Looking at the top 100 active career leaders for various categories for all NCAA college football, here are some takeaways.
1) LB Tyler Matakevich (Temple) is a tackling machine. His stats are crazy good ranking as number 1 in FBS for total tackles, total tackles/game and solo tackles/game. His solo tackles is 100 over the next FBS player. His total tackles is 86 over the next FBS player. PFF gave him a positive rating in the senior bowl and had this to say
| "Temple linebacker Tyler Matakevich (+2.3) impressed us throughout the year, and he stood out against the run in the game. He was exposed in coverage on one occasion, but displayed excellent reactions on running plays, finishing the game with four defensive stops — two more than any other player on the North defense." |
2)DT Javon Hargrave (South Carolina State) dominates at the FCS level. His stats put him in the top 5 for FBS and FCS division combined for
------Tackles for Loss (TFL)/game
------Solo TFL/game
------Total Sacks/game
------Solo Sacks
and top 10 for Forced Fumbles/game.
He performed well at the Shrine Game. This is what NFL analyst Daniel Jeremiah said about the Shrine game and Hargrave
South Carolina State defensive tackle Javon Hargrave has been the best player here. He has an excellent combination of quickness and power. He dominated the one-on-one drills. |
3) DE Victor Ochi (Stony Brook) has great sack numbers. For FBS and FCS competition he is in the top 5 for
------Total Sacks/game
------Solo Sacks
and top 20 for Solo TFL/game.
Ochi was a standout in the Shrine practice, reported by one analyst as being unblockable. In the game he recorded 4 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 QB hit, and 1 pass defended.
4) DE Emmanuel Ogbah (Oaklahoma State) leads the FBS in sacks for both solo sacks and total sacks.
5) DE Shaq Lawson (Clemson) for FBS competition ranks in the top 5 for
------TFL/game
------Solo TFL/game
and the top 20 for Total Solo Sacks.
6) FCS DE James Cowser (Southern Utah) also dominates in the FCS. Among FCS and FBS players he ranks in the top 5 for
------TFL/game
------Solo TFL/game
------Total Sacks/game
------Solo Sacks
and the top 10 for Forced Fumbles
7) DE Joey Bosa (Ohio State) for FBS competition ranks in the top 5 for
------TFL/game
------Solo TFL/game
------Total Sacks/game
------Solo Sacks
I would put Bosa as the only one on this list worth a top 10, along with OTs Tunsil and Stanley. I would put Ogbah and Lawson worth a later round 1 pick. Giants should consider trading down to later in round 1 for additional picks. The others on the list here could be propects in rounds 4-7. If any here are not picked the Giants should be active to sign them as UFAs.
Stats are not everything but production should be a factor when evaluating prospects.
NCAA active career leaders - (
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Forced Fumbles, for example, may indicate a combination of factors that is otherwise hard to measure (right pace / time / instincts / body control, etc)
Forced Fumbles (NCAA.com)
..........................Position FF FFPG
1 Carl Nassib Penn St. Sr. DL 13 6 .46
2 Sean Davis Maryland Sr. DB 12 5 .42
- Trey Hendrickson Fla. Atlantic Jr. DL 12 5 .42
4 Myles Garrett Texas A&M So. DL 13 5 .38
- Marcus Maye Florida Jr. DB 13 5 .38
- Joe Schobert Wisconsin Sr. LB 13 5 .38
- Ian Seau Nevada Sr. DL 13 5 .38
- Gary Thompson Marshall Jr. DL 13 5 .38
9 Zach Cunningham Vanderbilt So. LB 12 4 .33
- Folorunso Fatukasi UConn So. DL 12 4 .33
- Ron Thompson Syracuse Jr. DL 12 4 .33
- Michael Wakefield FIU Sr. DL 12 4 .33
13 Travon Blanchard Baylor So. LB 13 4 .31
- Jatavis Brown Akron Sr. LB 13 4 .31
- Kylie Fitts Utah Jr. DL 13 4 .31
- Trent Martin Tulsa Jr. LB 13 4 .31
- Marcus Oliver Indiana So. LB 13 4 .31
- Jamal Palmer Baylor Sr. DL 13 4 .31
- Ja'Von Rolland-Jones Arkansas St. So. DL 13 4 .31
- Charles Tapper Oklahoma Sr. DL 13 4 .31
- Demarcus Walker Florida St. Jr. DL 13 4 .31
- Antwione Williams Ga. Southern Sr. LB 13 4 .31
- Jordan Willis Kansas St. Jr. DL 13 4 .31
24 Jarred Alwan Temple Jr. LB 14 4 .29
- D'Nerius Antoine Southern Miss. Jr. DB 14 4 .29
26 Blake Dees South Ala. Sr. LB 11 3 .27
- Great Ibe Eastern Mich. Sr. LB 11 3 .27
- William Likely Maryland Jr. DB 11 3 .27
- Rolan Milligan Toledo Sr. DB 11 3 .27
- Andrew Motuapuaka Virginia Tech So. LB 11 3 .27
- Dejuan Rogers Toledo Jr. DB 11 3 .27
32 Brandon Bell Penn St. Jr. LB 12 3 .25
- Jeremy Cash Duke Sr. DB 12 3 .25
- Josh Cox Central Mich. So. DB 12 3 .25
- Zach Dancel Wake Forest Sr. DB 12 3 .25
- Devon Earl South Ala. Jr. DB 12 3 .25
- Jake Fely San Diego St. Sr. LB 12 3 .25
- Pat Green East Carolina So. LB 12 3 .25
- Micah Kiser Virginia So. LB 12 3 .25
- Harold Landry Boston College So. DL 12 3 .25
- Skai Moore South Carolina Jr. LB 12 3 .25
- Mike Moore Virginia Sr. DL 12 3 .25
- Levi Peters Iowa St. Jr. LB 12 3 .25
- Jeremy Reaves South Ala. So. DB 12 3 .25
- Dawuane Smoot Illinois Jr. DL 12 3 .25
next, look at 3 cones.
But don't get away from stats leaders
Individual Star Plots:
Points on the star for DL would be:
total tackles,
tackles for loss,
sacks,
forced fumbles,
fumbles recovered,
3-cone,
weight,
height.
Using such a chart one would easily visually eliminate players with 'narrow' skill sets, as well as those who may be well rounded, but not outstanding (don't forget to factor in number of games played as a variable and look at why!)
In those types of cases, as well as big Hank, one could also use a giant NFL nose DT to avoid user use of (the 3 above) in the big spot.
In addition to scheme solutions for this same problem, since one cannot be overly consistent, for example, using 5 rushers or etc.