[video=youtube;v31pT_20LYc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v31pT_20LYc[/video] [video=youtube;e6PMXD1BiPY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6PMXD1BiPY&feature=related[/video] NFL Draft Scout: http://nfldraftscout.com/ratings/dsprofile.php?pyid=70687&draftyear=2011&genpos=WR CBS sports line does not have a write up on him. We've all seen these Returner types come and go, so I'm not TO jacked about him as of yet, but one thing that is different about his game is he is not afraid of contact, a lot of times these small guys duck out of bounds or half heart it in the middle of the field, he typically does not. I suspect in the next week's game vs the Panthers they will try and get him into the offense for something like an end around or bubble screen as all his performance really did was put him into the position of having more of a chance of making the 53, now he has to show he can be explosive...all of the time, that means on offense and on ST.
Pads this young man had me grinning ear to ear. Now if he can maintain this level and stay healthy we might have a special teams player at the least. If he plays like those vids with the big boys I can see him getting a lot of playing time.
His body of work places him among the elite at the college level for big plays in the return game , his instincts are vastly superior to Gates at this point re the return game. He'll get more touches , I swear just before his TD I said I hope they don't switch players because Livas may return this one . He is the type of returner you block just a bit better because you KNOW you will get the reward .
[video]http://www.nfl.com/videos/miami-dolphins/09000d5d8216da76/Livas-takes-punt-75-yards-for-a-TD?campaign=twitter_videos[/video] For fun, watch him return it for the TD and tell me what stands out about him?
I'm real excited about this guy. Sometimes you can tell right from the get go about a guy and I saw so much of a difference right on his very first return. He kept tripping himself up but I didn't care about that, you could still tell he was just moving at a faster speed. Fast + short strides is a great thing. There a 0 to 60 on him that you don't see very often. And about kick returns. There's a lot of negative publicity this week about the rule changes and I've been harping on them forever. However I want to say this. There appeared to be some teams that bit the bullet this weekend and decided to have their returners return the ball even if it got kicked deep into the end zone. Obviously if it goes so far you have no choice but to kneel, but I saw guys returning the ball from 5 and 8 yards deep. The thing about it is, sometimes they ended up on only the 10 or 13 yard line...but I also saw some BIG kick returns this weekend. It's possible that the rule changes about only having a 5 yard head start have really changed the coverage dynamics to make it harder to cover kick returns. If you think about it I think they used to have a 10 yard head start back when the ball was kicked from the 30 yard line which mean that by the time they got to where the ball is now being kicked from (the 35) they had 15 yards of head start on their running, where now they only have 5 yards. That's potentially a big change. You really don't know until you see it in action. But this weekend we saw kick returns of 40, 41, 58, 84 and 103 yards. The average kick return when returners did bring the ball out was 25.8 yards. That's about 2 yards higher than the NFL averaged a year ago. It's a small sample pool but the number of 40+ yard returns was 10.0% and last year during the regular season it was 5.6%. It could be a function of coverage teams not being used to the new rules but you have to think, there are probably also some special teams coordinators that haven't smelled blood in the water either and adjusted their schemes. It'll be interesting to see what happens from here. But if the result of these kickoff return rules is an increase in touchbacks but also an increase in the percentage of big kick returns, that will make for an interesting proposition for teams when it comes to decisions on whether or not to bring the ball out. And it also cracks the door open for someone like Phil Livas to be valuable enough to make the team.
1.46 10 yd dash, and what I do like about his game is, as you say CK, instant acceleration, he is a one step to top speed type of player, which is hard to find, though his running style is an awful lot like Ryan Grice Mullen's. The other thing is...5'7 180 pds, and he broke 3 tackles on that return for the TD, he was breaking tackles on his good, but could have been much better kickoff returns, but as per usual with young, longshot players, will success kill him? That is DBess's key to success, he worked twice as hard after having success. I'd think Livas wound up with what..160 yds on returns and a TD?
He really does have a liveass . .He has quick shifty feet and excellent peripherical vision as he senses tacklers and fakes them out of the way. Interesting prospect but the question is would he stick just as a kick returner when versatility is a prime requirement to make this team .
Depends, and here is where the rubber truly meets the road with Sparano this yr, does he want an aggressive attacking team in all 3 phases that puts pressure on opponents, or does he stick with his sort of "double down" approach of keeping extra linemen and what have you? I've learned my lesson about hyping Returners, but I also see both Moore and Henne taking shots deep down the field, if Sparano wants to pressure opponent with Athletes with speed, then he finds a way for a Returner type to be active on gamedays, be it Phil Livas, or not, and keep in mind he did try Clifton Smith last season as the Returner and Smith had lost his courage.
Incidentally pretty ironic that all these years Sparano and Ireland have been flipping over rocks trying to find a special return man, they may have finally found one, at a time when the rules committee has seriously de-valued return men.
His ability to juke players at full speed maintaining direct line to end zone. One that particular play his ability to maintain balance without losing speed when getting his leg hit by the punter.
Its interesting when you look at his pro day stats his 40 yrd dash was good but his 20 yrd and 10 yrd was better than many of the top drafted players 40 Yrd Dash: [FONT=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][SIZE=-2]4.43 [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][SIZE=-2]20 Yrd Dash:[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][SIZE=-2]2.54 [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][SIZE=-2]10 Yrd Dash:[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][SIZE=-2]1.46[/SIZE][/FONT] He played running back at South Terrebonne then moved to receiver/kick returner at Louisiana Tech
That is interesting .His top end speed is not that impressive but he is so quick and shifty and fast within the first ten yards that he breaks open from the line of scrimmage more easily. BTW Welcome to the site.
