Just because Sharrif Floyd is the top-rated defensive tackle, according to Rivals.com, doesn’t mean it is a sure thing he will succeed in college.
At a lot of other positions, the top-rated guy is almost always a can’t-miss type of player, but defensive tackle has not always been the case.
Since 2002, only five out of the 20 defensive tackles that were given a five-star ranking have made significant impacts. To be fair, I won’t rule out last year’s five five-star recruits, including UF’s Gary Brown, but he definitely did not get out to a good start by having to redshirt his first season.
By comparison, 14 out of the 27 five-star running backs excelled in college, and two of the three from the 2009 class already made a difference for their teams in their first season — Alabama’s Trent Richardson and Tennessee’s Bryce Brown.
Twelve of those five-star defensive tackle prospects weighed at least 300 pounds, which is probably the reason why these guys don’t pan out at the college level.
In high school, not many offensive linemen are more than 250 pounds.
Heck, I was forced to play line my senior year of high school due to lack of talent and size. Also, my team switched to the Wing-T with pulling guards that lead block most plays and because I played fullback, I was a prime candidate to make the switch.
I weighed 185 pounds, and one game I had to go up against one of the those highly recruited 300-pounders, Rivals.com’s No. 12 defensive tackle prospect for the 2006 class Kendrick Ellis – things did not go well for me that game.
With a huge size advantage, those big fattys can move most high school offensive linemen without much trouble and look like a monster on film.
They never really have to develop rush moves, use their hands or, most importantly, the ability to fight in the trenches.
And forget about learning to stop the run. Because of their size, it is nearly impossible to move them without at least a double team, and even then it’s hard to get them out of the running lanes.
High school football is so easy for most of these guys that it is a rude awakening when they do get to college and have to go against guys their size.
Most of them have to learn technique, get in shape and get faster.
That takes a lot of time and often that defensive tackle that was expected to make an immediate impact is stuck in limbo for a few years trying to develop into a college-level defensive tackle and earn a starting job.
On the other side of the spectrum, those players that aren’t as big coming out of high school who often get written off as too small to play inside and to slow to play on the edge are the ones who can emerge as great defensive tackles in college and then in the NFL.
Someone smaller — anything 275 pounds or less — is going to have to work hard on almost every snap to make a difference in high school.
They don’t have such a big weight advantage that they can just toss offensive linemen around.
They have to rely on being quicker off the snap, using their hands well to beat their blocker and toughing out their opponents.
When these smaller players get to college, they usually have a lot of the techniques down and are in good shape for a defensive tackle.
All they have to do is put on some weight, which is not a problem once they get put on a diet plan by the team’s nutritionist.
With fewer things to fix when they get to college, the smaller linemen can get on the field quicker.
At 310 pounds, Floyd has history going against him before he even steps on the field for the Gators.
Florida does have a guy in its class that is my ideal candidate for a great defensive tackle.
Dominique Easley is the No. 2 prospect at the position, weighs only 258 pounds and runs a 4.7 40-yard dash.
After throwing on 20-30 pounds, which he could do by the time he arrives at UF in the fall, Easley’s going to be a force inside for the Gators.
