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OH DT Elijah Taylor (Notre Dame Verbal)

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The visit to ND was actually last weekend for their Spring Game. Guess it would help if I paid attention to the date of my posts :biggrin2: lol
 
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Finally got a chance to watch his film. Big, athletic kid with long arms that closes on the ball quick and against great competition. Plenty of raw potential. However, there are a lot of minuses...does not fire off the ball (he seriously steps backwards off the line half the time), plays soft (particularly with his hands), and just uses his athleticism to run around guys. Plays extremely high and lets the OL get under him immediately...he gets of the block eventually on pure ability, but that will not work at the next level...really needs to work on firing out low (I would suggest he watch Michael Bennett's HS film in that regard). Now I know it is unreasonable to expect kids to use their hands well at this stage but I just don't see a "choke you over checkers" type of kid that plays angry on defense. He does seem to have a good motor and while there is plenty to like about Taylor, he is a major project in my eyes but with the DL prospects we have brought in lately, we have room for one.
 
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RB07OSU said:
Finally got a chance to watch his film. Big, athletic kid with long arms that closes on the ball quick and against great competition. Plenty of raw potential. However, there are a lot of minuses...does not fire off the ball (he seriously steps backwards off the line half the time), plays soft (particularly with his hands), and just uses his athleticism to run around guys. Plays extremely high and lets the OL get under him immediately...he gets of the block eventually on pure ability, but that will not work at the next level...really needs to work on firing out low (I would suggest he watch Michael Bennett's HS film in that regard). Now I know it is unreasonable to expect kids to use their hands well at this stage but I just don't see a "choke you over checkers" type of kid that plays angry on defense. He does seem to have a good motor and while there is plenty to like about Taylor, he is a major project in my eyes but with the DL prospects we have brought in lately, we have room for one.
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Sounds a bit like Rob Rose in high school.
 
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RB07OSU said:
Finally got a chance to watch his film. Big, athletic kid with long arms that closes on the ball quick and against great competition. Plenty of raw potential. However, there are a lot of minuses...does not fire off the ball (he seriously steps backwards off the line half the time), plays soft (particularly with his hands), and just uses his athleticism to run around guys. Plays extremely high and lets the OL get under him immediately...he gets of the block eventually on pure ability, but that will not work at the next level...really needs to work on firing out low (I would suggest he watch Michael Bennett's HS film in that regard). Now I know it is unreasonable to expect kids to use their hands well at this stage but I just don't see a "choke you over checkers" type of kid that plays angry on defense. He does seem to have a good motor and while there is plenty to like about Taylor, he is a major project in my eyes but with the DL prospects we have brought in lately, we have room for one.
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Agreed - I don't know his background but I get the feeling that he didn't grow up playing interior DL. I say that because he looks lost with this hands and what to do with them and at a school like Moeller that makes me feel he might have grown into the spot. Has great straight line speed for his size but is not a lateral player so not a guy who could be an OL/DL project; he's strictly DT to me. Displays great strength; powerful kid. If you're looking at a 5 year project, I could see him continuing to grow (has the frame for it) and turning into a one gap type. I don't see a great athlete as you do but the staff must see something; doesn't seem like the "typical" Urban DL but with he and LJ giving the OK, I trust :)
 
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bigdog3300 said:
Agreed - I don't know his background but I get the feeling that he didn't grow up playing interior DL. I say that because he looks lost with this hands and what to do with them and at a school like Moeller that makes me feel he might have grown into the spot. Has great straight line speed for his size but is not a lateral player so not a guy who could be an OL/DL project; he's strictly DT to me. Displays great strength; powerful kid. If you're looking at a 5 year project, I could see him continuing to grow (has the frame for it) and turning into a one gap type. I don't see a great athlete as you do but the staff must see something; doesn't seem like the "typical" Urban DL but with he and LJ giving the OK, I trust :)
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Exactly...when he gets bigger, I could see him being a 1-tech plugger (even though supposedly that distinction is gone in the new defense). I thought the same thing wondering how a kid from Moeller plays with that technique but your guess would make sense. "Great" athlete is probably a stretch, good athlete is probably more accurate.
 
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RB07OSU said:
Exactly...when he gets bigger, I could see him being a 1-tech plugger (even though supposedly that distinction is gone in the new defense). I thought the same thing wondering how a kid from Moeller plays with that technique but your guess would make sense. "Great" athlete is probably a stretch, good athlete is probably more accurate.
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I had a lot of the same feelings as you guys watching his tape. Some nice spots, but largely unimpressive. However, it was noted that he played most of the season with a somewhat serious ankle injury I guess. That would definitely explain some of the things that I saw as unimpressive in his tape. I definitely trust Urban and LJ Sr. on this one, and it definitely would be nice to keep attempting to make the inroads in Cinci.
 
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wadc45 said:
Gotta go with Duane on this one...not real busted up about this one despite losing an in-state kid with an offer to ND. Unless it somehow affects Hilliard...
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It's hard to take this one too hard, because it was a Moeller kid, with an ND offer. An offer from ND and/or BC puts that to the top of most kids lists from Moeller and St. X. We fought hard for him I'm sure, but ND and BC have built some big pipelines
 
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