NFL Scout Notes from Oregon vs TN (McCullers, Neal, Richardson, Johnson, James)

#1

phowell23

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2009
Messages
5,353
Likes
35
#1
Interesting notes from game...

Tennessee

#98 DT Daniel McCullers

  • Batted a pass and caused an incompletion.
  • Coming out of his stance too high.
  • Pushes RG back a yard into the backfield, grabs RB, and brings him down to the ground for a gain of about two.
  • Not giving good effort with any consistency.
  • Looks like he has really long arms. Huge frame.
  • Rarely gives any ground in the run game. Very stout at the POA.
  • Can push the pocket when he wants too. Incredible power on bull rush.
  • Regularly seeing double teams from the center and RG.
  • Misses arm tackle on RB in space.

DEFENSIVE STATS: Three tackles (two solo)

OVERVIEW: Daniel McCullers looks like a prototypical nose tackle prospect. Although I would like to see more consistent effort from him, his talent and power when he wants to go hard are undeniable.

#74 LT Antonio “Tiny” Richardson
  • Looks like he possesses good length.
  • Knee bender. Shows very quick feet in pass protection.
  • Showing strength at the point of attack in run game.
  • DT comes outside on T/E stunt and shoots gap between Richardson and the LG. Richardson struggles to diagnose it and engage with the DT. The DT gets inside of him and through the gap between he and the LG. The DT hits QB’s arm just as he throws the ball.
  • Overextends, slightly drops his head, and gets beat to the inside. QB moved out of QB beforehand however and had no problem getting pass off before rush getting to him.
  • ROLB blitzes off edge and Richardson helps LG block the three-technique DT. OLB explodes off LOS untouched and gets in QB’s face immediately and forces a quick throw. Looked like miscommunication on OL.
  • Does a great job of helping LG inside, keeping eyes outside, and quickly sliding out in space to pick up blitzing CB.
  • Allows DT #66 inside of him on T/E stunt. Seemed that he expected the LG to block him. #66 ran right through the B-gap and forced the QB to throw the ball quickly short of the first down marker
.

OVERVIEW: Tiny Richardson showed quick feet and excellent length in this matchup. Although he got beat a couple of times on stunts, Richardson played very well in pass protection and in the run game.

#20 RB Rajion Neal

  • Fumbles on his first run of the game.
  • Receives hand off on Jet Sweep, shows some speed in space and gains about 12 yards.
  • Catches pass in flat, gains about five yards before going out of bounds.
  • On third down, catches ball in flat, makes a defender miss, and accelerates upfield for a first down.
  • Takes handoff on Jet Sweep, makes defender miss at LOS, gains about two yards.
  • Catches screen pass, makes defender miss with spin move, gains around seven yards.
  • Gains six yards on what looked like an inside zone running play on third and five.
  • Could not find much running room all game long.

RUSHING STATS: 12 carries for 42 yards and one fumble

RECEIVING STATS: Four catches for 23 yards

OVERVIEW: Rajion Neal showed some burst on a Jet Sweep for 12 yards, but aside from that, he had a tough day overall. He fumbled on his first carry of the game and could not find much running room on 11 of his 12 carries.

#45 LB A.J. Johnson
  • Reads backfield and takes his time to react (probably in case of QB pulling ball out on RO fake), pursues RB to sideline, closes in, and brings him down for a gain of about one.
  • Runs downfield to cover seam route by slot receiver but gets there just an instant late.
  • Ends up on ground after getting cut while pursuing outside zone run. Recovers quickly and combines with teammates to make the tackle after a six-yard gain.
  • Sits back to read where ball is going at first but then pursues RB up the middle and combines with teammates to bring down RB after a gain of about eight.
  • Initially follows backfield flow to left, but recognizes screen pass to right, and pursues receiver. Combines with teammates to bring down ball carrier after a gain of about eight.
DEFENSIVE STATS: Seven tackles (two solo)

OVERVIEW: Overall, A.J. Johnson looked tentative in this matchup. Oregon often chose to read him in the read option game and he was regularly a step or two late reacting to run plays. I do not believe that this game is an accurate indicator of Johnson’s skills due to the offense that Oregon runs.

#70 RT Ja’Wuan James


  • Fires out and loses balance on contact, falls to the ground.
  • Seals defender #9 inside and eventually knocks him to the turf.
  • Makes low block on quickly pursuing LB and cuts him down to open up a hole.
  • Gets driven backwards and off balance at POA, defender sheds block and makes tackle after gain of about one.
  • Badly misses cut block attempt.
  • Has a tendency to play too high.
  • Seems to possess a pretty powerful punch in pass protection.

OVERVIEW: Ja’Wuan James showed quick feet and a powerful punch in pass protection, but had some struggles in the run game. He was caught off balance and on the ground too often and also had trouble with sustaining blocks.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 8 people
#3
#3
Kinda makes one wonder if our coaches see the flaws(?) in technique the scouts spotted. :question:
 
#4
#4
Fulton was the best lineman on the field for both teams. That kid is a bull. Would like to hear his report.
 
#5
#5
OP, I will be in NOLA staying in the French Quarter is there a good place to watch the UT Florida game?
 
#6
#6
OP, I will be in NOLA staying in the French Quarter is there a good place to watch the UT Florida game?

If you don't mind taking the St. Charles streetcar you can go down to the Garden District. There are some good places right at the entrance to the damn.

My wife and I were most recently down there during the Miss State weekend for the BBQ/Blues festival. I can't remember the name of the place but it's a sports bar built in an old house right on St. Charles. I think it's the Blind Pelican something or another. They threw the game on for us (decent # of TVs for a standard cramped NO restaurant) without any hassle. It's nice, since requesting a UT game in Alabama (ugh) is usually a fight.

Nice place, good food pretty cheap beer. I think they had $5 pitchers of Miller Light (not my favorite, but cheap beer is cheap beer).
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#7
#7
Thanks for posting. Would be interested to see their thoughts on Worley. Like fade said, it does confirm what a lot of us were thinking. Great pass protection, no room in the running game but Neal has speed, Johnson is just one step behind but with great effort, McCullers, etc.
 
#8
#8
OP, I will be in NOLA staying in the French Quarter is there a good place to watch the UT Florida game?

There are plenty of bars in the French Quarter with flat screens that should be showing the game. Just walk around before and be sure to ask the bartender if they are showing the FL-TN game or not. LSU plays later in the day, so that's good otherwise they would be just showing that game. I actually haven't been to French Quarter bars in about a year but my wife went to a wedding there last year and I visited about 4 different bars while waiting for her and if I remember correctly at least 3 were showing football games. :good!:
 
#9
#9
Thanks for posting. Would be interested to see their thoughts on Worley. Like fade said, it does confirm what a lot of us were thinking. Great pass protection, no room in the running game but Neal has speed, Johnson is just one step behind but with great effort, McCullers, etc.

I don't think the pro scout would review Worley- unless he improves. He's nowhere close to even being asked to walkon as an unsigned free agent at this point...if I was scouting UT, I would just make a note to look at QB play next season...
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 people
#13
#13
Key thing is all those guys need to improve this year. If we want to have a good year and carry some momentum into a bowl game CBJ needs to do some big time "player development"
 
#15
#15
Sounds like a line recruited for a pro-style pocket passer. Can't wait until Butch gets his Jimmy and Joes to run his Xs and Os

Nice to have a coach who....well...you know
 

VN Store



Back
Top