after watching roughly 25-30 plays last night and focusing on BOTH laurinitis and gholston i came away with a handful of things.... first, it appears that gholston is a clone of john abraham. initial bursts, closing speed, and minimal discipline all were/are attributes of abraham. IMO, gholston is perfect for that 3-4 defense that will move him around like a derrick thomas, suggs, greg lloyd, and even a lawrence taylor. Folks - i am NOT comparing the kid to the above players (except for abraham) just illustrating what position would likely be best for him as a rookie. i do not know that the jets see it that way but they NEED to take a good hard look at him at 6. as far as laurinitis i envision him as either a 3-4 insider or a 4-3 MLB. he probably would be better off as a 3-4 ILB but he could suprise some people and play like a zach thomas or so. i do not think he is on urlachers level but you never know. laurinitis at times appeared to get lost in the crowd - a bit similar to another LB we are familiar with - vilma. either way - both players did not stand out but we have to remember those were the 2 "best" teams in the country and many of those players will get drafted on day one. Are they top 5 material - NO - but gholston is top 10 material and laurinitis is top 15 material for now. lets see what the combine does for them. jil
Totally agree w/you that Laurinaitis appeared to get lost in a the crowd. And the comparison to Vilma on that point definitely scares me of JL. As ILB, you cant have that happen too often & it just doesnt seem to happen to David Harris.
Wasn't impressed with Gholston's motor in the biggest game of his life. Larengitis played well, but their D is set up to funnel plays to him. Didn't get many plays for a loss.
i watched 2-3 games of him this year, and i?ve never been impressed with his motor, that?s my biggest concern. Even in the Michigan game where he had a monster game with 3 sacks and many other great plays, it often seemed, that he takes playes off. but is still want him, that?s why you have coaches.
Yep. That's what I saw. Also he gave up on a few plays too early. I Tivo'd the game and basically watched every play he was around 2-3 times. Does remind me a little of Abraham, but not as fast, not the same burst off the line. A better bull rusher than Abe was though.
You saw it exactly as I did. I keyed on Gholston every play and he gave up on about 70% of the plays that weren't run right at him. Seems like a strong kid but I wasn't impressed overall. Especially after seeing the way people here have been drooling over him since the Michigan game.
I'm a big proponent of Gholston, but the lack of motor scares me as well. I don't think Mangini will allow him to take plays off, nor if we have a fiery DC like Ryan or someone in the Henderson mold. I can't remember anyone taking plays off during Mangini's tenure here- can anyone think of someone?... Minus McCareins- he doesnt count.
I also watched the game trying to scout possible Jets. I came away with the same feeling about Gholston, he does not go all out every play but he is explosive when he does try. He is too big of a risk to take with the sixth pick imo. Laurinitis was always around the ball. He did not make many plays in the backfield tho. He looks like a prototypical 3-4 linebacker who takes on blocks, and stays in good position, and always runs to the ball. He is the big backer needed for the 3-4 at 6-3 240lbs and is the opposite of a small speedy backer like vilma how makes plays sideline to sideline. I do worry about some of LSU's big runs through the middle but I couldn't tell if he was out of position or if the defense put him in bad position. I was impressed by him jumping the pile and meeting the rb on a goal line play, and he did a flip over the pile on another short yardage. He is the captain type of player that Mangini covets and makes all the calls on defense. One player I came away impressed with was LSU's #93 DE Tyson Jackson who is also a junior. He is a perfect 3-4 end listed at 6-5 290lbs. He has a nonstop motor and did record a sack. He overpowered the tackle on every play! His stock is down this year because of only recording 2.5 sacks before the championship after recording 8 as a soph but he may have had more been double teamed more. He looks like a mangini guy who is fired up on the field. Malcolm Jenkins was beet on a touchdown but did get a big int. It is harder to watch corners tho.
He is coming back according to the flagship station in Columbus, was just reported on my way home by Chris Speilman and his sidekick
