A Few More Unknown Players to Recognize

Once again, I think we need to take notice of several unknown prospects that teams will be looking at come draft day. I'm sure later in the year, you're going to start hearing a little more about these players in particular, but I'd like to give you all a jump on that. So without further introduction, here we go.

1. Jared Veldheer-OT-Hillsdale, 6-7 321 4.89
You talk about one athletic kid, this guy can move. At almost 6-8 and 320 pounds, and a former varsity basketball player, he figures to clock in the 4.9's at the combine if he is invited, which I expect he will be. Veldheer is a power offensive tackle who excels in run blocking, while also dominating in pass blocking. Veldheer is recognized as a team leader and he earned first-team all-conference/all-region honors last season. I believe he could make a perfect right tackle for us. Granted, his level of competition helps him look a little better, but he has all the tools and athleticism to be a fantastic player in the NFL. He would need to be developed, which is why his ceiling would likely be the late 3rd round. But he sits as a late 3rd to late 5th round prospect currently, but I'm willing to bet his potential and upside gets him selected no later than the 4th. Read more on Veldheer here.

2. Brandon Sharpe-DE/OLB-Texas Tech, 6-3 254 4.82
Sharpe has quietly put up some pretty dang gaudy sack numbers this season, and is the nation's 2nd leading sacker, with 13 on the year, dominating upper level competition with multi-sack games against Oklahoma (2.5 sacks), Kansas (2.5), Nebraska (4), and Kansas State (2). Sharpe could be better against the run, but his numbers rushing the passer cannot be ignored. He knows how to get his hands up into passing lanes, shown by his 5 passes batted down this year. Along with his 13 sacks, Sharpe has 2 FF and 1 Fumble Recovery as well.

3. Danny Batten-DE/OLB-South Dakota St., 6-3 250 4.68
Batten is another small-schooler who deserves some recognition. He shares his conference's Defensive Player of The Year Award with another fine prospect in James Ruffin of Northern Iowa. Batten finished the year with 19.5 TFL and 9 sacks, having one of his best games against Minnesota where he racked up 1 sack and 1.5 TFL. More speedy than powerful, Batten figures to be a middle to late round guy at this point. Like Ruffin, I'd expect him to go in the 5th to 6th round range.

We should collect a few 3rds, 4ths, or whatever by trading back with one of our firsts and take a few shots on an OT like that Jared kid. The guy I really like here is Sharpe though, he could be the DE/OLB we're missing.

I wonder how Alex Boone is progressing?

Originally posted by ninergold:
I wonder how Alex Boone is progressing?

So do I. The fact that we decided to take a no-name in Chris Patrick from another team, rather than elevate Boone, a guy who supposedly had first-day talent -- tells me he's progressing slowly.

You know what else it tells me? Or shows me, actually? That our OL coaching may really be as bad as we think it is, and as bad as it appears. If not worse.

Originally posted by OnTheClock:

Originally posted by ninergold:
I wonder how Alex Boone is progressing?

So do I. The fact that we decided to take a no-name in Chris Patrick from another team, rather than elevate Boone, a guy who supposedly had first-day talent -- tells me he's progressing slowly.

You know what else it tells me? Or shows me, actually? That our OL coaching may really be as bad as we think it is, and as bad as it appears. If not worse.

yea, i don't know what it is, but the Oline has not improved since, well, the last decade. The best OL we've had was the one in '06 and it's just dropped off since then.

Originally posted by OnTheClock:
Once again, I think we need to take notice of several unknown prospects that teams will be looking at come draft day. I'm sure later in the year, you're going to start hearing a little more about these players in particular, but I'd like to give you all a jump on that. So without further introduction, here we go.

1. Jared Veldheer-OT-Hillsdale, 6-7 321 4.89
You talk about one athletic kid, this guy can move. At almost 6-8 and 320 pounds, and a former varsity basketball player, he figures to clock in the 4.9's at the combine if he is invited, which I expect he will be. Veldheer is a power offensive tackle who excels in run blocking, while also dominating in pass blocking. Veldheer is recognized as a team leader and he earned first-team all-conference/all-region honors last season. I believe he could make a perfect right tackle for us. Granted, his level of competition helps him look a little better, but he has all the tools and athleticism to be a fantastic player in the NFL. He would need to be developed, which is why his ceiling would likely be the late 3rd round. But he sits as a late 3rd to late 5th round prospect currently, but I'm willing to bet his potential and upside gets him selected no later than the 4th. Read more on Veldheer here.

2. Brandon Sharpe-DE/OLB-Texas Tech, 6-3 254 4.82
Sharpe has quietly put up some pretty dang gaudy sack numbers this season, and is the nation's 2nd leading sacker, with 13 on the year, dominating upper level competition with multi-sack games against Oklahoma (2.5 sacks), Kansas (2.5), Nebraska (4), and Kansas State (2). Sharpe could be better against the run, but his numbers rushing the passer cannot be ignored. He knows how to get his hands up into passing lanes, shown by his 5 passes batted down this year. Along with his 13 sacks, Sharpe has 2 FF and 1 Fumble Recovery as well.

3. Danny Batten-DE/OLB-South Dakota St., 6-3 250 4.68
Batten is another small-schooler who deserves some recognition. He shares his conference's Defensive Player of The Year Award with another fine prospect in James Ruffin of Northern Iowa. Batten finished the year with 19.5 TFL and 9 sacks, having one of his best games against Minnesota where he racked up 1 sack and 1.5 TFL. More speedy than powerful, Batten figures to be a middle to late round guy at this point. Like Ruffin, I'd expect him to go in the 5th to 6th round range.

Veldheer seems like a great utility player for any team looking for depth along the offensive o-line. I actually see him as a OG/OT type reserve.

Batten, on the other hand, could be selected in the 2nd-3rd round. You look at a guy like Dan Bazuin, who skyrocketed on draft boards due to his production and combine. I think a team may severely overreach for him. Wouldn't be unheard of.

Sharpe is a beast, plus he has missed 2.5 games this season due to minor injuries and a suspension. If he had played all year, he'd be #1 in the country in sacks.
He's not really fluid in his pass rushing though, if he misses the guy once he usually takes himself out of the play ... but more often than not, he gets the guy and hits him hard.

Like he said above he is not terribly good against the run tho.

Did anyone watch that texas a&m Ut game?

That AM Qb Jerrod Johnson is think it was? Kid is a stud, his accuracy was just ridiculous in the scond half. is he at all an nfl prospect?

There appears to be a lot of depth at the OLB/DE position so the Niners should take advantage of that and get two pass rushers to compete with the existing guys on the roster. It is finally time to address this need once and for all.

Originally posted by m_brockalexander:
There appears to be a lot of depth at the OLB/DE position so the Niners should take advantage of that and get two pass rushers to compete with the existing guys on the roster. It is finally time to address this need once and for all.

That was the case last year with Everett Brown, Cody Brown, Michael Johnson, Paul Kruger, Connor Barwin, Lawrence Sidbury, etc. and we past them ALL up.

kelton tindal is wide receiver at newberry who is a little over 6-2, 187 lbs and runs very very fast (40s reported as low as in the 4.2 range--these numbers can always be inflated but he has run competitive track, so he is fast)

he was recruited by big schools out of high school, but was an academic non qualifier, so he ended up at newberry, a small school in south carolina......he is very raw but seems to have tools

niners could use more speed and this guy has that

of course, mcloughan never drafts division II players (i think delanie walker is the lone exception) so i doubt we see this guy in a niners uniform

Originally posted by DarthNiner:

Originally posted by m_brockalexander:
There appears to be a lot of depth at the OLB/DE position so the Niners should take advantage of that and get two pass rushers to compete with the existing guys on the roster. It is finally time to address this need once and for all.

That was the case last year with Everett Brown, Cody Brown, Michael Johnson, Paul Kruger, Connor Barwin, Lawrence Sidbury, etc. and we past them ALL up.

I know.. Johnson is doing very well with the Bengals, the Ravens love Kruger. Barwin is developing fine.

I'm sure (or hope..) Singletary realizes how obvious our lack of pass-rush is. We could add secondary help, but Pass-rush is the biggest and most pressing defensive concern.

Right now, among the safeties, I'm loving T.J. Ward, Kyle McCarthy, and Kurt Coleman.

freddie barnes wr BGSU....surpassed crabtrees stats of last year and could break ncaa record

Originally posted by Sf49ers220:
freddie barnes wr BGSU....surpassed crabtrees stats of last year and could break ncaa record

Already noted a while ago in OTC Feature #1. See Link: http://www.49erswebzone.com/forum/thread.php?num=132452

This is the third update. I'll probably throw out at least one more.

Originally posted by OnTheClock:

Originally posted by Sf49ers220:
freddie barnes wr BGSU....surpassed crabtrees stats of last year and could break ncaa record

Already noted a while ago in OTC Feature #1. See Link: http://www.49erswebzone.com/forum/thread.php?num=132452

This is the third update. I'll probably throw out at least one more.

damn lol