Aldon Smith, DE / OLB, Missouri

bucfan12 · 01-03-2011, 12:36 AM

Hey, as a Bucs fan, I am evaluating and looking for some insight on some DE prospects. Aldon Smith is one guy I have seen on insider reports of the Bucs scouting heavily during the offseason. I know this guy is super talented, but seems a bit raw. Anyone watch/seen him play? Any scouting reports?

Thanks.

Scott Wright · 01-03-2011, 02:54 AM

I wrote a blog entry about this guy back on October 4:

http://draftcountdown.com/draft-blog...w-aldon-smith/

FUNBUNCHER · 01-03-2011, 03:29 AM

Reminds me of JPP.

bucfan12 · 01-03-2011, 01:01 PM

What is your take on him now? That article has been posted 3 months ago though.

brasho · 01-03-2011, 01:13 PM

Not as productive as you would like, but he has an excellent get-off... but the most impressive thing for me is that several times he submarined his blocker to get a shot at the ball carrier and on two different occasions (iin his bowl game) really displayed violent, powerful hands, knocking his OL aside. I'm far more impressed with Smith than Iowa's Clayborn, who looks like a 3T or 5T at best.

bucfan12 · 01-03-2011, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brasho

Not as productive as you would like, but he has an excellent get-off... but the most impressive thing for me is that several times he submarined his blocker to get a shot at the ball carrier and on two different occasions (iin his bowl game) really displayed violent, powerful hands, knocking his OL aside. I'm far more impressed with Smith than Iowa's Clayborn, who looks like a 3T or 5T at best.

I like SMith too, but I still think he's too raw to be successful at the NFL level in 2011. I think he needs another year at the college ranks. Some RS sophomores don't succeed in the NFL because they make the jump to quickly and not ready. Aaron Maybin is a prime example. Not sure about Smith's maturity issues and personality, as that has a lot to do when making that jump besides the development as a player.

RealityCheck · 01-03-2011, 01:33 PM

I want him with the #33 overall pick.

Scott Wright · 01-03-2011, 01:52 PM

I am a huge Smith fan. A Top 15-20 overall talent if he comes out this year.

In fact, I like him so much he could even be my #3 draft-eligible defensive end.

ToldLikeItIs · 01-03-2011, 03:09 PM

Reiff absolutely contained him all game in the insight bowl.

BUSTKUNTLAWL · 01-03-2011, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToldLikeItIs

Reiff absolutely contained him all game in the insight bowl.

Just ship Reiff right to the HoF, IMO.

shabazz916 · 01-03-2011, 04:43 PM

he will be a buc

armageddon · 01-03-2011, 04:55 PM

with Gabbert gone, I am sure Smith will follow.

brasho · 01-03-2011, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToldLikeItIs

Reiff absolutely contained him all game in the insight bowl.

No he didn't. Smith had some good rushes, and he was probably the one that got absolutely trashed twice by a hard right hand to the shoulder.

All I've focused on during EVERY single bowl game which I've DVRed and watched (except SMU-Army---or was it GTech-Navy... any way) is DE and LB play.... and Smith looked very good in the game, he was far stronger than I thought he'd be and his get-off was as good as expected. He looked very good to me.

PTPaQ · 01-03-2011, 09:42 PM

I guess you could say Reiff 'contained' him but I attribute that more to Iowa's game plan and success on the ground. There were several plays where Smith just tossed him to the side and either blew up a run play or got to the QB's face. He was actually quite impressive with his toughness against the run, and we all know about his edge speed but his inside move was a huge success against Reiff. I take Aldon right behind Robert Quinn when it comes to rushing off the edge (3-4 OLB).

ChiFan24 · 01-03-2011, 10:03 PM

He really just gets by on his athleticism at this point, doesn't have much of a pass rushing repertoire, but there is too much potential for him to slip out of the first round. He's 6-5 260 with a great first step and can probably afford to put on more weight.

RaiderNation · 01-03-2011, 10:09 PM

In the current mock I have, I have Smith as a top 15 pick. I think this guy will really boost his draft stock at the combine. In some ways reminds me of Pierre-Paul and could have a good workouts to help his stock.

ToldLikeItIs · 01-04-2011, 12:14 PM

He did well against the run?

We ran for 230 yards against Missouri.

CJSchneider · 01-04-2011, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RealityCheck

I want him with the #33 overall pick.

We want him with the 32nd ;)

iowatreat54 · 01-04-2011, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PTPaQ

I guess you could say Reiff 'contained' him but I attribute that more to Iowa's game plan and success on the ground. There were several plays where Smith just tossed him to the side and either blew up a run play or got to the QB's face. He was actually quite impressive with his toughness against the run, and we all know about his edge speed but his inside move was a huge success against Reiff. I take Aldon right behind Robert Quinn when it comes to rushing off the edge (3-4 OLB).

Marcus Coker had 1 carry that went for negative yards. Aldon Smith, while good, did not have "several plays" where he "blew up" a run play. In fact, Coker had 6 rushes (out of 33 total) that went for less than 2 yards, 1 being a 1 yard TD. I'd hardly call that "blowing up" run plays.

He finished with 4 tackles, 1 TFL on Coker's lone negative rushing play. Also, I highly doubt he "was in the QB's face" several times considering Stanzi could have baked a cake with how much time he had on 99% of passing plays, which was obvious while watching the game or seeing that Missouri had 0 sacks and 0 QB hurries.

Aldon Smith is good, and I think he should declare and go first round, but lets be real here. He was a non-factor in the Insight Bowl.

eaglesalltheway · 01-04-2011, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToldLikeItIs

He did well against the run?

We ran for 230 yards against Missouri.

Because one man makes an entire defense?

bruschis4all · 01-04-2011, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eaglesalltheway

Because one man makes an entire defense?

Dan Persa made Iowa's defense look like Indiana's defense. Take Clayborn, Ballard and Krug off of your boards. They looked fat, gassed , old men(like me) by the end of that game.

brasho · 01-04-2011, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iowatreat54

Marcus Coker had 1 carry that went for negative yards. Aldon Smith, while good, did not have "several plays" where he "blew up" a run play. In fact, Coker had 6 rushes (out of 33 total) that went for less than 2 yards, 1 being a 1 yard TD. I'd hardly call that "blowing up" run plays.

He finished with 4 tackles, 1 TFL on Coker's lone negative rushing play. Also, I highly doubt he "was in the QB's face" several times considering Stanzi could have baked a cake with how much time he had on 99% of passing plays, which was obvious while watching the game or seeing that Missouri had 0 sacks and 0 QB hurries.

Aldon Smith is good, and I think he should declare and go first round, but lets be real here. He was a non-factor in the Insight Bowl.

If you were watching the game you would notice that Iowa had most of their success to the opposite side of Smith or when Smith wasn't in the game. There were several occasions where Smith got penetration and disrupted the play only to see nobody follow up. He was impressive, far more impressive than Clayborn, who at this point is looking like a sluggish 5-tech and quite possibly somebody that might have to play the 3-tech to realize his value (strong hands, good strength for a DE).

iowatreat54 · 01-04-2011, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brasho

If you were watching the game you would notice that Iowa had most of their success to the opposite side of Smith or when Smith wasn't in the game. There were several occasions where Smith got penetration and disrupted the play only to see nobody follow up. He was impressive, far more impressive than Clayborn, who at this point is looking like a sluggish 5-tech and quite possibly somebody that might have to play the 3-tech to realize his value (strong hands, good strength for a DE).

Ok, well just to start, there are several flaws with this post, or argument if you want to call it...

1. Didn't ever say that Iowa had their success on him. I said he was a non-factor, which whether because we ran away from him or he blew doesn't matter. He had 4 tackles and no QB hurries.

2. Clayborn has nothing to do with this discussion. Good deflection argument.

3. I like Smith as a prospect. I even said so in this thread, the other thread, and during the game how his name was constantly called for being in the right places.

After that, your argument that Smith was impressive in the game is pretty subjective. I watched the entire game, I know hard to believe. His name was called a lot, and it was for being in the right places, but he wasn't stuffing the run or getting in the QB's face as was asserted in the reply of my original post.

If you want to say he didn't suck and was making the right reads, shedding his blocks on most plays is impressive, then that's your call. But to me, 4 tackles including 1 being for a loss is extremely unimpressive and pretty much a non-factor in the game. Or in other words, Iowa wasn't gameplanning to avoid him as much as they did whatever they wanted on the ground to that defense and didn't even leave a note the next morning.

brasho · 01-04-2011, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iowatreat54

Ok, well just to start, there are several flaws with this post, or argument if you want to call it...

1. Didn't ever say that Iowa had their success on him. I said he was a non-factor, which whether because we ran away from him or he blew doesn't matter. He had 4 tackles and no QB hurries.

2. Clayborn has nothing to do with this discussion. Good deflection argument.

3. I like Smith as a prospect. I even said so in this thread, the other thread, and during the game how his name was constantly called for being in the right places.

After that, your argument that Smith was impressive in the game is pretty subjective. I watched the entire game, I know hard to believe. His name was called a lot, and it was for being in the right places, but he wasn't stuffing the run or getting in the QB's face as was asserted in the reply of my original post.

If you want to say he didn't suck and was making the right reads, shedding his blocks on most plays is impressive, then that's your call. But to me, 4 tackles including 1 being for a loss is extremely unimpressive and pretty much a non-factor in the game. Or in other words, Iowa wasn't gameplanning to avoid him as much as they did whatever they wanted on the ground to that defense and didn't even leave a note the next morning.

If an offense chooses to, they can eliminate any player on defense from showing up on the stat sheet. Now I'm not comparing Aldon Smith to Deion Sanders, but Sanders had entire stretches of games where he didn't intercept, break up a pass, or do anything of any significance... but he was still a huge factor in the game.

A player is deemed a factor if he makes a difference in the way the other team goes about their game plan...which Smith did... and for argument's sake, since when are stats the only determining factor of a player being impressive in a game?

I remember a Senior Bowl a few years back (when Okoye was among the top DTs drafted) where Nebraska DE Jay Moore had at least 2 sacks in the actual game... and yet to say he was impressive would be ridiculous. On one sack he simply wasn't blocked, and the other sack had another player pressure the QB right into him... NOT IMPRESSIVE. What is impressive for a DL is forcing the offense to alter the game plan to avoid the player or being disruptive and prevent the offense from running the play as intended.... and this can be done without racking up stats.

brasho · 01-04-2011, 05:48 PM

As for me commenting on Clayborn, I'm not deflecting, I'm simply stating that when compared to the other guy at the same spot for the other team, who actually racked up a sack (I think), he played a far better game... Clayborn was a complete non-factor for 98% of the game where he was single blocked, didn't get penetration, nor was he particularly effective in anything else he did. Smith >>>> Clayborn as a RDE for sure.