Overview A two-year captain and the 2014 Michigan team MVP, Ryan is a self-made prospect who eats, drinks and breathes football and while he has some athletic limitations, he is the type of player who will make his coach smile and cry when describing how important he is to the team. After a standout sophomore season, Ryan battled through an injury-plagued junior year and looked lost at times when he moved inside as a senior. He has a great feel for the game with natural instincts to close on the action, but the farther from the ball, the less comfortable he feels. Ryan competes with an overachieving attitude and is the type of player who will outplay his draft slot - projects best on the outside where he can blitz, leverage the field and use his strengths. Ryan received only MAC scholarship offers until an on-campus visit to Michigan prompted an offer from Rich Rodriguez, which Ryan accepted quickly. After redshirting in 2010, he earned the starting nod at strongside linebacker in 2011, finishing among the team leaders with 11.0 tackles for loss. Ryan emerged as a defensive playmaker in 2012 as a sophomore, leading the Wolverines in tackles (88), tackles for loss (16.0), sacks (4.5) and forced fumbles (4), earning All-Big Ten Honorable Mention honors. He missed half of the 2013 season with a knee injury, but returned healthy in 2014 as a senior and moved inside to middle linebacker, finishing with a career-best 112 total tackles, earning First Team All-Big Ten honors.
Analysis STRENGTHS: Good-sized frame for the position with adequate length. Terrific play speed with a motor that is always revving - high effort player. Finds the quickest route from A-to-B with excellent pursuit skills, seeing plays develop before it happens with read/react awareness. Anticipates well as a run defender to blow up run lanes and blocks, sacrificing himself for the greater good. Sets the edge and understands field leverage with NFL take-on strength to give blockers a handful at the point of attack. Processes information quickly with decisive movements to cover a large area. High football intelligence and an assignment sound player. Good timing as a blitzer, doing a nice job playing on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Top-shelf competitor and often has the dirtiest jersey on the field. Highly confident and marches to the beat of his own drum. Strong football resume with 41 starts, 267 total tackles and 45.5 tackles for loss over his career - extensive special teams experience and versatility inside and outside. Football bloodlines: father (WR, Wake Forest), grandfather (DT, Xavier), older brother (WR, Ball State) and younger brother (LB, Ball State). WEAKNESSES: Tight hips and lacks the body fluidity to consistently hold up one-on-one in coverage. Not a twitchy player with limitations moving laterally. One-speed type and doesn't offer much burst. Needs to do a better job anticipating blocks to avoid bodies, work off contact and stay off the ground. Struggles to keep himself clean and work through the garbage. Inconsistent vision and lacks the make-up speed to compensate. Will overpursue angles at times and arrive too early, forcing some break down issues. Tore the ACL in his right knee that required surgery (March 2013), missing half of his junior season while working his way back from the injury. --Dane Brugler
They will also be hosting S/CB Eric Rowe. If they end up drafting both these guys I would be elated. Rowe is sky rocketing up boards, figured he would. I don't get while it took so long. I guess he kinda flew under the radar and when scouts finally got around to watching the tape they finally got it. It was looking like he would be there if we had traded down and acquired a third; now, it looks like we will be lucky if he is there for us in the 2nd. I watched 4-5 games of Utah last year and Rowe strikes me as a day 1 starter in the NFL. At FS. He would be ready for a long Dolphin career as soon as Delmas got injured. He may even just win the position outright if he is acquired. Love Jake Ryan. I think he, and Junior Sylvestre would be perfect choices in the 4th-6th rounds.
I agree with you here on both Rowe and Ryan. I just hope they don't plan on Ryan being their only choice at linebacker. I like him, but I think his ability is limited to being a backup. Doesn't strike me as a dynamic, play-making middle linebacker.
He has some pretty good instincts and seems to be around the ball a lot. Personally, I'd rather we took Ben Heeney or Mike Hull, but Jake would be an interesting pick too.
They need a MLB in the 1st or 2nd round. This guy and no one currently on the team cannot be the teams starting MLB next season.
I don't know, we have Koa Misi, a physical monster of a MLB with some good wheels and athleticism and kelvin Sheppard in reserve, who looks pretty good to me. If value at ILB presents itself, great- but we have no real starters at OG, with the only one penciled in Billy Turner, an athletic small school second year player who is a LT/OG convert. He played when in small samples but let's face it, he's a projection. What else is there on the roster? Not much, starters or backups. Then there's OT- not much behind Albert and James, assuming that Albert is healthy. In the mid/late rounds I'd load up on OL, keying on Donovan Smith, Shaq Mason, Jamil Douglas, Robert Myers and Tayo Fabuluje. Like most here I'd like an impact player at #14- but for our team La'el Collins would have quite an impact imo, great player filling a big time need position and become a hugely important backup LT. Mr. Clean mentioned him a while back as a viable LT- now I agree, he dropped weight and I saw some film of him, that dude can move, great athlete.
I really like Donovan Smith. He reminds me of a young Bryant McKinnie. Mason and Douglas physically fit the type of guard we need. If we did not get Collins in the First, I'd go another direction and consider Hroniss Grasu in the 2nd. He would be ideal as a zone blocking guard, and we'd have insurance at Center. Grasu reminds me of Jason Kelce.
I was really impressed by Donovian Smith's quick feet on such a large and powerful man, just about 6-6 340 lbs. You can see them here- it seems as if the Jake Fisher secret is out of the bag, but Smith is still flying under the radar imo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK8k3P7S2ag
Koa Misi? I'm surprised you made that comment. He isn't that good. One of the reasons the run D was one of the worst 2nd half of the season last year. On top of that you can never depend on him to stay healthy. Injury prone and never has become the player the Dolphins were hoping for. It's time to move on from the Koa Misi project. Besides that I've heard the team has plans on him returning to OLB. This teams needs a playmaking MLB. Someone who can stuff the run when Suh is plugging up the holes.
