tackle. I’m not even sure what his real position is. What I do know is that he can get after the quarterback and he’s really athletic. Check out this pick 6. It’s not hard to figure out that Jones is a talent but I just don’t know what he is and that’s a problem. That’s why we have this process!
USC At Texas
USC is unwatchable. USC needs to go to a coaching seminar with Florida State because they are just as embarrassing. How do you get beat 37-14 by Texas? The Longhorns got beat by Maryland and Maryland just lost to Temple! Do you think that has anything to do with Sam Darnold being the only thing holding this program together because I do? Both programs are down and judging NFL talent on either side is murky at this point. I’m sure players will emerge later in the season.
