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http://www.irishsportsdaily.com/football/football-articles/8234-irish-nfl-draft-possibilities
Talks about the draft possibilities for Te'o, Eifert, Wood, Martin and Nix.
Manti Te’o
Te’o’s stock is off the charts right now. He could have left for the NFL last year, but he came back and it has paid huge personal and team dividends this season. He was a likely late first to early second round pick last year, but he is currently projected as a top-10 pick in April.
“He has been such a force this year,” Campbell said of Te’o. “He has played great run defense throughout his career, but the strides he made this last offseason to improve his ability to defend the pass have been just tremendous. He definitely turned himself into a weapon in the pass defense for the NFL. His ball skills, his instincts, the way he moves in zone, some man coverage ability. He’s a three-down player and a three-down difference maker.”
Campbell says his top 10 projection is a great credit to Te’o’s skill, because the NFL’s trend toward high power passing attacks makes it tougher for middle linebackers who do not have big sack totals to go so high. Miller, who says he thinks Te’o should win the Heisman, is among his own top-5 in terms of overall talent, but he does not know if he will actually go that high.
The needs of the team drafting always comes into play with such decisions and Miller sees Oakland and Cleveland as two potential landing spots for the Hawai’i native. The biggest knock on Te’o seems to be his ability to play in space, but Miller does not see that as an issue.
“I don’t mind how he moves in space as much as some other people do,” Miller said. “I think that at that point we’re being overly picky about a guy who still had seven interceptions. He’s shown that he can drop into coverage and I think he’ll have an awesome platform to show that at the combine what he can do athletically. I think he’ll wow a lot of people. I don’t really think a lot about things like that.”
“It can make a big difference, especially if you’re talking about a team that likes to run a lot of Tampa-2 or zone coverage where he’s going to be asked to drop and play in space,” Miller continued of Te’o’s pass coverage abilities. “If you look at a 3-4 team where he’s gonna be just kind of a thumper on first and second down and maybe cover a tight end on third down I think he can develop there.”
Miller’s bottom line on Te’o is he “dominated” between the hashes, which is the most important factor for an inside linebacker anyway.
“I think that he’s the poster child for why players should come back even though they could go in the first round,” Campbell added. “He really transformed himself to another level.”
Talks about the draft possibilities for Te'o, Eifert, Wood, Martin and Nix.
Manti Te’o
Te’o’s stock is off the charts right now. He could have left for the NFL last year, but he came back and it has paid huge personal and team dividends this season. He was a likely late first to early second round pick last year, but he is currently projected as a top-10 pick in April.
“He has been such a force this year,” Campbell said of Te’o. “He has played great run defense throughout his career, but the strides he made this last offseason to improve his ability to defend the pass have been just tremendous. He definitely turned himself into a weapon in the pass defense for the NFL. His ball skills, his instincts, the way he moves in zone, some man coverage ability. He’s a three-down player and a three-down difference maker.”
Campbell says his top 10 projection is a great credit to Te’o’s skill, because the NFL’s trend toward high power passing attacks makes it tougher for middle linebackers who do not have big sack totals to go so high. Miller, who says he thinks Te’o should win the Heisman, is among his own top-5 in terms of overall talent, but he does not know if he will actually go that high.
The needs of the team drafting always comes into play with such decisions and Miller sees Oakland and Cleveland as two potential landing spots for the Hawai’i native. The biggest knock on Te’o seems to be his ability to play in space, but Miller does not see that as an issue.
“I don’t mind how he moves in space as much as some other people do,” Miller said. “I think that at that point we’re being overly picky about a guy who still had seven interceptions. He’s shown that he can drop into coverage and I think he’ll have an awesome platform to show that at the combine what he can do athletically. I think he’ll wow a lot of people. I don’t really think a lot about things like that.”
“It can make a big difference, especially if you’re talking about a team that likes to run a lot of Tampa-2 or zone coverage where he’s going to be asked to drop and play in space,” Miller continued of Te’o’s pass coverage abilities. “If you look at a 3-4 team where he’s gonna be just kind of a thumper on first and second down and maybe cover a tight end on third down I think he can develop there.”
Miller’s bottom line on Te’o is he “dominated” between the hashes, which is the most important factor for an inside linebacker anyway.
“I think that he’s the poster child for why players should come back even though they could go in the first round,” Campbell added. “He really transformed himself to another level.”
Great fit all around, lets make this happen.