With Chip Kelly now in Los Angeles as the head football coach of the UCLA, the Bruins seem like a perfect place to kick off scheme previews for the 2018-19 college football season. As I have the last two seasons, I’ll be focusing on the Pac-12 to get ready for the season, looking to build…
Studying and evaluating football players is a continual exercise in uncovering actions, methods, and processes in the players themselves that are repeatable and bear out well for their future development and advancement at their position of choice. Scout the process, and not the results. Often times you may find that even though a play or…
Here are my 2018 NFL Draft Running Back Rankings. I once again used the tiering format that I used to tier wide receivers for my wide receiver rankings. Rankings 10-6 are given a quick summary and a draft grade, while 5-1 are more detailed reports. Royce Freeman, Oregon, 6-0, 229 pounds, Tier 4 Quick Summary:…
It’s been quite an interesting last few months for the Chicago Bears organization and its fan base. Bears fans could be forgiven for thinking that the main media players have largely ignored the Bears in recent years. But for a team and organization that in the last four years has not won more than 6…
Kalen Ballage impressed at the NFL combine. The 6’ 1’’, 227lb Arizona State product ran a 4.46 second 40-yard dash and 6.91 second 3-cone drill, leaping 33.5” on the vertical and 122” on the broad. That solid 6.91 3-cone (a nice 69th percentile) shows up when he is stringing cuts together and one-cutting to get…
What was once thought of as a championship team was nothing more than a figment of our imagination, as we watched the 2017 Giants crumble from the North, South, East, and West. Alas, Week 17 couldn’t arrive soon enough and us Giants fans went right into full draft mode, as an uncommon reality materialized into…
Oregon is back. After an incredibly disappointing 2016 season that resulted in the firing of head coach Mark Helfrich, the Ducks appear to have reestablished themselves on the national stage under first year head coach Willie Taggart. Led by a true sophomore gunslinger in Justin Herbert at quarterback, the offense has exploded to average 56…
Anyone that tells you they know anything about anything at this point prior to the college football season… well… they don’t. We can take estimated guesses and some of them will turn out to be correct, but to accurately play out the entire season is a fool’s errand. People love to believe there is some…
The 2017 NFL Draft is already being heralded as a deep class of incoming NFL talent, especially at the edge defender position, where as many as 8-10 prospects are receiving first round billing from various analysts. I’ve written about the four- and five-year draft eligible edge defenders in recent weeks, highlighting the strengths, weaknesses, and…
In college football, there are so many ways to score, from long drives to strategy for shorter strikes. Failing at multiple two point conversions over the surer thing though, as Ryan Dukarm explains, hurts. In Week 3 of the 2016 college football season the Oregon Ducks lost a heartbreaker to the Nebraska Cornhuskers, falling 35-32. In…
In the past two years of the NFL Draft, two running backs have beenselected in the first round. As NFL defenses get smaller in order to defend the pass, teams are looking to run the football more often. The 2017 NFL Draft running back class is the deepest in many years, and will provide NFL…
Football is littered with specialized terminology. From punt gunner to climbing the pocket, commentators rarely get to explain everything you need to know before the next play. Inside The Pylon’s glossary was developed to give fans a deeper understanding of the game through clear explanations, as well as image and video examples. Please contact us with any terms…
Just understanding defense is tough; playing is even harder. Breaking down the skills a defender needs to succeed in the NFL becomes critical for evaluating players. Here, Sal Conti explains how to evaluate upfield burst for defensive linemen. Context is critical in the proper evaluation of football personnel. Without investigating and understanding context, your eyes may…
Inside The Pylon works to deliver quality football content to our readers. Football’s finest writing & tweeting collects some of our favorite pieces by friends and colleagues for the week of June 24, 2016 and shares them with you. The Weekly Reading List Analyzing Tyrod Taylor’s middle-of-the-field use Chris Trapasso investigated Tyrod Taylor’s alleged troubles when throwing over the middle of…
Football is littered with specialized terminology. From Running the Arc to Boundary Corner, commentators rarely get to explain everything you need to know before the next play. Inside The Pylon’s glossary was developed to give fans a deeper understanding of the game through clear explanations, as well as image and video examples. Please contact us with…
With the 2016 NFL Draft in the rear view mirror, evaluators are already working through the next crop of players hoping to realize their NFL dreams. Mark Schofield has started his process of quarterback evaluation for the 2017 draft, and after some preliminary film work has identified 30 prospects he will be keeping an eye…