| 04 April 2010
This was my comment to Mark Porter on January 18th after I saw the full Tommy Brown film. We were discussing the level of competition he has faced:
<<<That is why we can't get too excited but when I see a kid that is that trim at 300 lbs and can run like that, I get a little excited. He is throwing people around. Look at the punch he gets. He has no clue about how to use his lower body. He is a little stiff. I think he is a better DT right now by far. He is raw potential.<<<
I first break down players by position. I had Tommy Brown in my defensive linemen database. If you look at Mark Porters promo there are only two offensive plays. On the full film he played harder on defense than on offense. I wanted to eliminate him from the defensive line before I evaluated him as an offensive lineman. I just forgot about him. The defensive line list this year is a long one, a wonderfully long one, and I just lost track of a kid I was not sure where he fit.
The first glimpse I had of Brown was a picture Mark sent me some time ago. I bugged him about the film from that point forward. The kid looks the part. He is a naturally really big kid. There was nothing he was going to be able to do to keep himself from weighing 300 lbs. In pads he looks V-shaped. You don't see offensive linemen who are V-shaped, even in pads. Just a great looking frame. Long arms. He definitely has a tackles length. Mark saw him up close. No fudging on his height. He is legit 6-5.
I have to look at both the offensive and defensive plays to get the full picture on Brown. I have watched his full video several times now and I feel confident if asked to pick his position he would not hesitate to say defensive tackle. That is nothing to worry about. He will take the same kind of attitude to the offensive side of the ball now that it has been determined that is where he will play here. The one thing that immediately gets your attention is the hands. Hand placement is something that gets overlooked in all these technical details.Brown uses his hands better than any lineman we have offered. Not even close. That gives him a leg up on other players coming in. He has less to learn. The other thing is the punch he gets with those great hands. It looks like a heavy handed heavyweight when he makes contact. Whoever he hits goes backward. What makes this all the more intriguing to me is you don't see him use his lower body. Once he learns how to get his lower bod into his blocks, he is going to be a powerhouse on another level.
The one negative I see with Brown is he is stiff. The talk is Brown will come in as a tackle. When I see a tackle I look for fluidity and athleticism. I don't see that in any of the committed linemen with the possible exception of Underwood.
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