Troy's Brandon Lang Just got done watching him against Southern Miss. He's changes directions well, has good quickness off the edge and does a good job of disengaging. He dropped back in coverage a few times and got too low in his hips; it was almost as if his head was hanging. He also covered the flats and I thought did a good job of turning and running. Displayed the lateral quickness. What I didn't like is that he doesn't recognize the run very well and when he did, he didn't wrap when tackling - went for the one arm tackles. He's very raw when it comes to pass rushing moves in my opinion as he often locked up and disengaged, then running downhill, instead of going to finesse moves to get around the Tackles. I thought that he did a good job of setting up his man by often lining up and going outside and then at the :20 mark in the 2nd quarter, he flashed outside and went to an inside spin. Problem is that the Tackle didn't fall for it as he slid his feet over and Lang never went back to it later in the game. One specific play that I had a problem with was when he was washed out of the play by Damion Fletcher, the RB of Southern Miss. He got knocked on his rear and Fletcher got open for a screen. I've seen him listed at 249, 250, 238 and 245 and I wonder if his weight is inflated or not, so that's a big question mark. In the end, I think his future is at OLB.
I thought he played pretty well. As I said in LTB in the Club, I think he needs to develop his rush ability, but he could set the edge pretty well and he has excellent instincts for non misdirectional plays. There was a play in the 2nd quarter where he rushed, was chipped and then instead of going upfield to the QB, he flared out and covered the back and blew the play up. Like you say, he changes direction very well, he pursues across field without getting caught up in trash and I liked what I saw, although he has a ways to go and I think he should stay for his senior season.
I agree that he has excellent instincts as he blew up quite a few option plays if memory serves me right. I remember that play your talking about vividly. I was watching it on tape and just went, "wow." He moved well laterally on that play as well as turned and ran with Damion Fletcher out of the backfield.
Yep, very fluid movement. Been watching a lot of MLB's, in part because of the Crowder contract situation and precipitated by the mess on Sunday. I'm a fan of Rolando McClean as has been well documented elsewhere, but I watched the Mississippi State game on tape this morning and him in isolation on 2nd run through; boy is he mechanical changing direction and moving laterally. He blitzes in the 2nd half and forced Tyson Lee to run right and McClean should have him dead to rights and then I've seen ocean liners turn quicker. I'd not noticed that before and turning and running he looks pretty good, but going forward and then changing direction, he's really cumbersome.
I haven't gotten a look at McClain but he's a big one. I was thinking him maybe as an OLB but that doesn't seem likely now. A guy that I still like and want to see again is Frantz Joseph of FAU. I tell you, he can get sideline to sideline and hes a sure tackler from the little I've seen. He needs to pack on weight and I'd like to see how he does shedding but I liked the little I saw from him a couple months ago. He's a late round value and I wouldn't be opposed to taking a flyer on him.
Got an FAU game in the next few days on TV here so I'll tape that. Still think Jasper Brinkley can't be ignored at MLB.
Frantz Joseph and Corey Small. Both of them will be gathering attention IMO. Frantz is a friend of mine, so if he gets drafted by Miami, I'd cry in happiness for the dude.
Thus far, he's not looking as good as I hoped. Just missed a tackle in the backfield despite diagnosing the play and he's been cut blocked twice.
Yep. He looks a bit better but I still see him going for one arm tackles (he's missed two tackles b/c of that). He's gotten off blocks pretty well though, which is something I questioned. I still think he's going to have to pack on some weight.
He's looking good now. The first time I watched him a few months ago, I thought he did a really good job of reading plays. He hasnt changed my mind at all. He's tackling better now as well. Has gotten off blocks. Seems like it just takes him a while to get started but when he's going all out, he's a good player IMO.
Lol. I don't know what has made him play better but he looked better in the 2nd quarter than the 1st IMO.
Some thoughts on Frantz Joseph tonight. Outside of that first series, in which he got cut blocked and knocked down a few times, he has looked good. He's gotten off blockers pretty well from what I've seen. That was one of my questions coming into this game and he's done it well. My other question that I had going into this game was if he could step over trash well. I haven't seen him do it too well tonight, I've seen him fall down a few times when trash was at his feet. That category on the report didn't come out great. I saw a few one arm tackles early in the game and I saw him not hustling every play early in the game but he's completely turned that around, being around the ball often and had a drive in which he had a tackle on three or four straight plays. He racks up tackles, that's obvious and clear, as he had 141 coming into this game I believe and has somewhere between 13-15 total tackles tonight. I think he's a smart player, who diagnoses plays very well. He reads QB's eyes well, I knew that from the past game I saw of his and he hasn't changed my mind on that part of his game. He got a bit high and sometimes low in his hips when dropping but that's fixable. He's not a 'wow' player but he's solid and is worth the second day pick in my opinion. He's an extremely hard worker who has great passion for the game and is a great person as well. From what I know, he transferred from Boston College to FAU to take care of his sick mother. Gave up a big time college scholarship to go to a smaller program, I like that.
No worries Con, he didn't escape me. I haven't gotten to isolating him on tape but I liked what I saw from when I watched him a little in the bowl game.
