OLB Tyler Martin [Arizona - Signed LOI]

To Which School Will Martin Commit?

  • Total voters
    25
We finally have some junior film from the New England spring league and, as we already knew, Martin's a thumper with good eyes, good hands, and a willingness to take on blockers. I can see why people might worry about his agility and top end speed. Worst case, he's a multi-year starting LS. Best case, he's a hash-to-hash run stuffer and interior blitz threat.

 
The_Fan_Man said:
We finally have some junior film from the New England spring league and, as we already knew, Martin's a thumper with good eyes, good hands, and a willingness to take on blockers. I can see why people might worry about his agility and top end speed. Worst case, he's a multi-year starting LS. Best case, he's a hash-to-hash run stuffer and interior blitz threat.
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Dude is pretty slow. He’s already pretty big. Gonna really have to work on the athleticism with this one. Probably one of the hardest things to improve. 

 
J-MAGIC said:
He looks like he would be an excellent early-down 3-4 MLB. We should have room for both.
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I understand what you're saying but I don't see much value in recruiting anyone who can't play all three downs on defense. Why make play calling more difficult when all the offense has to do is run shallow crosses on first down to exploit the guy. If he was explosive in a straight line I would possibly take him. It is obvious that Michigan cut ties with him because he just isn't good enough. We need to start doing away with guys like this. There is a better player with more upside down the road in Kansas, and there's a better player in North Platte also. 

 
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Vince R. said:
I understand what you're saying but I don't see much value in recruiting anyone who can't play all three downs on defense. Why make play calling more difficult when all the offense has to do is run shallow crosses on first down to exploit the guy. If he was explosive in a straight line I would possibly take him. It is obvious that Michigan cut ties with him because he just isn't good enough. We need to start doing away with guys like this. There is a better player with more upside down the road in Kansas, and there's a better player in North Platte also. 
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There's a lot more to being good at football than just being fast. He is an excellent tackler who fits gaps and seems to read plays very well. Northwestern pumps out AA linebackers with guys who aren't faster than this on tape. We also haven't made a bowl in four seasons so we're not really in the running for blemish-free prospects. We can take Martin and Meyers.

 
J-MAGIC said:
There's a lot more to being good at football than just being fast. He is an excellent tackler who fits gaps and seems to read plays very well. Northwestern pumps out AA linebackers with guys who aren't faster than this on tape. We also haven't made a bowl in four seasons so we're not really in the running for blemish-free prospects. We can take Martin and Meyers.
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I would argue that not having adequate speed makes everything else useless. I would hate to see him have to tackle a shifty RB in the hole. 

 
Archy1221 said:
That’s not speed.  That would be quickness/
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That's not an argument, it's semantics. 

You're not wrong, but I think a few posters have been clear they don't think he has the speed or quickness. To me there's also this fascination with "quicker than fast guys" that makes people separate the two, when in reality most plays are either quick and fast or slow and slow. I don't think we need to ask "well is he quick?" for every guy who has poor overall speed - he's probably not.

 
Husker in WI said:
That's not an argument, it's semantics. 

You're not wrong, but I think a few posters have been clear they don't think he has the speed or quickness. To me there's also this fascination with "quicker than fast guys" that makes people separate the two, when in reality most plays are either quick and fast or slow and slow. I don't think we need to ask "well is he quick?" for every guy who has poor overall speed - he's probably not.
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The poster first spoke about having adequate speed.  Then referenced being able to tackle a RB in the hole.  Quickness/fast twitch will be more helpful in that situation than top line speed especially when talking about a small defined portion of the field.  So no, it’s not semantics. 

 
Archy1221 said:
The poster first spoke about having adequate speed.  Then referenced being able to tackle a RB in the hole.  Quickness/fast twitch will be more helpful in that situation than top line speed especially when talking about a small defined portion of the field.  So no, it’s not semantics. 
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It doesn't matter a lot when he has neither though. You're right, he was referencing speed and top-end speed doesn't matter in the hole. But from all the posts it's pretty clear both speed and quickness are lacking, so lumping them together into speed is probably fine. I'm sure Vince can defend himself as well, but even his post before the one you quoted he said he'd consider taking him if Martin was "explosive" but he's not. So I think "speed" was being used to encompass both long speed and quickness.

So maybe not semantics, but a moot point given the player. And I can't think of an LB that I would say had quickness without excellent overall speed, so the distinction doesn't matter much to me for LBs. But there is a distinction, you're right. 

 
Coaches are actually seeing him at OLB.  I really like that he mentioned really liking to talk x's and o's and says he loves watching film.  Just seems hungry/like he loves football.


 
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