NFL Draft Prospects in the Marshall - West Virginia Game

Sep 5, 2011
Paul Emery

Mountaineer Field before the rain arrived! - Paula Cristina

An early look at two of the best senior pass rushers in the nation, Marshall's Vinny Curry and West Virginia's cult figure Bruce Irvin.

This local rivalry between Marshall and West Virginia doesn't get a great deal of publicity, partly because Marshall can’t buy a win. There was a good atmosphere though although the game suffered a three- hour lightning delay before the players went off again for good with the fourth quarter just underway. However, it was still enough playing time to get first 2011 impressions of two fantastic pass rushers and also West Virginia DE Julian Miller, who is also highly regarded.

Marshall

Vinny Curry – defensive end – Curry is clearly a very good athlete as he consistently comes off the ball very quickly. He didn’t get a sack, but he was close on more than one occasion. He has a few different approaches to rushing the passer, his speed rush, a spin, a swim move and also pure power getting under his man. The speed rush almost got him a sack, he dipped his inside shoulder and was closing in on Geno Smith when he seemed to slip and the tackle helped push him down. He was able to flush Smith out of the pocket after a bull rush, shooting his arms out off the snap and getting under his man. His swim move took him past senior tackle Don Barclay and he was able to hit Smith as he threw.

As the game went on Curry got more attention from the Mountaineers and indeed on one play he was triple teamed with the tackle, guard and running back all halting his charge to the quarterback. In the run game he is very disciplined, despite his obvious quickness off the ball he didn’t charge up the field and take himself out of plays. He makes hustle plays from the backside which is a big positive. He also showed he can set the edge when plays come right at him, on one play he forced the running back inside and then got in on the tackle. As a pro prospect he looks ideal for a 3-4 defense as an outside linebacker and I think he has every chance of being a first round pick.

West Virginia

Bruce Irvin – defensive end – Irvin wasn’t in the game all the time, he took some series off and was thus always fresh. He was on the field more than last year though when he was purely a situational pass rusher. The big problem for Irvin is that he’s 235 lbs and being asked to play defensive end in a 3-3-5 system where you would expect defensive lineman to be bigger to try and keep the linebackers clean. As it is he did have his struggles in the run game.

Part of that problem is that his first move is always up the field to the quarterback and one play highlighted what can happen on such a play. Irvin went flying up the field and the offensive tackle was able to turn him further up the field allowing the running back to exploit a huge hole and get a big gain. On another run play he was just overwhelmed by the bigger tackle and ended up being pushed to the ground.

As a pass rusher it’s a more positive story. Curry is quick off the ball, but I think Irvin is even more explosive. The West Virginia man has a unique jump move which he uses to beat his man up the field. It’s similar to a jump cut move a running back would use in the hole, but Irvin uses it as a pass rushing tool. Ironically his sack of the day came on a play where he stumbled but then recovered to beat the guard inside and tackle the quarterback who was stepping up in the pocket.

As an athlete I would fully expect Irvin to be the star of the combine early in 2012. Like Curry he will also appeal to 3-4 teams and while he needs to work on his game against the run and also get stronger (which will help) he will still be a very high pick because of his unique athletic ability. There are some systems in the NFL which don't require the outside linebacker to do anything other than attack and he will fit a system like that perfectly.

Julian Miller – defensive end – the other Mountaineer defensive end comes into the season with a mid round grade, so is a good prospect in his own right. Unfortunately in this one he didn’t show up outside of a nice play early on. He was able to get his long arms extended into his blocker, come off the block and make a nice tackle. However, that was it as he struggled to make an impact as the game went on. He had plenty of opportunities to rush the passer as Marshall played catchup, but struggled to get any pressure. Clearly one can’t make a judgement on the one game, I have the Maryland and LSU games on my schedule to have two more looks at him and perhaps he will play better.