SB Nation - Tyrell Sales

We're All Growns Up, And Making Bryce Paup References

Kevin HD — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:32:06 -0000

I've always found the draft a bit of an odd thing. On one hand fans typically like to see their players to get drafted early and take pride in how many players were taken by teams in The League. But then again, fans dread and seethe scorn when a player jumps for the cash, and also can't feel good about so many talented players not being around for the next college football season.

Anyway, five Penn State players were taken in the seven round draft, second most in the conference to Ohio State, and another nine guys were signed as of the time of this post.

Aaron Maybin - Pick 11, Round 1 (11) - Bills

Project Mayhem, who came out of nowhere in 2008, did The Pass Rush Factory well on Saturday, confirming the jump was indeed a pretty good move.

There were early rumors that Maybin could go as high as five with the Browns looking at so many holes, but most of the recent projections had him in the 10-12 range. The 'experts' can score this one as correct, and Buffalo Rumblings is pleased:

On paper, Buffalo has its most explosive pass rusher since Bryce Paup...What makes this pick better is the fact that they took the right player. No DE displayed a quicker first step in college or at the Combine than Maybin. I had him rated as the top DE on the board the moment he declared for the draft, and the Bills clearly followed suit, if only at the most critical juncture. I think he's the best pass rusher in the draft. The Bills, too, think he's the best pass rusher in the draft, and his upside is tremendous.

Derrick Williams - Pick 18, Round 3 (82) - Lions

No one deserves a little draft luck like Williams, the former #1 rated recruit in the land was taken in the third round and, for the second time in his career, will be tasked with helping to rebuild a program in distraught.

The Pride of Detroit gives the pick a D+, which is, well not even a real grade if I remember right. Regardless, they didn't like the pick, although I think that had a lot to do with Williams not really filling one of their copious amounts of needs like some of the other players who were still on the board.

The Lions have a history of dismissing important needs and picking wide receivers, and as bad as a D+ is, I have to give him credit for his optimism. If I was cursed with being a Lions fan for the past several years, every decision that organization made would get an F- by default until something dramatic happens. I would probably just be that bitter.

The Free Press has a couple of quotes about the pick:

Kiper's response:

"He came into Penn State and he was supposed to wow everybody. He didn't initially, but came on. ... He doesn't have the great 40 time, but he's quick out of his burst, out of his cuts. He has that burst you look for and has the ability to score in a lot of ways -- in the return game, on reverses, catching the football. He's very good after the catch in the open field."

You hear things like this all the time and I gave up a long time ago trying to argue about it. Williams was no Reggie Bush or Tim Tebow, but he was important, in a way that the occasional observer wouldn't recognize. I don't blame anyone for this, I completely understand how his stats can be seen as underwhelming, but let's drop the whole "never lived up to the hype" thing, because to be frank it's a stupid comment.

Mayock's response:

"II thought he had an excellent Senior Bowl, but he followed it up with a poor Combine, running a 4.67 -- very slow for an elite receiver. Great Senior Bowl, but too many drops in his career. ... I watched him catch punts one day (at the Senior Bowl) and this is supposed to be an elite punt returner and that day if the football had been a harpoon, he'd have been dead. It'd have pierced his chest."

He was reportedly pretty sick the week of the combine and told by his agent to sit the thing out. He worked out anyway, which was indeed a bad decision, but as we've talked about before here at BSD looked great in the Senior Bowl.

And I have no idea where he's going with that harpoon analogy.

Deon Butler - Pick 27, Round 3 (91) - Seahawks

About four picks before Butler was drafted by Seattle, a commenter who shall remain nameless set the over/under at pick 114 in the open thread, a fourth round choice. I too was a bit surprised to see him go so early, but his blazing 40 at the combine apparently helped the draft stock of one of the most under-the-radar receivers in the nation last year.

Seattle loves them some record setting Penn State receivers, of course, and so we all saw this coming:

"He has some of the same traits as far as route-running goes," Seahawks offensive coordinator Greg Knapp said when asked to compare Butler to his fellow PSU alumnus. "He's not as polished, obviously, as Bobby is."

Rich Ohrnberger - Pick 23, Round 4 (123) - Patriots

Ohrnberger was probably the biggest surprise from a Penn State perspective, who many thought wouldn't go until after Shipley and Cadogan. Not true, of course. Ohrnberger will be buried on the depth chart this season, but was part of an effort to hedge against an aging line:

Ohrnberger, a player who took a pre-draft visit to Gillette Stadium, adds youth to the interior of the offensive line and provides a fallback, longer-term option with starting guards Logan Mankins (left) and Stephen Neal (right) entering the final year of their contracts.

PatsBlog likes the pick, even if it did cost them a well respected cornerback in Ellis Hobbs:

Ohrnberger is a guy I actually like. Although he is undersized, he plays with a good motor, is quick out of his stance, and is good in pass protection and pulling. Solid pick who could eventually take over for Stephen Neal at right guard.

A.Q. Shipley - Pick 17, Round 7 (226) - Steelers

There was a time when I though A.Q. might not get drafted, and at that time I was thinking it would be the most bewildering event (or non-event?) of the weekend.

He is undersized, and probably slid because of it, but once picked I found it hard to feel bad for a guy who gets to play for his hometown team. The Steelers earned overall "grades" as low as an F and as high as an A+, further lending credibility to the practice of grading drafts.

Naturally the local papers loved it. Not everyone was sold, though:

Can't say I'm too big a fan of Big 10 football so I can't comment on whether or not Shipley is so adored for his local product status, his ability on the field, or some combination of the two. Probably headed for the practice squad as well, but there's an interesting discussion to be had about the future of our offensive line - especially for those who have an opinion one way or another as to whether or not Shipley legitimately could be a better than average starting center....

I'm not sure if he's upset the Steelers picked a kid from the Big Ten or if he simply doesn't know much about A.Q. It's not like the Big Ten hasn't produced some decent linemen in the last five years. Besides, as far as risk and reward go, there's nothing wrong with picking the conference's best center in the seventh round and hoping it works out.

Quickly: Signed but undrafted...

It's easy to pile on Maurice Evans at this point; he goes undrafted but signs with the Giants. As disappointed as I am in his 2008 production and decision to leave, I can unconditionally say I wish him all the best.

Jordan Norwood will join the Browns, and Facebook Stalking H/T to NittanyWhiteOut, who was all over this one.

Gerald Cadogan was a major surprise as an undrafed free agent. He'll go to Carolina.

Lydell Sargeant will move north to help build Penn State another satellite campus in Buffalo. Front page promotion for the best photoshop of this one in the comments.

Tyrell Sales signs with the Colts.

Josh Gaines stays in-state with the Eagles.

Dan Lawlor signs with the Redskins.

Mark Rubin signed with the Rams.

Anthony Scirrotto signs with the Panthers.

Grading The Defense: College Avenue Freezeout

Run Up The Score — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:37:20 -0000

Another great performance from the Nittany Lion defense. For its deficiencies, it must be said that this unit has not only overachieved this season, but dominated. Looking only at Big Ten games, Penn State was in the top two in the following categories: scoring defense, pass defense, turnover margin, rushing defense, total defense, pass efficiency defense, and first downs allowed.

(And a fun thing I just noticed? Your Big Ten leader in assisted tackles is James Laurinaitis. Seriously.)

She received four Buckeye stickers and one tackle for loss.

And while we're on the subject, let's bring in ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg:

James Laurinaitis is a future College Football Hall of Famer and a sure-fire first-round NFL draft pick. He's an excellent football player. He should not have been named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. That award should have gone to Penn State defensive end Aaron Maybin. No one else is really in the discussion. Maybin was flat-out dominant this season. I don't care if he's just a sophomore. Base the award on merit, not on reputation or name recognition or having a nice back story.

Not sure Maybin is the best player on PSU's defense this year -- that honor goes to Jared Odrick, in my opinion -- but it's nice to see Laurinaitis knocked down a peg or two in a widely-viewed forum. He's a good player. He is not that good. Anyone who watches an Ohio State game with a semi-critical eye knows this. There's been a lot of argument between Ohio State and Penn State fans over who has produced the better linebackers over the past few years, and there's really no losing side. A.J. Hawk was simply awesome. Same with Paul Posluszny and Dan Connor. James Laurinaitis isn't remotely close to any of them.

In the spirit of being Fair And Balanced, Rittenberg also says that Joe Paterno should not have been Big Ten Coach of the Year, which I happen to agree with.

If there was an award to give an entire coaching staff, than Penn State's staff should get it. But it's a single award, and one that should have gone to Michigan State's Mark Dantonio or Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald. You can't tell me Paterno had as much influence in shaping his team as Dantonio or Fitzgerald. This vote was based on sentimentality, not by looking at what each man actually accomplished.

Given that Dantonio has officially cemented his status as The Jolly Green Douchebag, my vote would be for Fitzgerald. And while the college football world will continue to pay tribute to Paterno over the next few weeks, nobody can legitimately argue that working from home and silently sitting in the press box qualifies as coaching, not when other guys are busting their asses every day and trying to win nine games at freakin' Northwestern. They had one hiccup against Indiana, otherwise they'd be a 10-2 team and this vote wouldn't be remotely close.

Anyway, the game.

DEFENSIVE LINE: A+

Tremendous all day long. They were able to generate a pass rush with four players, something that the scheme depends upon for success. When it works, it's usually a long day for the opposing offense. They also received a little help from Sparty. Down 14-0 halfway through the second quarter, Michigan State was moving the ball on the ground and reached the PSU 45 yard line. They tried to get cute with a playaction pass, and Maurice Evans blew by the tackle and fullback for a sack of Brian Hoyer. With 21 yards to go for a first down, they went with another useless playaction pass -- nobody in the stadium believed it for a second -- and a screen pass which even I called in Section NC ten seconds before the snap.

Jared Odrick was great again, and was in Brian Hoyer's face when he threw an interception to Anthony Scirrotto before halftime. As Todd Blackledge noticed, Josh Hull also provided great coverage on that play.

Also, if you spotted #71 on the field during MSU's final offensive efforts, your eyes weren't deceiving you. That was Devon Still.

LINEBACKERS: A-

As you might expect from the previous paragraphs, their jobs were made exceptionally easy by the defensive line. Hull was surprisingly good in pass coverage, not only on the play mentioned above, but he also tipped a pass that led to Anthony Scirrotto dusting a guy across the middle in the first quarter. Tyrell Sales had a great tackle for loss against Ringer in the first half. Special mention for Navarro Bowman absolutely sawing Brian Hoyer in half on Sparty's third quarter trick play.

Personally, I ragged on this group throughout the year, although I don't think it was unwarranted. When they were bad, they were really awful. When they were good, the defense was just killing dudes out there. Still, they generally played well in the biggest games (at Ohio State, especially), and there's plenty to be said for that.

(Oh, and we get Sean Lee back next year.)

SECONDARY: A-

Held Hoyer to five yards per attempt, and never really allowed him to settle in. Now, go back a few months ago and imagine me writing this: I have no idea how we're going to replace Mark Rubin next year. Scary, but true -- he's gone from utter liability to one of the most dependable players on the Penn State defense. Nice to see Anthony Scirrotto have some great plays in his final Beaver Stadium game, and let's show some appreciation for Tony Davis' effort this season. How many times did you hear his name throughout the year? Good sign for a cornerback. Also, Lydell Sargeant vastly improved this season. After a while, people just stopped asking, "Why isn't A.J. Wallace in the game?"

And poor D'Anton Lynn thought he had his very first interception on the last play of the game, but the pass was ruled incomplete.

COACHING: A

Was there a more entertaining sight than Sean Lee trying to get Tom Bradley to accept the rose during Sparty's last drive? Give all of the defensive coaches a ton of credit for Penn State's dominant defense. They were thin along the defensive line after the knuckleheads were sent packing before the season. The secondary that I personally thought would be a disaster held up pretty well.

Your Sparty drives:

That's one meaningful drive while the game was actually in question. Excellent work, all around.

Grading The Defense: Ohio State

Run Up The Score — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 03:09:34 -0000

Beanie's favorite meal.

It's been well-documented already, but the amount of holding by Ohio State's offensive line was beyond comical. Aaron Maybin was held practically all night, and the interior linemen didn't fare much better. We're talking blatant stuff here -- grabbing fistfuls of jerseys and whipping defensive linemen to the ground. It was happening in the very plain view of multiple officials, and guess what? Not one holding flag against Ohio State all night. Sometimes, it truly does feel like 11 vs. 18 on the field in this conference.

Need an unbiased opinion? Allow me to quote Mr. Orson Swindle, during Ohio State's final drive:

And then there's this picture.

Anyway.

Defensive Line: A

Okay, one last example as long as we're on the subject. On Pryor's first scramble, no less than three Penn State defensive linemen (Odrick, Okoli, and Evans) were clearly held. The good news? If holding is such a widespread problem throughout a game, at least defensive line is raising hell. The PSU defensive line was in the right place virtually all night. Beanie Wells ate spoonful after heaping spoonful of stuffing. Pryor made a few plays with his feet but didn't change the game in any meaningful way. Maybin and Odrick were the stars of this unit.

Linebackers: A-

Josh Hull and Tyrell Sales got the starts, and both played rather well. Hull was getting a little more downhill than in previous efforts, and was more than eager to take on Beanie Wells. Still, he keeps getting stoned on blitzes. The defense may as well play with ten players instead of forcing Hull to awkwardly dance with a random offensive lineman.

Sales made two especially great plays. The first was sniffing out a screen pass to Robiskie and making a great open field tackle. The second was throwing Beanie Wells to the ground after Mark Rubin knocked the ball away from Terrelle Pryor. Oh, and then he poked the ball toward his teammates.

Navorro Bowman, as always, was everywhere. In the backfield taking down Wells, deflecting passes. Truly awesome. Now, imagine him and Sean Lee on the field together next year.

Secondary: A-

They all played pretty well, but let's face it. This is about Mark Rubin, who was tough from the very beginning. He fought off a block on the first screen pass and stuck his nose between Beanie's numbers. Then made the next tackle. After a while, you expected Mark Rubin to always be the last guy in the dogpile to be peeled off Beanie Wells. Rubin was occasionally lost in pass coverage, but against such a run-heavy, one-dimensional offense, he was outstanding.

Coaching: A+

Stop Beanie Wells and let the chips fall where they may. Not the most complicated gameplan you'll ever see, but it didn't have to be exotic. Just effective.

Oh, and waaaaaaaah, holding!

Poll

The defensive player of the game was...

Jared Odrick

39 votes

Mark Rubin

355 votes

Navorro Bowman

213 votes

Aaron Maybin

43 votes

650 votes | Poll has closed

Late Night Squib Kicks

Run Up The Score — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 01:34:39 -0000

Some immediate post-game thoughts while passively hating on #1 Texas, currently throttling that fraud, Missouri, 28-0 35-0:

The turning point of the game followed Michigan's second touchdown, as Josh Hull and Tyrell Sales were replaced by Bani Gbadyu and Mike Mauti. The results were impossible to ignore:

Yes, the appearance of the eternally comical Nick Sheridan had a bit to do with the second half drives. Still, note the number of plays Michigan ran after the second touchdown. When Penn State's defense was on its heels in the second quarter, Michigan had a 29-10 advantage in plays run. The final tally? Penn State 70, Michigan 68.

Hull and Sales each bounced back from their exiles. Once Gbadyu was obliterated on big Michigan ground gain early in the third quarter, Hull was back in the game on the next play and went on to an amazing third quarter. Sales absolutely busted his ass on special teams in the second half. They could've sulked, and didn't.

Gbadyu is still in a bit of a "headless chicken" phase. He's always fast, and always in kind of the wrong direction. Nate Stupar and Chris Colasanti got some work on Michigan's last drive. Neither did anything noteworthy.

What does it mean for Ohio State next week? The coaching staff seemed to settle on the combination of Mauti, Hull, and Bowman in the second half, and I'm guessing that's what you'll see in Columbus. Everybody has to hope that Good Hull shows up as opposed to his evil twin. Gbadyu could give someone a breather, but he's simply not a middle linebacker.

Random points:

Nice to see Nathan Stupar finally get to a punt. He's been tantalizingly close all season, and it was just a matter of time before he his hands on one.
We all likely screamed "WHY, JESUS, WHY?" when Derrick Williams threw a wounded duck into the end zone (saved by an excellent play by former defensive back, Deon Butler), but the play was wide open if Williams had just thrown it toward the sideline.
Michigan had 22 passing attempts for 88 yards. This is bad. For them.
Stephfon Green has a long way to go as a running back, but why in the world won't the coaches have him run to the outside? We're well past the point of the season where a simple option or pitch to the outside would be buried in the playbook for reasons of sneakiness. Stop running Stephfon into the line, dammit.
Keep throwing him those screen passes, though. Stefen Wisniewski just buried a guy on Green's 80-yard screen touchdown.

What were your hidden gems from this afternoon's 46-17 victory?

Grading The Defense: Not So Fast, My Friend

Run Up The Score — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:06:21 -0000

After a quick review of Saturday's game:

Defensive Line: Let's call it a solid B. The rushing numbers looked great (2.9 ypc), but something was just off when watching the game a second time. Josh Gaines was obviously magnificent in every regard, and while Aaron Maybin continues to get into the opponent's backfield, he still struggles quite a bit against the run. The defensive tackles were surprisingly soft, no doubt due to the lack of depth at the position. Ollie Ogbu and Jared Odrick made some plays, but they were completely blown out of the play on multiple occasions. Freshman Jack Crawford is not only attempting to adjust to the college game, he's still trying to learn the game. He's seen action in both games this season, and hasn't performed particularly well. It's just a fact of being an undersized true freshman defensive tackle. Tom McEowen and Eric Latimore were okay in the second half, at best. It may not have been apparent on the scoreboard, but the defensive line desperately needs Maurice Evans and Abe Koroma back when Illinois comes to town.

Linebackers: B+. Navarro Bowman and Tyrell Sales racked up a ton of tackles. Josh Hull played better and made an easy interception, but Tom Bradley isn't helping his defense by sending Hull on blitzes. He's not a good enough athlete to disrupt the play in a blitzing role, not to mention how poorly disguised the blitzes are in the first place. Still, he was better this week than against Coastal Carolina. Bani Gbadyu allegedly played on Saturday. Nathan Stupar looked quite good in his limited action.

Secondary: B+. Mark Rubin, better. Not great, but better. He was caught up in traffic a few times on running plays, but otherwise did a fine job shedding some blocks and making the tackle. Nice interception, too. Tony Davis played very well. Outside of the clusterfrick that was Oregon State's first touchdown, Anthony Scirrotto had a nice game. Good to see Drew Astorino in the game early and breaking up a pass. I don't recall Lydell Sargeant doing anything great or awful.

I already know what many of you are thinking. We held them to 7 meaningful points, and even if you take away the sacks, Oregon State only had 116 yards rushing. I know. I know. But I saw what I saw: many defensive tackles being abused far too often, and average but effective play from the defense as a whole. They'll look great against Syracuse and Temple. After that, we'll probably have Evans and Koroma back in the rotation, which will certainly help against Illinois.

Too harsh? Just right? Your comments are always welcome.

Grading The Defense - Coastal Carolina

BSD — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:06:10 -0000

We were all pleased with the results on Saturday I'm sure, but there were definitely some things to work on. Let's take a look at the defense and see how each unit did.

Defensive Line

You would be hard pressed to ask for a better game from the defensive line. The Chanticleers were held to just 52 yards on 32 attempts for a puny 1.6 yards per carry. The defensive tackles were stuffing the middle and the ends were getting good pressure off the edge. Aaron Maybin was a beast coming around the left tackle all day like the kid was standing in a foot of mud. He recorded 2 sacks and five tackles. Not bad for a guy that wasn't even listed on the depth chart earlier in the week. Jared Odrick was credited with a sack, though I could have sworn he had two by my count. Redshirt freshman Eric Latimore also got a sack on the day.

The only knock I have on them is they were a little too aggressive at times. The Chants were letting them go on the jailbreak screen and we were still falling for it late in the game. The quarterback sucked them in and dunked the ball over their heads for a 15 yard gain. They have to learn to read that and adjust. That guy in front of you isn't putting up a fight for a reason.

Final Grade: B+

Linebackers

I didn't come away from this game feeling any better about our linebacker situation. Coastal Carolina was killing us on screens and dump passes throughout the first half. But I don't blame the linebackers for this entirely. The coaches were calling a lot of blitzes early in the game and the Chanticleers were making us pay for it. That tells me we're not very good at disguising and timing our blitzes which is partly a coaching issue and partly a player ability issue.

Josh Hull looks like a serviceable run stopper, but he's not a blitzer. He was a step late in getting to the quarterback every time. Sales and Gbadyu have tons of athletic ability but don't seem to have the anticipation we're used to seeing in Sean Lee or Paul Posluszny, though Bani did snag the only interception on the day. The only linebacker that appeared to have any play making ability was Navarro Bowman. He was probably the most disruptive of the linebackers and was also a major factor on special teams when he wasn't trying to pick up fumbles instead of falling on them.

Final Grade: B-

Defensive Backs

I was really expecting a better showing from our secondary. We should never give up 198 yards passing against a team like Coastal Carolina. There were just too many blown coverages. Rubin and Scirrotto completely blew it on the touchdown pass. Looking at the tape it appeared the defense was in man-to-man and they both covered the same guy. Clearly one of them was wrong. Couple it with the fact Hull was blitzing on the play and you have a guy running down the field all by himself.

And all day long it just seemed like they weren't getting a good jump on the ball. Scirrotto had the best chance at an interception and he just plain dropped it. But in their defense the coaches were calling just two very basic coverages so as not to give too much away on film.

Final Grade: C

Defensive Coaching

Tough to say in a game like this. The coverages were very basic throughout the game. They were very aggressive early and Coastal Carolina made them pay. But after giving up long drives in the first half they adjusted and toned it down keeping the linebackers at home. From there the Chanticleers didn't do much. When the game was well in hand they did a good job of getting younger players in the game. Jack Crawford and Mike Mauti both played meaning they will not be redshirted this year.

The Chants ran a lot of no huddle and the players didn't look like they were ready for it. We get a few teams in the coming weeks like Oregon State, Illinois, and Indiana who like to go no huddle so we'll have to tighten that up.

Final Grade: B

Special Teams

I can't say I have any complaints here. Boone only had one punt but he boomed it 46 yards witha one yard return. Kelly only had one chip shot field goal attempt from 21 yards. I would have liked to see him get a no pressure attempt from 45 or 50 yards to build some confidence but it didn't work out that way.

The kick return game was outstanding with Wallace getting a 35 yard return and of course Williams taking one the distance. Several people commented in the open thread that Williams looks a step faster this year and I have to agree. Last year he would catch a ball and studder step his way to a 15 yard return. This year he appears to make an effort to just get up field first and then find a hole to shoot through. If he can keep doing this he could have a big year. He also had a nice 14-yard punt return he almost broke open.

The kickoff coverage team looked much improved, but I'm not getting too excited. It's just Coastal Carolina. But I feel better seeing players out there like Bowman, Timmons, Stupar, and Mauti. We're putting some good athletes out there unlike last year so I'm confident we'll be alright.

Final Grade: A