During the off-season I want to put some work into player evaluation. Obviously that’s a big part of recruiting, and we have a full staff of guys to do it. But I want to make sure that my own personal criteria are becoming a little more clear. I’m going to start with Linebackers, because thats the easiest one for me. This is a work in progress, so if you see something I missed, or think I may be over-emphasizing a point, I’d love some feedback. Just leave a comment and we can start compiling a nice list.

Aggressiveness: For linebackers it all starts here. If the kid doesn’t want to get in the mix, he can’t help us much. Does he seek contact, or shy away from it? Is he running around blocks rather than taking them on? Bonus points for a nasty streak. At the lower levels (Middle School and Freshman), a guy may have just not had the light come on yet. If he possesses a lot of other tools, keep working with him – it does happen.

Quickness: For inside linebackers, it is more important than speed. Will he feet react quickly when he recognizes a read? Can he fill the hole in a hurry? Quickness is a big key in covering from Tackle to Tackle.

Speed: This is the ability to pursue to the football, and to play from sideline to sideline. Its not necessary to run a 4.5 to be a good backer. But it doesn’t hurt.

Explosiveness: The explosion needs to come from his legs, his hips, and his hands. In terms of tackling, he needs to be able to square a guy up, explode into him, and drive him back. He has to be under control – a few lucky, out of control kill-shots doesn’t indicate explosiveness. It may indicate craziness, which isn’t a bad thing, but not the same. Same thing with destroying a blocker, except that we add in the hands…

Uses his Hands: For defensive linemen and linebackers this seems to be one of the toughest things. Guys want to throw their shoulder into every oncoming object they see. But can he use his hands to control a blocker? If you see a kid scraping across from the backside, looking like he’s feeling his way past the blockers with his hands, then he’s got it. If he can lock out a blocker, read the play, and come off to the ball side, then he’s got it. This is a hard skill to teach, so its good to find kids that already do it.

Change of Direction: If a player can see the play going the other way, put his foot in the ground and follow it, he’s got good change of direction. Again, this is a hard skill to teach (but it can be taught), so its nice to find kids that do it well already. A lot of this skill involves proper footwork, so if a kid hasn’t been taught proper footwork he may not be there yet. It is a good indicator of natural athleticism though. Kids who don’t bend well in their legs don’t generally change directions well – and probably aren’t very explosive either.

Coachable: Does the player take coaching well? There are guys who are very raw, and then you tell them one thing and they fix it quickly. So you add another thing, and they make that correction too. Some guys have to have it beaten into their head because they cannot see how what they’re doing is different from what you’re saying. It could be arrogance, but in general it is usually just not being aware of what their body is doing. Some players take it personally offensive when they receive criticism, and they don’t want to change. A coachable player is going to show more improvement, faster.

Intangibles: Is this guy a playmaker? Does he tend to be in the right place at the right time? All of the evaluations and technique and skill don’t matter if the guy out on the field isn’t making plays. Pay attention to results. I remember a back-up linebacker I played with in college – every time he stepped on the field, it seemed like he came up with a pick or a big play of some sort. It always confused me why someone had to get hurt in order for this guy to get on the field and get the ball back for the offense. I’m not a strong believer in “luck” determining the outcome of a football game, so this guy had something that everyone else didn’t.

This is a short list of some qualities. I think they’ll be pretty similar for the Defensive Line, with a few changes in the descriptions. I would probably add a 1 to 5 rating system so that we can get a total score on kids for evaluation. What are your thoughts?