Rueben Randle, WR, LSU

[JohnCandy]

Just today Rueben Randle made an appearance in Mike Mayocks Top 5 and in the 1st round of Mel Kiper's Mock Draft.

http://www.nfl.com/combine/story/090...module=HP11_cp

http://espn.go.com/nfl/draft

I do not know a lot about him and he seems to be climbing quickly into the 1st round conversation for WRs.

Can someone tell me about Randle?

How does he compare to?

How high can he go?

[katnip]

I want the Jets to grab him round 2 hopefully

[descendency]

There are some expecting him to blow up the combine with the lack of premiere athletes at WR this year (at the top of the board).

Michael Floyd and Justin Blackmon won't be overly impressive (both are expected in the 4.5+ range). Neither will Alshon Jeffery.

Guys like Kendall Wright and Rueben Randle are projected to "ace the combine".

My gut feeling is that Kendall Wright will go to #1 on a few teams boards and Rueben Randle will compete for 3rd on some boards. Both will receive first round grades from a few organizations, however, I still think Randle is a high top of the second guy. A team would really have to love his athleticism to overlook his underdeveloped system knowledge (limited route tree, limited experience in an option system, etc).

There's also a bit of worry that a guy like Sanu or even Juron Criner blows up the combine and could leapfrog a few guys.

The second round is going to be stacked with good WRs or we are going to break an NFL record on first round WRs.

[TACKLE]

I've seen him as a legitimate 1st round talent for a while now. Very good size, natural hands and can pluck the ball, impressive combination of speed and quickness for his size, can explode in and out of his breaks, has a large catching radius, can go up and win in jump ball situations and can create after the catch. It's impressive how well he was able to produce despite the incompetency of his QB's. He doesn't pop in one particular area but he is really a very well rounded talent. He's only been playing WR for the last three years so there's still some room for growth there as well. I'm surprised he's remained relatively under the radar given that he was the #1 recruit coming out of high school playing on a team with a ton of exposure. I'm curious what he could do with a real quarterback.

[JohnCandy]

If given the choice in the mid-late 1st round who would you rather have Mohamed Sanu or Rueben Randle?

It is interesting that he is starting to blow up right now, which is a good sign since people have started looking at the Junior tape.

[49ersfan_87]

Would he be a good choice at 30 for the 49ers pick?

[JRTPlaya21]

I was high on him coming outta high school. Top 10 recruit though Tackle. The Bryce Brown somehow was consensus #1 lol. Anyways if Randle had say Mettenberger as his QB this past season he would probably be a top 15 pick. I feel like Randle can be that good.

[descendency]

Would he be a good choice at 30 for the 49ers pick?

My personal opinion is that he'd be a dumb pick, but that depends on how the board shakes down.

There are a lot of WRs in this class that could be really good. If another spot is going to be very thin, I would go with another position.

30th seems like a reach, but I have a feeling someone will reach for him.

[cmarq83]

Physically, he's all there, but I hate the way he catches the football. Way too many body catches IMO. He has the ability to make the easy catches look easy and the harder catches look hard. It sort of mitigates the advantage he has in terms of length. It's going to take a lot of work from a professional receivers coach to fix that, but if it's fixed watch out.

[JohnCandy]

There are some expecting him to blow up the combine with the lack of premiere athletes at WR this year (at the top of the board).

Michael Floyd and Justin Blackmon won't be overly impressive (both are expected in the 4.5+ range). Neither will Alshon Jeffery.

Guys like Kendall Wright and Rueben Randle are projected to "ace the combine".

My gut feeling is that Kendall Wright will go to #1 on a few teams boards and Rueben Randle will compete for 3rd on some boards. Both will receive first round grades from a few organizations, however, I still think Randle is a high top of the second guy. A team would really have to love his athleticism to overlook his underdeveloped system knowledge (limited route tree, limited experience in an option system, etc).

There's also a bit of worry that a guy like Sanu or even Juron Criner blows up the combine and could leapfrog a few guys.

The second round is going to be stacked with good WRs or we are going to break an NFL record on first round WRs.

I think starting with the Bears at 19, we could see a serious mid-late 1st round run on WRs.

The more I watch of Randle the more I see a 1st round WR.

I have been comparing him and Sanu and while Sanu is more physical I do not see the speed and ability to threaten vertically down the field. Randle ran 4 routes when I watch some LSU film, but what I saw was a guy that did not waste movement and could affectively seperate from SEC QBs.

I do not hold the Alabama games against him they were taking him away and the QB play made Tommy Rees look Heisman worthy.

[JohnCandy]

Does he remind anyone of Kenny Britt when he came out?

Big, long and fast, but limited routes and some rough edges that would need to be worked on.

[PossibleCabbage]

The second round is going to be stacked with good WRs or we are going to break an NFL record on first round WRs.

Which is to say that the second round will be stacked with good WRs, since even if Blackmon, Wright, Floyd, Randle, Jeffrey, Sanu, and Criner go in the first round, that only ties 2004 (Larry Fitzgerald, Roy Williams, Reggie Williams, Lee Evans, Michael Clayton, Michael Jenkins, Rashaun Woods).

I can't see an eighth WR going in the first round, I have trouble seeing six honestly.

[bornnraisedwhodat]

LSU's passing game was so terrible its hard for me to evaluate the kid. Physically he is all there though. If he can impress at the combine I could see him peaking in the 1st round. Reminds me a lot of Robert Meachem and could see him having a similar career (struggling to grasp the NFL game at first but getting better as time goes along).

[JohnCandy]

You are picking at 25 and you are choosing between Sanu and Randle, who do you pick and why?

Why is Sanu not in the top 5 of Mayock Rankings?

[Poz51]

My .02...
Positives - Long strider who does not often get caught from behind, deceptive/sneaky speed, hardly ever lets the ball hit his pads leading to few drops and uses his hands to catch the ball well, has a good understanding of defenses and, down and distance, improved over the last two years, and has a high ceiling (will improve, was a high school QB), still growing as a wide receiver, tracks the ball well over his shoulder and makes the play on the deep ball, most often catches and gets upfield as fast as he can, good field awareness, uses his head to literally fake out corner backs and fake deep routes on comebacks and deep curls, sells deep routes, great size, inconsistencies and development may have been the result of poor QB play.
Negatives - Not acceptional at getting in and out of his breaks (slow twitch?), does not get great seperation, nothing special in terms of acceleration, not a great route runner and needs further development, was primarily a deep threat at L.S.U and needs to develop his short and intermediate route running, doesnt make defenders miss, will need the right coaching to develop his potetial, not a great run blocker, could have used another year in college IMO, not always great at getting off the line vs. press coverage.
Overall - The "potential" with Randle is high, the question for me is will he work to realize it. He made the switch from high school QB to college WR, and showed improvement, so he is ascending in that regard. Questions regarding acceleration, build up speed, burst and seperation keep in from being a 1st round caliber prospect IMO, but with the right coaching and development could be a solid #2 who could draw coverage. Randle is difficult to gage at times because of potentially poor QB play most of his career with Jordan Jefferson running the offense, and seemed to me to be more consistant with Andy Lee running the offense to me. Anyway, I have him as a second round prospect who needs work, but has considerable upside. The first round talk is a bit much for me and would be what I consider a reach.