Although fans were excited to get the news of Seth Jacobs signing with OSU at the end of signing day, it came a little late for coverage at Gundy's press conference, the newspaper stories, or much discussion on this (and other) boards. If you had been following my recruiting class comments up through signing day, you would know that I felt Seth Jacobs was a must-get for this class.
Yes, Jacobs comes in with a lot of fanfare, publicity, and recruiting hype, but believe it or not, he may be under-ranked. Simply put, he was one of the most natural fits for the star position anywhere in the country. He has everything you want in a prospect at that position. He has good size, great athleticism, excellent speed and lateral agility, intelligence, and leadership. This was a real position of need in this recruiting class, and I suspect Jacobs will have the opportunity to get on the field right away.
He isn't a clone of Shaun Lewis, but his game does bring similarities. Like Lewis, he covers a lot of ground and makes plays sideline to sideline. He is a very good open field tackler and does well diagnosing plays and attacking the ball carrier before the runner get break into the open. He has better pass coverage skills than Lewis and seems to really locate the ball well when its in the air. His hips and footwork are good enough to consider leaving him in man coverage against slot receivers in some of the Big 12 spread atttacks.
Many people that follow recruiting in California closely say that he is by far the best football prospect to come out of that central coastal region of California in a long time. He was a star quarterback, corner, and free safety as a freshman and sophomore. During his junior season he played SS, FS, OLB, WR, RB, and TE on his way to all kinds of awards and recognition and you would expect that with 106 tackles, 4 sacks, 4 pbu's, and 3 INTs. So what did he do for an encore? As a senior he made 151 tackles and combined for nearly 1000 yards of total offense with 13 TDs. The young man just showed up and made plays wherever his coaches put him. He is a football player.
Not only is Seth a tremendous football talent with a great bloodline of football players in his family, but a very smart and well-spoken young man. Northwestern doesn't offer kids that can't cut it academically. That's why they recruited this "A" average student.
When you watch Jacobs on film, you walk away so impressed by his ability to make plays in almost any area of the field. He gets to the ball quickly and more often than not makes a play. He is a very good tackler, often driving ball carriers backwards at the point of impact. This is the kind of big hitter that OSU needed to find for this spot. He moves really well through traffic and is equally adept at diving inside or scraping outside. At the high school level he demonstrated an ability to take on offensive linemen, get off their blocks, and still make the tackle. With a couple of years under Rob Glass there is no reason to think he will not be able to do that in college down the road as well.
When OSU recruited him, they told him that they wanted to use him in a variety of blitz situations. This means that they see Jacobs as a guy that can get into the backfield and either blow plays up or redirect them and chase them down from behind. He has big play potential.
OSU is the perfect situation for Seth Jacobs. He will get to come in and learn under Shaun Lewis while making contributions both at Star and on special teams, then as Lewis graduates and he steps up to replace him, I think he improves productivity from that spot. I would be surprised if Seth is not the public face of OSU's defense in 3 years.
Yes, Jacobs comes in with a lot of fanfare, publicity, and recruiting hype, but believe it or not, he may be under-ranked. Simply put, he was one of the most natural fits for the star position anywhere in the country. He has everything you want in a prospect at that position. He has good size, great athleticism, excellent speed and lateral agility, intelligence, and leadership. This was a real position of need in this recruiting class, and I suspect Jacobs will have the opportunity to get on the field right away.
He isn't a clone of Shaun Lewis, but his game does bring similarities. Like Lewis, he covers a lot of ground and makes plays sideline to sideline. He is a very good open field tackler and does well diagnosing plays and attacking the ball carrier before the runner get break into the open. He has better pass coverage skills than Lewis and seems to really locate the ball well when its in the air. His hips and footwork are good enough to consider leaving him in man coverage against slot receivers in some of the Big 12 spread atttacks.
Many people that follow recruiting in California closely say that he is by far the best football prospect to come out of that central coastal region of California in a long time. He was a star quarterback, corner, and free safety as a freshman and sophomore. During his junior season he played SS, FS, OLB, WR, RB, and TE on his way to all kinds of awards and recognition and you would expect that with 106 tackles, 4 sacks, 4 pbu's, and 3 INTs. So what did he do for an encore? As a senior he made 151 tackles and combined for nearly 1000 yards of total offense with 13 TDs. The young man just showed up and made plays wherever his coaches put him. He is a football player.
Not only is Seth a tremendous football talent with a great bloodline of football players in his family, but a very smart and well-spoken young man. Northwestern doesn't offer kids that can't cut it academically. That's why they recruited this "A" average student.
When you watch Jacobs on film, you walk away so impressed by his ability to make plays in almost any area of the field. He gets to the ball quickly and more often than not makes a play. He is a very good tackler, often driving ball carriers backwards at the point of impact. This is the kind of big hitter that OSU needed to find for this spot. He moves really well through traffic and is equally adept at diving inside or scraping outside. At the high school level he demonstrated an ability to take on offensive linemen, get off their blocks, and still make the tackle. With a couple of years under Rob Glass there is no reason to think he will not be able to do that in college down the road as well.
When OSU recruited him, they told him that they wanted to use him in a variety of blitz situations. This means that they see Jacobs as a guy that can get into the backfield and either blow plays up or redirect them and chase them down from behind. He has big play potential.
OSU is the perfect situation for Seth Jacobs. He will get to come in and learn under Shaun Lewis while making contributions both at Star and on special teams, then as Lewis graduates and he steps up to replace him, I think he improves productivity from that spot. I would be surprised if Seth is not the public face of OSU's defense in 3 years.
