Originally Posted by : Overview
Speaks finished strong in his final year in Oxford, sacking the quarterback six times in the team's final six games from the defensive end position. He started all 12 games for the Rebels in 2017, posting 67 tackles, eight for loss which included seven sacks to garner second-team All-SEC by league media. The Jackson, Mississippi native and four-star recruit was a defensive tackle initially, redshirting in 2014 and then starting two of 13 games played the following year (32 tackles, 5.5 for loss, one sack, two pass breakups). Speaks played in every game again as a sophomore, starting seven, making 28 tackles, 1.5 for loss, and a sack.
Originally Posted by : Strengths
Big man with good speed and plus athletic ability
Has experience at a variety of spots along defensive line
Has size and length to play in odd or even front
Punches with good hand placement, arm extension and rolled hips when allowed to two-gap
Has attitude and edge
Flashes potential to become more proficient with hands as a weapon
Able to play ahead of move blocks and disrupt into backside gaps
Plays with plus awareness
Responds well to flow of the play
Offers a little more pass rush than expected as power end
Pairs hands and feet to help free him as interior rusher along the edge
Arm-over move has some potential
Weaknesses
Had just one season of big production
Inconsistent at leveraging gap
Plays top-heavy with high pad level
Allows blockers under his pads when attacking gaps
Hip-tightness leads to narrowing of his base
Struggles to hold ground against down blocks and can be rolled out of the gap
Has straight line speed, but lateral agility and foot quickness are average in tight quarters
Goes over the edge with emotions
Chippy hitter willing to lead with helmet when play is ending
Ejected for targeting against Kentucky and ejected against Mississippi State for two unsportsmanlike penalties
Reid says Brett Veach "wore him out" watching tape on Speaks. Watched all of his snaps from last season, says he never saw him on the ground. Compares him to Tamba Hali with size and metrics.
Originally Posted by -King-:
Our whole draft made no sense the day after the draft and it still makes no sense now. We haven't even heard of a rookie flashing for even just a day during training camp. Posted via Mobile Device
It doesn’t make sense? Wtf?
Do you not agree that the pass rush needed help last year? Speaks is a pass rusher.
Do you not agree that we couldn’t stop the run last year on the edge opposite Houston or up the middle? That’s why Speaks and Nnandi were drafted.
Do you not agree that Sorenson sucked as a money backer and nobody could cover a TE after Berry got hurt? That’s why O’Daniel was drafted.
Do you not agree that safety outside of Berry was really bad last year? That’s why Armani Watts was drafted [Reply]
I thought he looked better as the game wore on, but i can't say if that's because he got better or his competition got worse.
He looked slow coming out of college and he was never billed as a speed guy, so him being slow last night didn't even register on my radar. That was a given.
He clearly has a lot to work on. We knew that. He's not a starter this season and i expect we'll see a better Breeland Speaks next season. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Detoxing:
I thought he looked better as the game wore on, but i can't say if that's because he got better or his competition got worse.
He looked slow coming out of college and he was never billed as a speed guy, so him being slow last night didn't even register on my radar. That was a given.
He clearly has a lot to work on. We knew that. He's not a starter this season and i expect we'll see a better Breeland Speaks next season.
Originally Posted by Detoxing:
The guy who jumped off the screen last night was Kpass. He was an absolute terror early on.
Originally Posted by -King-:
Our whole draft made no sense the day after the draft and it still makes no sense now. We haven't even heard of a rookie flashing for even just a day during training camp. Posted via Mobile Device
Yeah it's still way too early but I'm not really a fan of Veach this board overates him as a GM. [Reply]
I thought he looked like shit most of his snaps aside from that play you linked. And even that play i personally gave credit to Eligwe for blowing it up. Granted they both came crashing into the lane, but at first sight i gave credit to Eligwe. Second view around, yeah he did great there. [Reply]
I thought Williams consistently occupied blockers at the POA, and he pushed those blockers on that play right into the RB's lane, blowing that play up. [Reply]
Veach Saturday on what he's seen so far from second-round pick Breeland Speaks:
"The guy is really athletic for that size, and we have some flexibility. We've already seen his ability to set an edge and play the run, and I think he's learning how to pass rush from the outside as a standup backer. But moving forward, he'll be able to kick inside and do some interior rush with guys like Chris Jones and Allen Bailey because he is 280 pounds.
"Just because in the preseason we just rushed four up the field doesn't mean we aren't getting creative. We already know he can out there and play in base downs and he can set an edge and play the run, but he can also rush from the 3-technique and probably also play 5-tech moving forward (if we need it).
"He's a valuable defensive line commodity that because of how we're set up with our depth right now is going to help us best at outside linebacker with keeping Justin [Houston] and Dee [Ford] healthy in regards to limiting their reps. But he's also a guy that in the future who could play anywhere across the board, so that's the value we saw in how he's possibly going to affect the roster in year two and year three."
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Sounds like Speaks will be kicking inside on passing downs some. Just what I had hoped. He’s also 280, which is pretty crazy. [Reply]
