Mock Draft

[vegas492]

I just watched the first minute of the video posted.  I do not see a "bender" at all.  I saw a pass set about 54 seconds in where his guy goes inside and he slides all the way down to the center position and stays in front of his man.

Elite feet.  Long arms.  Prior to 1:10, the guy tried a power lift move on him.  Absolutely stonewalled.

I'm about 1:15 in.  Run play.  He got about 6 yards downfield on a draw.  Quickly.

Play after...combo block.  Great feet. 

1:42.  Another combo block, helped inside, went to get he ILB and the play stopped behind him.

About 1:56, run play inside.  Here he stood up too much.  No affect on the play, but yah, he got too high on that one.

About 2:18, he pass blocked inside.  DT was absolutely stoned.  He had to slide inside on his first step to get there, and he did it with ease.

2:25, safety blitz outside.  Easily recognized.  Walker didn't pancake him, but he did lift him.  

2:48.  He pulls from LT to RG, mauls an ILB in space.  Got there quick.

About 3:30, run play.  He stood up a little high on this one.

3:48.  Stacked box.  He lunged to make a block.  Whiffed.

Now I'm to about 6:50.  Seen nothing but quality plays in that time.  This one, though, he really gets his backside to the hole nicely, and quickly.

Guess I'll stop here.

This is quality LT work to me.  Pass Pro is #1.  He's very balanced.  Very light feet.  Easily diagnoses who is rushing and who is dropping.  Quick to help his teammates.  My only thought on the run game is this....tends to get a little high at times.

I mean, if you like Bakh's run blocking, there is not reason to not like Little's run blocking.  Little's feet look even quicker than Bakhs.  Little plays on balance.  And there aren't many LT's who are going to pull and lead plays on the opposite side.

I think he's impressive.

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

[vegas492]

On 3/26/2021 at 9:44 PM, Joe said:

1:54 in the highlight video is rather concerning given that he's a bit of a waist bender and just throws a guy half his size down to the ground; he obviously won't get that in the NFL.

 

I hate to be confrontational, but did you actually look at this video? It almost completely proves my thesis on Walker Little: he's elite in pass-pro and horrible in the run game. He does exceptionally well in pass-pro in the video with the exception of the Okwara sack at about 7:30, though that's just a REALLY good move by Okwara catching the break and beating his man. The other issue in pass-pro is what happens around the 9:10 mark, though to be fair again, that's Little not being 100% because he's human though he does extend a bit much late in the game and conditioning becomes an issue late in the game when ND doubles Tillery with that other player to take advantage of Little's fatigue, though fatigue and motor clearly seem to NOT be an issue overall for Little especially with our coaching staff and an NFL level conditioning program. 

As for the run game however, the first two plays on the quoted video show him trying to use similar moves as seen in the highlight video against guys who easily shed his blocks and get home very quickly; 1:36 in that video is rather problematic as it's like he bails on the block(to be fair, could that possibly be schematic given it happens a couple times before that particular play). 6:05 in that video is really the reason I worry about Little as a run-blocker, he barely touches the first guy before he gets 2nd level which leads to Bryce Love getting strung out though he's not the only offending party along that OL(the Guard next to him did him no favors much of the time). The play at 6:18 is even worse. Later in the game, the replay at 10:35 shows how he has very little drive in the running game before Okwara embarrasses the other Tackle for a major loss. 

Also, I see your 2018 video and raise you his 2019 video against Northwestern.

1:22: Stood right up on a combo block to have the guy to his right make the play
1:55: Stands up and essentially holds his guy turning that player to their left only to have that player swim under him and grab enough of the runner to make the play
2:48: Pulls like a Guard and gets enough of his guy to seal him off and does so similar to his pass-pro, the one good run-block we see, play is flagged due to another player
3:27: Another reaching block where he barely gets to his guy and extends to try and get a hand on him.
3:46: Total fail at chip blocking his man who promptly gets a TFL
4:37: Another run play to the left with a bunch formation that gets nowhere because of poor blocking all around. Little's guy gets under his pads and drives him back
5:54: Holds his man until his man figures out it's a running play to which he quickly disengages and makes the play with no contest by Little.
10:24: Most of the plays are pass plays to this point, but he gets his left shoulder crushed by the defender slinging him over said shoulder and winding up on his back allowing a huge hole for other defenders to come in and make the play. He exits the game with what looks to be a shoulder injury.

 

Looking over his tape some more shows that he's exceptional in pass-pro, but when it comes to the running plays, he has no oomph whatsoever. He can stone his guy at the LOS, but he can't move him the other direction in the run game. That tells us he's great for a pass happy offense where he just needs to use his anchor to keep defenders off his QB and even if he loses a 1-on-1 he's able to at least take the guy down with him as he's falling without drawing a holding call. Still, that doesn't suggest that he'd fit our offensive scheme within the least.

I watched the video, I don't really see what you do.  What I see is more or less what you expect LT's to do in the run game, with more athleticism as evidenced by how easily he pulls.

I came away even more impressed with how quickly he was diagnosing who to block and when.  And those feet.  I could watch those feet chop all day long.

Regarding our scheme.  I saw a lot of offense out of the gun that looked similar to ours.  Guess I see a fit.

And honestly here, I'm not being a homer.  I don't care.  I'm just calling 'em like I see 'em.  Walker Little has the feet to be an LT.  He plays with really good balance and he appears to process information very quickly.  I'd give him a plus for feet, plus for base (balance), plus for movement, plus for arm size.  I don't feel like he is a plus in the run game, but he's also not a minus there.  His play strength/core looked good, but that's what I think he can work on as well.  More power in his base.

Him versus Mayfield.  Little is a much better LT prospect than Mayfield.  Mayfield looks like a RT all day long.  I'd call Mayfield "dirtier", or "messier", more aggressive.  Also, no where near the feet of Little.  

[pgwingman]

I really liked the mock, even it you are  a bit dry on DL. 

One highlight your forgot to mention is that Dazz Newsome returns punts as well. He's my mid round draft crush for sure.

[jleisher]

Not a big fan of Brown.