Bunch of scouting reports on Kenrick Ellis from Cowboys site. The final group of players our draft prospects series will look at are defensive linemen. Our first stop is at little Hampton, where a big man, defensive tackle Kenrick Ellis, has made a name for himself. For his work in the 2010 season, Ellis was awarded All-Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference honors for the second consecutive year, after finishing second on the team in tackles, tackles for loss and sacks. Ellis has always been a top-shelf talent: he initially matriculated at South Carolina, but was booted from in 2008 for repeated violations of team policy, whereupon he landed at Hampton and largely overwhelmed a lower level of competition. Ellis is built to play nose tackle in a "30" front, both physically and mentally. He's a massive man (6-4, 346), with excellent athleticism for his size. He has long arms that make it easy for him to keep blockers off his body and allow him to engage and shed blockers and make tackles at the line of scrimmage. More importantly: for a small-school guy, Kendrick keeps working until the whistle blows. Furthermore, scouts note that he's a leader and excellent teammate, who makes the players around him better. Lastly, he likes to mix it up and reportedly likes to be the top dog on the line--all characteristics that are needed in the center of the action. You can see a little of what these scouts are referring to in this video of Ellis in action at the NFLPA All-Star game (he's number 97). At the Combine, Ellis chose only to participate in the 40-yard dash (5.19) and bench press (26 reps at 225 pounds)--here's a video of Ellis' Combine workout. At Hampton's pro day, he added to these with solid vertical jump (32 inches) short shuttle (4.88) and 3-cone (7.84) marks, as well as a decent broad jump (8-6). While doing so, he performed for scouts from 12 different NFL teams. A goodly quantity of organizations--many of them teams that deploy a 3-4 defense--invited Ellis out for team visits. In addition to the Cowboys, the Broncos, Colts, Chiefs, Patriots, Jets, Steelers, Seahawks, and Cardinals wanted a closer look at the big tackle. After the jump, let's take a look at what might have interested these teams, through the eyes of four of my favorite Internet draft gurus... Star-divide
continued.................. By all accounts, Ellis has a rare combination of size and athleticism--one that translates well to playing on Sundays. He also seems to me to have a good motor, to be competitive and he apparently likes to play the game. The most glaring red flag attached to his evaluation concerns his history at South Carolina, were he was dismissed for repeatedly being a knucklehead. The most important questions scouts must ask about him is: has he outgrown such tomfoolery? I'd suspect that this is one of the primary reasons the Cowboys extended an invitation to Valley Ranch. If they like what they hear, he is one the two or three legitimate nose tackle prospects in the draft. Whether or not the Cowboys like what they heard from Ellis, I'd bet that some team did. Thus, given the amount of teams that are changing over to a 3-4 scheme and the dearth of true NT candidates in this draft class, I think Dallas is gong to have to draft him in the early second round if they are going to get him at all. That's where I'm going to slot him, at the 40th pick.
