Bruce Ellington-WR-South Carolina

Has played both basketball and football at South Carolina. He's also the cousin of Arizona Cardinals RB Andre Ellington. An ideal slot receiver type, tough, glides across the field, largely reliable hands, can pull in some absolute circus catches at times. Very fluid, good route runner, not super fast, but will beat you deep if he gets a step on you, excellent lateral movement, well built for his height, he's 5'9" and supposed to weigh at anywhere from 190 to 200 pounds, definitely not fragile.

"Every year, as we work through tape of the underclassmen, there are a handful of prospects who emerge as pleasant surprises. This year is no different. South Carolina WR Bruce Ellington has jumped out at us on tape, joining USC center Marcus Martin and UNC center Russell Bodine in the "pleasant surprise" category. Listed at 5-foot-9 and 196 pounds, Ellington is a highly competitive player who lacks ideal measurables, but he has a well-built frame that resembles a running back more than a wide receiver.


The first thing that pops out is his "play speed." Ellington is a quick starter who gets from zero to 60 mph in a hurry to stretch the field vertically, and he flashes an explosive burst out of his cuts while maintaining quality balance. He also has a natural feel as a route-runner. Ellington does a nice job of gaining initial leverage and using tempo to create separation from man coverage. In addition, he avoids traffic well and displays excellent spatial awareness out of cuts to quickly exploit downfield soft spots against zone coverage.


Ellington served as the South Carolina basketball team's starting point guard last season before leaving the team this year to train solely for the NFL after making the decision to declare for the draft. Basketball players are normally appealing to scouts as receivers, especially tight ends because it speaks to their hand-eye coordination. Ellington fits the mold; while he lacks an ideal catch radius, he displays soft hands and tracks the ball well in the air.

Overall, Ellington's best fit at the next level looks to be working inside, where his combination of suddenness, speed and route-running could provide a lot of matchup problems from the slot. In speaking with a few scouts, Ellington has exceptional intangibles and should draw attention in the late third round or early fourth round in May's draft.

http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/nfl-draft/post?id=2679

Good propsepect but the niners just don't seem to ever want to use the slot. They rather be in 2 te sets vs 3wrs sets. I'm not sure they would use him correctly. I mean they should have done a lot more with Patton out of the slot this year.

I made a point to re-watch a few South Carolina games this weekend to focus in on both Ellington and CB Victor Hampton (considering both for my post-combine/post free agent mock). Ellington made some spectacular plays against Wisconsin in the bowl game and he was the main reason (along with putting Connor Shaw into the game in the 2nd half) that the Gamecocks were able to knock off #5 Missouri. He's as sure-handed as any slot-type WR I've seen in this draft.

Btw, Hampton is one tough little corner...against Mizzou he held the much larger Green-Beckham to 1 catch and was in his face all night long.

Every time I watched South Carolina this season, Ellington made play after play. Solid late-round value. Reminds me of Steve Smith.

Good hands, good body control, able to catch with his hands, good awarness and speed after the catch. I would be pleased to have him on our team. How does he compare to Beckham, and Landry from LSU?

He looked great every game I saw him in, its puzzling he wasn't more productive because he is talented

Originally posted by JamesGatz83:
Every time I watched South Carolina this season, Ellington made play after play. Solid late-round value. Reminds me of Steve Smith.

More of a mid-round guy IMO as I don't see him getting out of the 4th round (more of a pure WR than a similar prospect/former teammate, Ace Sanders who was picked in the early 4th).

Originally posted by GhostofFredDean74:
More of a mid-round guy IMO as I don't see him getting out of the 4th round (more of a pure WR than a similar prospect/former teammate, Ace Sanders who was picked in the early 4th).

I agree. I should've said "3rd-day" instead of "late-round".

Who's your "Patton" this year Phoenix?

if he will make me forget kyle williams, i'm all for it.

the guy is a superior athlete. nothing stopping him from producing in the nfl.

Originally posted by 49ers808:
Who's your "Patton" this year Phoenix?

I don't really have one, I guess the closest thing would be Donte Moncrief of Ole Miss. There's quite a few receivers that I'd be happy with though.

I'm starting to really likeBruce Ellington over Archer and Thomas as our KR/PR/WR/RB multi threat weapon.

It's funny, he's basically the same guy as his cousin, Andre, but he plays WR instead. For us I think that's better tho. We already have small fast RBs. But adding a small fast WR that can return kicks would be great.

I think Ellington has the potential to be real weapon on offence. He's short, but thick, and he plays with a physicality that reminds me of Steve Smith or even Boldin. That makes me waaaaay more comfortable with him as a speed slot guy than I am with slight, finesse players that shy away from contact and cause interceptions.

Call me crazy all you want to, but I'm dreaming of a 2015 WR core of Crabtree, Kelvin Benjamin, Moncrief, Patton and Elllington.

One of my favorite players in this years draft class period !

Here's another draft crush of mine. He won't make it to day three IMO. I'd be thrilled if we were able to grab him with #94 or #100. Even at #77 I think he would turn out to be a great value. He has the ability and passion for competition to be a Steve Smith type of draft steal.

I want him . .

I want him . .

I want him . .



http://draftbreakdown.com/players/bruce-ellington/