Draft Empire mock 12/24/08

Wisconsin have two good guards, Kraig Urbik and Andy Kemp who are worth keeping an eye on. Also well worth watching Matt Shaugnessy and the Badgers have a decent MLB called DeAndre Levy who's about 6'3 and 245. FSU is a pro wilderness. Tony Carter has ST demon about him, wears #4 and will be worth seeing how Myron Rolle plays because he's definitely leaving FSU but there's a school of thought that says he's going to attend the Combine and see what happens. He's never been the player we hoped he'd be, but he's so smart and tackles well. He's not come up with the big plays when the ball's in the air and he takes bad angles at times, but he's such a wonderful kid.

 

He is. When we win the Premiership this season, I'll expect a full apology!

 

My dad took me to my first Liverpool game back in February 1980. Justin Fashanu scored the Goal of the Season for Norwich, but we won 5-3. Never looked back.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt3q8_sxd-o]YouTube - Great Goal Justin Fashanu V Liverpool 1980[/ame]

Went to the UEFA Cup final against Alaves where we won on the Golden Goal and was in Istanbul for the 3-0 to 3-3 to penalty shootout victory! Genius.

 

Lmao!

You won't win, Arsenal will have a comeback and capture it.

 

You've gone from great guy to douchebag to fantasist in the space of 3 posts!!

 

**** happens.

 

Bullet throw by Pat White.

 

Here's a game my dad took me to. Early 90s, but tell me how you couldn't fall in love with guys like this:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC3s7hJDK6o&feature=PlayList&p=F682980A4614D607&index=0&playnext=1"]YouTube - Jay Jay Okocha Great Goal[/ame]

 

Strong first half by Shaughnessy. Sets the edge very well. He's like a more athletic Matt Roth and he has plenty of pass rush moves. At about the 8 minute mark in the second quarter he displayed a nice swim move to get at Ponder and has gone outside, inside, span, swam. Typical Matt Shaughnessy. Urbik has impressed me again. Big hole he creates on the long PJ Hill run and he's been pulling out around left tackle all game and getting plenty of excellent blocks at the 2nd level.

 

So good they named him twice.

 

Funny. Alen and me are sitting here, chatting, watching the game, being thoroughly unimpressed by Shaugnessey. I call him Almost Shaughnessey because, like Roth, he almost makes the play. And boy is he slow initially on the LOS. Watch it: He's always the slowest guy of both lines.

 

I'm not big on Shaughnessey, Boom. He's inconsistent off the snap, sometimes quicker than other plays and I've seen him struggle to shed. I have to get to the tape in detail but from the little I've peaked at, I don't like him as an end prospect. He's a better prospect at OLB at the next level.

 

LOL. I think he's much more active than Brown. Look at his hand usage, at his better array of moves, at the pressure he's putting the tackle under. I also think he's very consistent at setting the edge and forcing the play inside. Brown simply noses straight at the QB.

What a first half by Graham Gano by the way. Three of the great punts of all time. Nice to see directional punting making a comeback.

 

I'm not looking at him as an end mate, merely as a potential conversion which is how I look at all ends at the moment under 275!!

 

Ah, I wasn't aware of his weight.

I like him as an OLB. He changes directions well and displays the lateral quickness IMO.

 

He's about 255. He' in that pile of conversion ends that I'm so keen on watching. He has much better hips and lateral quickness than Brown and he's got much more of a football brain.

 

I can agree with that assessment.

 

I don't necessarily disagree, Simon. Solid technique, great motor, moves very well but I suspect the lack of an initial burst makes him a non-factor on many plays because it allows the offensive lineman to get great leverage on him. When Shaughnessey comes off quickly, he poses a problem. When he doesn't, I see the LT having absolutely no trouble with him. I'd love to see the guy playing standing up.

Completely agree on Gano by the way. Beautiful, beautiful punts.

 

By the way, Simon, that clip of Smith you wanted me to take a look at ... what the heck was the guy on? Insane.

 

Unreal, I come on to make a post about how well Shaughnessey has played in the 1st half and as a possible conversion as an OLB for us and you guys are all over it already.

 

Yeah. We were down the other end, but it was such a sweet strike. Fashanu hung himself about 5/6 years ago, which was rather a sad end but that was a special goal in a great game.

 

Standing up is the only way I was grading him my man in terms of future prospects. I don't see him as an NFL end, but I think he hs conversion about him. He was pretty non existent in the 2nd half but continued to set the edge well and the Noles very rarely ran at his side.

Was mightily impressed with the OL and the way they're coming together. Datko, Hudson, McMahon, etc.

 

Insane good? That's the most mobile left tackle I might have graded in a decade or more. And he's nasty too.

 

Thing is though Trav, Andre Smith isn't the best.

 

Early, or late. That stuff gets overlooked a great deal regardless Aqua.

 

I think we need to print up a disclaimer regarding him Boom. Maybe we should make a thread highlighting what we've seen or not seen in this kid.

 

Insanely nimble. He looked a tad bit underweight to me but with that size it shouldn't be a problem to add some pounds. I'm totally with you - haven't seen an LT that mobile in ... I don't know ... ever? I'll get back to you when I had the time to watch the other drives. I thought I saw some issues in Smith's pass blocking but I want to make sure first. But definitely an intriguing prospect.

The thing about Shaughnessey, by the way, is that he has no business being so slow off the snap. It's not as if he's got bad feet. That, to me, points to either a lack of concentration or an undue fear of jumping offside. Either way, it's something I'd be concerned about, even when grading him as an OLB prospect.

 

Fair dinkum mate.

 

I think he's about 300lbs dripping wet. But remember, he was a tight end until 2006, then a RT and then he only started 7 games at left tackle last season so he's still pretty raw.

I think the offside thing with Shaughnessy will be lessened if he switches to linebacker, but I agree that at times he looked a little cumbersome getting off the ball, especially in the 2nd half.

 

Could it just be that Shaughnessy is a little high cut, and coiling those legs underneath him actually makes him less explosive; he's too wound up in his stance.

There are guys like that, who are better when allowed to be free in terms of starting position as opposed to be in a prone position.

 

I think standing up and in space, he's going to be a much better player. He clearly looks like a guy who wouldn't have many issues in space.

 

If you look at Shaughnessy, have you seen much of Derek Walker from Illinois? #91

 

Could be. Hey, for all I know, he could've played with a sore knee yesterday. I'll have to watch some more tape to come to any definite conclusion. But I will say this: He wasn't just slow off the snap yesterday on quite a lot of plays - he sometimes took up to a second after the ball was snapped to react at all. Which is why I wagered the fear of jumping offside guess. But it does point to a slow reaction time which is something I don't like in any player. I also think I saw this issue in other situations (again, I'll have to watch more tape to make sure) where he had the chance to make a sack or a tackle for loss and took that fraction of a second too long to react. Hence Almost Shaughnessey.

 

By the way, Simon, I paid some attention to Rolle. From what I've heard, he'll make a great Rhodes scholar. I doubt he'd make a great NFL player.

 

Not really.

 

Was this your first time seeing Mack?

I've only seen the first quarter of this game, but he got beaten all ends up on the third play of the game, getting far too high in pass pro and then getting waxed inside. But his strength is run blocking and from what I've seen so far, he was excelling again.

 

I agree Jochen, his mind is elsewhere. Total non factor yesterday.