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Monday, March 1, 2010

Checking in on Tate, Coleman at NFL Combine

This is the final day of the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, and Ben Tate and Antonio Coleman have wrapped up the early part of their professional auditions.

Tate, as we wrote yesterday, crushed the workout portion of the combine. Recapping, he was tied for first among running backs in bench press (26 reps) and broad jump (10 feet, 4 inches), second in vertical jump (40.5 inches) and 20-yard shuttle (4.12 seconds) and third in 40-yard dash time (4.43 seconds). Pretty good, right?

Here's what some people had to say. First up, Rob Rang of CBS Sportsline, who writes that Tate is getting overlooked ...
Considering his production at the Combine, as well as the more important numbers he put up when in a system that fit his downhill rushing style with the Tigers, Tate should be rising up draft boards.
Then there's Clark Judge of CBS Sportsline ...
Another back who helped himself here was Auburn's Ben Tate. He aced all the tests, finishing first among running backs in the bench press and broad jump and second in the 40 and vertical jump. Tate described the combine as "an opportunity" to excel, and he didn't disappoint. Look for him to start climbing draft boards.
Now, DraftSeason.com ...

Ben Tate RB, Auburn/Toby Gerhart RB, Standford - Both bigger backs turned in some great 40 times (Tate 4.43/Gerhart 4.53), not bad for being a few of the bigger backs at the combine. Both proved to be more of the overall athletic running backs in the 2010 class.

ESPN analyst Todd McShay said Tate helped himself tremendously this week. I'd paste what he wrote, but I respect the ESPN pay wall.

Lastly, we'll link to this article on SportsIllustrated.com by Tony Pauline, who for some reason does not think so highly of Tate's performance ...
Ben Tate started his combine workout strong today, running his forty in under 4.5 seconds. His work during the drill session was rather ordinary, which encapsulates Tate. Throughout his career at Auburn, Tate flashed big-time ability yet never pulled all the pieces together.
Seems kind of harsh, doesn't it? I mean, Tate ran a 4.43, which is .07 seconds under 4.5 for you non-math majors out there (that's pretty substantial). Dexter McCluster, the speedy back from Ole Miss, ran a 4.58. Oh, Tate also proved to be one of the strongest running backs there, out-benching potential No. 1 overall pick, Oklahoma defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, by three reps. That doesn't sound "rather ordinary" to me.

As for Coleman, we have much less information, mostly because a quad strain has limited his activity. We know this: he's been told by scouts that he's a tweener, not quite a defensive end and not quite a linebacker. That makes sense, considering his size (6-foot-1, 255 pounds). And don't consider that necessarily a kiss of death. Plenty of tweeners have had success in the NFL. Dwight Freeney, for instance, has carved out quite a nice career in Indianapolis after being labeled too small to play defensive end in the pros. Or how about Elvis Dumervil, who is 5-11, 248 pounds but had 17 sacks last year for Denver.

Coleman didn't help his cause with some mediocre numbers in drills. He benched 225 pounds only 18 times, lowest among defensive linemen. Chris Maier of NFL Draft 101 did not give the former Tigers standout high marks:
Antonio Coleman -- Looked stiff in the drills, lacked suddenness and did not look comfortable in his drops.
Coleman said he hopes to be 100 percent when Auburn has its pro day on Tuesday, March 9.

We'll also get to see more of cornerback Walt McFadden that day. McFadden did not get an invite to the combine but could get drafted late, meaning his pro day performance will be important.

2 comments:

オテモヤン said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...

Gerald McCoy is a DT not a DE