Thursday, April 22, 2010

Round 1, Pick 18 - Pittsburgh Steelers - Maurkice Pouncey


Maurkice Pouncey, C/OG, Florida
Ht: 6’ 4 ½” Wt: 304

EMQB’s analysis on the pick:  The Steelers have been in need of offensive line help for several years.  Pouncey is the best center prospect of the draft and carries even more value because he could play both guard positions.  

Pro Football Weekly’s scouting report: The best center to enter the draft in some time, Pouncey is a powerful, athletic, big- framed mauler who plays to his size and has proven his ability at the highest level of college football. Should be able to step in to a starting job immediately and play a long time in the league. Has Pro Bowl potential. Will be the first center drafted, and value could be enhanced by the lack of available talent at the position.
NFL projection: First-round pick.

GM Jr’s scouting report:  Pouncey is a junior who came out early for the draft and while he is the top rated center, he definitely could have helped his draft status by staying for his senior season as he could have worked on becoming much more consistent with his technique. I am a big fan of centers/guards who have the size, playing strength and athleticism to physically control/dominate man when they play with good technique, but Pouncey needs to become a more consistent blocker. Overall, Pouncey will likely be drafted in the 2nd or 3rd round because of his physical tools and competitiveness as a blocker, but if he is going to become the player he has the talent to be he will need to greatly improve his technique. He must become much more consistently staying over feet and under control to avoid over-ex- tending, falling off blocks and ending up on the ground so often. He has the tools to become a very productive starting center or guard.

Lindy’s Sports scouting report:  Despite playing on an offense known more for its finesse and trickery, Pouncey is smart, strong and athletic.  He’ll need to prove he can handle the adjustment to the traditional snap after two seasons at the pivot in Florida’s shotgun offense, but scouts don’t feel this will be a problem.  He’s also capable of moving to guard in the NFL (he started 11 of 13 games at right guard as a true freshman). 

Pro Football Weekly 2010 Draft Preview available @ http://www.pfwstore.com/detail.aspx?ID=695

GM Jr. 2010 Draft Guide available @ http://gmjrnfldraft.com/

Lindy’s Sports 2010 Draft Guide available @http://www.lindyssports.com/product.php?cn=332


Creative Commons License
Every Morning Quarterback by Aharon Williams is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.everymorningqb.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at www.everymorningqb.com.

0 comments:

Post a Comment