Texas defensive end Brian Orakpo won the Big 12 defensive player of the year, Bronco Nagurski award (best defensive player), Ted Hendricks award (top defensive end) and the Lombardi award (best linemen or linebacker) in 2008. Watching the multiple award winner this season, I raised some questions about him such as can he play OLB in the 3-4 scheme? Is his motor running at all times? If so, what impact does he have on the game? If not, what does he do? What about his pass rush? I finally caught up to some more tape of him and the one I finally got to see was him against Ohio State. He went up against Alex Boone, the mammoth sized left tackle and did a fairly good job. Watching Orakpo, he did a very good job of getting under Boone and providing pressure on the OSU QB's. Orakpo got off the line quickly (often) and got leverage under Boone. He also showed me good anticipation of the snap as he got off the line at the same time as Boeckman hiked it and he was already two steps ahead of the left tackle. He displayed good instincts in the 3rd quarter, 22 second mark to be exact. He rushes wide and Maurice Wells, filling in for the often injured Chris Wells, went to chip Orakpo in pass protection and as he went to do that, Orakpo noticed that Wells was going to go to the flats so when Wells went to chip him, Orakpo pulled Wells into his body and blew up the whole play for the OSU offense. The play resulted in a sack. Some of the questions that I raised were answered in this game. Orakpo doesn't spend a lot of time in coverage at Texas, usually just taking three or four steps back and that's about it. Against Ohio State, he covered the flats a couple times and it looked to me that he had some stiff hips. I wonder how much of that comes from him having excessive muscle mass and because he's more of a straight line guy. Furthermore, I saw that he hustled some in this game and I really liked that as the last time I watched him (against Missouri), he didn't do much of it. In this game, he hustled and when he did, he had a impact on the rush defense. He ran after the ball carriers and he made two plays that killed the OSU drive (I felt that these two plays were important because Chris Wells was gashing the Texas defense all night). One was where he diagnosed the play as a stand-up linebacker on the left side of the defensive line and he stopped Chris Wells short of the marker with a wrap-up tackle. The second play was where he was in the same position, he diagnosed the play, showed great pursuit and stopped Wells with an ankle tackle just short of the marker. On the plays in which he didn't hustle and I underlined three times BTW, he just sat back and watched as the ball carrier went away from him; typical Brian Orakpo. What caught my eye is that on those plays in which he didn't go after the ball carrier, he played with his hand in the dirt. On the plays in which he showed a good motor, he was a stand-up rusher. I have to think that a reason for his motor running while standing up is because he can read the play and react. When he's playing the end spot, he usually plays the run like Dwight Freeney of the Colts. He puts his head down and rushes wide or tries to gain leverage under the Tackle. He'll also go to a bulrush, which leads me to my next point. Brian has a very good bulrush, partly because he's incredibly strong and his pass rush moves don't go far from there. He lacks an array of pass rush moves and he's going to have to work on that. He also doesn't play mind games from what I noticed. He tends to go the same way every time, no dominant inside move that will attract the running back as a blocker and take away those deadly screens. The next prospect up and first rounder is OSU cornerback Malcolm Jenkins. Jenkins is highly regarded by many and is thought to be the nations top cornerback. I've watched Jenkins this year quite a few times and he has some good qualities in his game. I like the fact that he is willing in run support, he can make plays on the ball, he's got pretty good hips, he lays the wood, he takes part on ST's and he's the vocal leader at OSU. However, their are some things that I don't like about him and I'd like to get those out of the way here. One of those negatives is his long speed. I've questioned it in the past because of the way he plays the wide receivers, giving large cushions and jumping routes. I hadn't seen him play man to man much this year and as I watched him this year, I thought that he was best fit for a zone defense, in which he could jump routes. I recall him getting beat deep on a pass against Illinois in which he was fortunate that the wide receiver had dropped it. A similar play happened in the OSU - Texas bowl game. It was in the fourth quarter, 10:29 mark, and Malcolm Jenkins was playing off coverage on Malcolm Williams, the Texas wide receiver. He gave about an eight yard cushion to Williams and at the snap, Jenkins took a couple steps back and then proceeded to turn and run as Malcolm Williams was headed deep on a go-route. Jenkins gave the eight yard cushion prior to the snap and was still beat by about two yards. Luckily for him, Colt McCoy misfired on the pass and it resulted in an incompletion. When I saw him get beat, I felt that he answered my question about his long speed and he proved me right that he wasn't very good in man-to-man coverage. Moreover, Jenkins is susceptible to double moves as well as quick first steps at the line of scrimmage by wide receivers. At the ten second mark in the second quarter, Quan Cosby gave him a double move in which he used his head to attract Jenkins and then released upfield, leaving Jenkins behind. A few plays later, Quan Cosby gave him a quick inside step and then went back the opposite way, leaving Jenkins behind once again. Last, one of the issues that has been brought up of Malcolm Jenkins is that he's not a solid tackler. I think, for the most part, he's a solid tackler. He wraps up the guy and brings him down. However, their are instances in which he does not do a good job of tackling because he either took a poor angle or he just flat out failed to make the play and one of those times was on Colt McCoy's run at the 8:29 mark. Jenkins had the edge sealed off in which McCoy couldn't escape and he fudged that by completely whiffing on the tackle, leading to a touchdown by McCoy. Last year at this time, Ohio State LB James Laurinaitis was considered a top ten pick but he decided to come back to school and now, his stock dropped because of concerns from scouts. The positives of his game is that he is very good in coverage. He does a good job of mirroring tight ends and wide receivers (coming out of the slot) when he's dropping and he changes directions pretty quickly most of the time. He's an intelligent player that reads and reacts well, an example of that was when he blew up a screen pass against Ohio State in the bowl game. Laurinaitis is also a good blitzer off the edge. He displays a quick first step and gets lower than the Tackle to get to the Quarterback and when he's free off the line, he'll throw his hands up to disrupt the passing lane of the Quarterback. He also does a job well done avoiding trash at his feet. Last, he's all over the field, making tackles. Like every other player, he has negatives and those are big question marks for his position. While I like the fact that he's often around the ball, racking up tackles, I don't like that he will get high when tackling. He'll sometimes try to make a tackle around the shoulders and he'll either get dragged for an extra couple yards or he'll whiff on the tackle completely. An example of this was at the 2:25 mark in the second quarter against Texas. On that play, he blitzed and got to Colt McCoy but hit him high on his shoulders and fell down. He also struggles shedding blocks but what he'll do to get in the backfield is knife through the offensive linemen and make a play. He'll blitz in the interior and he'll get lower than the offensive linemen, squeezing through cracks and will make the run stop or sack. Moreover, I said earlier that he changes directions quickly most of the time. The reason I said that is because sometimes in coverage, it will take him an age to turn directions and because of that, he'll get beat by the wide receiver and/or tight end. Another issue is that he doesn't look like he's always playing at full speed. On one drive, he'll look very quick and he'll display good lateral speed & quickness then the next drive, he looks like he has cement in his shoes. He looks very slow. Another question that I have about Laurinaitis is that I don't know if he's physical enough. He will get pushed around by linemen as well as wide receivers, such as Jordan Shipley who in the bowl game rode Laurinaitis with his hands parallel the line of scrimmage. Last, while he's a very good player in coverage, he will sometimes look completely lost and will just jog around, mirroring the Quarterbacks moves. And a Robiskie. Brian Robiskie that is. Brian Robiskie has a nice frame for a wide receiver at 6'2", 200 lbs. He runs solid routes, he does good job of making a move at the line of scrimmage and then releasing into his route, and I like that he adjusts his body to the ball to make a play. The negatives that stand out to me are that he tends to drop passes he shouldn't but come up with the ball on more difficult plays. The biggest problem is that its not a concentration issue with him. He looks the ball all the way into his hands, its that he just flat out drops the ball and that worries me. Also, while he does a good job blocking, he's not always willing and that is clear. When the Buckeyes run off tackle, Robiskie will seal off the the DB or LB, creating an open hole for Chris Wells. However, Robiskie will then sit back and watch as Pryor runs when instead he can throw a blindside block and help Pryor gain an extra couple yards. A question constantly brought up is his speed but I think he has some speed and him being the anchor of the 4x100 relay outdoor track team shows me that. I think that Robiskie has some talent but he needs to get it together because he's an inconsistent player at the moment.
