Week 2 begins with UAB taking on the Miami Hurricanes, and I have highlighted some prospects to watch. Unfortunately we won't be able to see Gregory Rousseau as he has opted out this season, but there is still plenty of talent on the field. I'm interested to see how former Houston QB D'Eriq King will lead this talented Miami offense, and excited to watch my pre-season TE1 Brevin Jordan. Below is a quick preview on the prospects. I will update this post after the game on Friday with my scouting notes, which will be in red.
Final Score: UAB 14 - Miami 31
Miami
Brevin Jordan - TE - 6'3, 240
Jordan comes into the season as a consensus top 3 TE prospect, right around Kyle Pitts and Pat Freiermuth. What I really enjoyed about his game was his athleticism and complete skill set. He's a solid route runner who utilizes fakes and hesitations in the middle of his routes, freezing defenders and creating separation for himself. He's a solid RAC receiver as well, running with good strength and speed. He's a real mismatch for linebackers and safeties , and I was really impressed with his blocking. Yes, his technique isn't the greatest but I love the effort he brings. He loves to get physical on blocks and I think the technique will come. One of my concerns was the way he was producing yards. He caught a lot of screens and quick slants over the middle. He has the tools to run deep routes and be effective there, and hopefully with D'Eriq King at QB he will get more looks deep.
Jordan was not as involved in the offense as much as I hoped he would be. He had 3 catches for 51 yards, and 1 TD. He looked good running routes but 2 of his 3 catches were on short routes. He showed off his athleticism and RAC ability on his second catch. As mentioned in my preview, I wanted to see Jordan catch more balls on deeper routes, but we did not get that in this game. On the play below Jordan runs a nice route upfield and holds on to the ball through contact.
Other
D'Eriq King - QB - 5'9, 190:
King looked great when evading rushers in the pocket and creating yards with his legs. Clip 1 shows off his ability to keep plays alive and find receivers downfield. There were several plays throughout the game where he recognizes open space in the middle of the field and takes advantage with his speed and quickness. You can see an example in clip 2. He needs to take less contact, as he will try to play physical as a runner when he doesn't need to. His passing throughout the game was very erratic and inconsistent. He was very poor on deep balls, often overthrowing by a lot, and clip 3 displays how poor his accuracy can be at all levels of the field. I really like his athleticism and playmaking ability at the position, but he needs to improve his accuracy to play at the next level.
Cam'Ron Harris - RB - 5'10, 210 (Harris caught my eye several times when watching Jordan)
I had been planning on creating a post about Harris because he caught my eye when I watched Brevin Jordan, but I never got around to it. I really wish I did because Harris had a great game and was a big reason why Miami won. He showed he has gamebreaking ability and speed, as he had a 66 yard TD run to get Miami on the scoreboard. You can see this play in clip 4. Aside from his speed, he possesses great lateral agility and was jump cutting around all game. He's got quick feet and flashes patience, allowing his blocks to develop. In clip 5, Harris shows great patience in the hole and maneuvers around defenders for a 14 yard gain.
Mike Harley - WR - 5'10, 180
Harley looked good as a quick slot receiver. He's a solid route runner, especially on shorter routes where he can take advantage of his quickness and explosiveness.
Quincy Roche - EDGE - 6'3, 235
Jaelen Phillips - EDGE - 6'4, 245
Both Roche and Phillips had very good games. They were both able to get to the rusher several times, and their speed rush was just too much for the UAB tackles. Clips 6, 7, and 8 are some examples of their pass rush.
Zach McCloud - LB - 6'2, 235
McCloud didn't have a good game. He took poor angles to the ball carrier on several plays, and allowed the ball carrier to get by him. He also missed a couple tackles. I do really like his athleticism, especially his speed and quickness. I did not really notice him in coverage and I would need to see him more in that aspect.
Al Blades - CB - 6'1, 190
Blades had two pass breakups and looked solid in coverage all game. UAB has some good receivers to cover, but the QB play was so poor that I don't think the Miami secondary was really ever challenged, besides the TD catch by Watkins in the first quarter.
Amari Carter - Safety - 6'1, 200
Clip 1 - King shows off his ability to evade rushers and keep plays alive with his athleticism
Clip 2 - Great speed and quickness by King
Clip 3 - Really bad miss by King. This was an easy TD pass
Clip 4 - Great TD run by Harris. You can see him read the LB behind the line commit to his left, and he jump cuts to the right into the open field.
Clip 5 - I think Harris needs to keep working on his vision, but he flashed patience in this game. Here he does well to stay patient in the hole and fight through contact with his strength and agility.
Clip 6 - Great arm over move by Roche as he explodes by the guard and gets the sack
Clip 7 - Fantastic bend and hand swipe by Roche. He gets pressure on the QB and is just a second late for the sack. Nice catch by Myron Mitchell too
Clip 8 - Phillips is lined up as the right EDGE. Good strength and bull rush by Phillips, and you can see Roche on the other side get pressure on the QB too
UAB
Austin Watkins - WR - 6'3, 210
Watkins was #45 on Feldman's Freaks list this year and is also the cousin of NFL wide receiver Sammy Watkins. He had a fantastic 2019 season with 1,092 receiving yards and runs a 4.47 40 yard dash. I have not been able to scout Watkins yet, but from what I've read he has excellent ball skills and is a great contested catch receiver. Right now there are questions with his ability to separate, so he doesn't always have to be in these contested catch situations. I'll be looking for that against Miami.
Watkins looked really good. He's really quick and explosive on his release and is able to generate separation very early in his routes. In the first quarter he ran a fantastic slant route. He was fast off the snap and hit a sudden break, getting wide open. I love his athleticism and his route running was a pleasant surprise. You can see his TD catch below. He runs a great route, throwing a couple of fakes in the middle of his route to throw the corner off. The corner does well to stay with him but Watkins is still able to make the TD catch, displaying great ball skills and concentration.
Other
Spencer Brown - RB - 5'11, 228
Brown displays great vision and patience as a runner. They ran outside zone a lot and he was able to stay patient and let his gaps open up, and choosing his running lanes well. He's not the most athletic but I like his lateral agility. He's able to move around in tight spaces. Clip 9 below is a nice example of his running ability. I have questions about his creativity and if he can create yards for himself, so that is something to look for later in the season.
Myron Mitchell - WR - 6'1, 180
Jordan Smith - EDGE - 6'6, 250
Smith had a solid game as a run defender. He contained the edge well and has great length to stack and shed defenders. He does need to keep his hands active to allow him to disengage blocks better but he has good tools to work with.
Kristopher Moll - LB - 6'1, 215
Clip 9 - Great run by Brown and he puts a nice move on the defender to get by him