FanPost

Raekwon McMillan, an extended breakdown of this intriguing Linebacker

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Hello Fellow PoD'ers,

JacobNL with a fan scouting report. This one will be about Raekwon McMillan, Inside Linebacker from Ohio State University. He currently is my #4 ILB on my board and in this post, I will try to explain the reasoning behind that. If you like the post or want me to scout a different player hit me up in the comments and I'll see what I can do! Thanks for taking the time and reading my work anyways! It means a lot to me! :)

Personal life/pre-OSU

It's not easy making it to the NFL. Some people are destined to make it to the big stage and some never get further than HS. Raekwon McMillan is a prospect that was destined to make it to the league ever since he hit the football field in HS. Raekwon(named after Raekwon from Wu-Tang Clan) grew up in Georgia and was ranked as a 5-star recruit by rivals.com and the #1 inside linebacker in the nation. He also won the HS Butkus award in 2013(previous year winner was Jaylon Smith) and was 2 times All-American during his High School career. He was initially a 5-star recruit but lost a star due to being out of shape and committed himself to becoming the elite athlete again and conditioned himself to regain the 5th star again. Being able to pick between all the big schools(visited OSU, Alabama, Florida, Clemson, Georgia and got offers from pretty much everyone) out there he chose to attend Ohio State University and enrolled a semester early to participate in spring practice(finished HS with 3.4GPA). He was born November 17, 1996 making him pretty young to enter the draft. I tried to find bad stuff about him but I wasn't able to find any. Watching interviews with coaches, scouts and other players have nothing but great things to say about him. He was apparently a quiet kid in HS during the start and grew into the leadership role as his HS career progressed. He is the guy a GM like Bob Quinn or Jim Caldwell as a coach want in his locker room.

Ohio State Buckeyes career

Graduating a semester early made him able to attend the spring practice for OSU and it benefited him tremendously. Playing in all 15 games as a true freshman and getting more snaps than the starters in 9 of those games added up to 54 tackles(7TFL), 2.5 sacks and an interception returned for TD on OSU's National Championship run. Raekwon was named Freshman All-American. He followed it up with 119 tackles(4TFL), 1.5 sacks in his sophomore year and 102 tackles(7TFL), 2 sacks and 2 forced fumbles in his junior year. He became 2nd team All-American and 1st team Big Ten in his junior year.

Draft Process

Coming into his junior season a lot of people expected him to solidify his first round pedigree. He made the occasional splash on tape when people we're reviewing his teammates that went on to the NFL and they expected him to be the next great player out of Columbus, Ohio. He was graded around 25-40 best player pre-season and his stock didn't change much during the season(dropped post-season). When you watch his tape you see all of what you want to see(athleticism, tackling, instincts) but you rarely saw all three together consistently. Most plays involved two out of the three making him a capable linebacker but not one of the great linebackers. Anyway, his combine statistics

Height: 6''2
Weight: 240lbs
Arm: 33''
Hands: 9 3/4''

40 yard: 4.61 (3rd, Jabrill 4.46, Duke Riley from LSU 4.58)
Bench: 23 reps(5th)
Vertical: 33"
Broad: 10''1
3 cone: 7.15
20 shuttle: 4.38
60 shuttle: 11.84

Why you should like Raekwon as a player

Raekwon is the guy who is just always there. You always have those players in the NFL that are consistent starters everywhere they go but you don't hear being named All-Pro or signing that big juicy contract in the offseason. Imagine a new younger more athletic Stephen Tulloch when the Lions would draft Raekwon. Tulloch got named All-Pro once and that's about the maximum you should expect for Raekwon. Let's talk about his football skills.

Football IQ

Raekwon is always praised for his knowledge and smarts on the field. You can see he learns quickly and extremely well. He is plugged into the Inside Linebacker position and coaches don't have to worry about Raekwon messing up his assignment. He keeps his eyes on the Quarterback and follows them around. He is also an adept learner during a game. You can see him misreading a gap early in the game but once he has the flow he stays consistent.

Football IQ is hard to explain. It's a mix of instincts and learning ability. A player sees something happen and reacts to it. If the outcome is different than he expects he learns from it. Is it what he wanted to achieve? It's added to his muscle memory. Raekwon shows excellent learning ability. Most of us watched the Michigan - Ohio State game this season and below are two short clips that explain his learning ability.

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Raekwon gets baited by the Jake Butt's double move. Jake Butt is a good Tight End that should end up having a productive career in the NFL and is expected to raise trouble for linebackers but a great linebacker isn't troubled by him. Raekwon gives up 12 yards and an easy first down. One quarter further into the game, this play happens:

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Butt pulls the exact same move on him(it's almost the exact same play) but this time Raekwon is ready and sits on the play and makes it extremely hard for Butt to catch the ball. He could learn a little bit more veteran tricks and be a bit more physical(handsy) on his coverage but he will learn overtime. Raekwon will only get better and better with experience.

Progressing through your assignments

Football is a game of X's and O's. A player has a job and if he does his job well good things will happen. I mentioned Raekwon is the guy that will be on the field and you don't have to worry about him. Raekwon trusts his eyes and knows his assignment and therefore makes the occasional play, he sees plays develop fast and can make the play. His athleticism helps him as well in this aspect. the OSU coaching staff knew extremely well that Raekwon is an extremely good delayed rusher. In the next play all of his skills come to fruition.

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Raekwon got this assignment a lot at OSU. His first read was diagnosing if it was a run play or not(A). If it wasn't he had to (delay due to read) rush the passer(B). Michigan runs the ball a lot and they have the advantage in the box in this play.

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Raekwon diagnoses the fake handoff and before the QB turns his head around or the RB is done faking the run Raekwon is already in the face of the QB forcing the throw and making it an easy Hooker interception and 7 points on the board. You can see his 4.61s 40y time as well in this play.

Run Defense

Sometimes a defense needs a tone setter. A guy that says: you ain't running this way and if you are you are gonna get hurt. I would love to say McMillan is that guy but currently, he is not. I would go about why he isn't more in depth further in this post. There are a lot of qualities in his run defense though. Skills that are not easy to find. His tackling is superb, he attacks gaps fiercely and he isn't afraid to make contact. I feel he gets too much credit for his run defense. There is a lot to improve here. Raekwon had an awful game vs Oklahoma and I tried to find a good play for him in that game. Having a bad game but still trying to make an impact and staying focused is hard for any athlete in any sport. Raekwon showed the mental toughness to still be good ole Raekwon in that game.

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This play is designed to create 2(potentially 3) gaps. The first gap forms on the outside, the second one(first read for RB) behind the center and right guard. Before the center could move up to the linebacker Raekwon is already behind him to close up the potential bigger gap that's gonna be created. The gap was designed to be at Raekwon. You can see #36 on Oklahoma moving towards the gap Raekwon is already filling. He essentially blew up the gap before it even existed. One more play then,

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Nice arm to the center to not get blocked and wraps up the RB for a nice tackle for loss. You see him consistently step up to avoid the block and make the play at or behind the line of scrimmage. this is what I love to see out of a Linebacker. One more to finish it off:

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Get out of here DeShaun Watson.. Leave the running to the real backs..

Man Coverage

You will read a lot about his spotty pass defense. His zone defense is a question but more on that later. Earlier in the post, we saw Raekwon man covering Jake Butt. The most important aspect of man coverage is keeping an eye on your target and making sure he is unable to make the catch and if possible make a play on the ball. Zone coverage requires you to ''feel'' the space around you and know what is going on behind you without seeing it. Raekwon his instincts in man coverage are superb. Let's take a look at a different man coverage play that has a sudden twist to it.

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The play happens extremely fast but McMillan is assigned to the running back arching to the left. Raekwon follows him with ease, trusting his sideline to sideline speed while keeping his eyes on the Quarterback. He feels(football instincts) and sees the field. The Quarterback throws a bullet over his head but Raekwon actually got his hand up against the ball changing its direction forcing yet another interception returned for TD for his team. It doesn't show up on the stat sheet but he is making plays for his team. Now let's move to the ugly

Why you shouldn't hype up Raekwon as a player

Hopefully, you have a nice image of Raekwon's talents:

  • Reading gaps&blocks
  • Speed
  • Man Coverage
  • Football IQ&Instincts
Now it is time for the ugly parts of his gameplay.

How not to attack the run, a tutorial by Raekwon McMillan

Hi, my name is Raekwon and I would like to take you through the part of my game in which I have struggled for my entire career so far. As you can see I am a really instinctive player that learns on the fly. I'm also really fast which helps me attack the run before the run even happens. I'm also built like an Ox and can bench 23 times and move lineman around.

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Except here, when I freeze up...

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Or here when the pissing contest with the back is more important than keeping the eyes upfield and trying to shed a block..

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Look! Pushing a guard back is easy! Who cares if I create the hole behind me...

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And the best example of a typical McMillan defense: Getting caught on the wrong side of the block.

He fails his job in all of these plays yet the team isn't punished for it. This is where the strength of the Ohio State defense is creating a cloud of dust over Raekwon's game. their defense is so good, everyone will get drafted on that defense, so if one player screws up his job there are 10 guys that will compensate for it. Yet the NFL is more unforgiving on failing your job. It's a game of inches and in a game of inches you don't give up a foot. I started calling Raekwon mister 50 after this. He does his assignment 50% of the time well. 25% excellent and 25% bad. Now is there a coach that is able to make the excellent part go up or the bad part go down? That is the question NFL teams will ask themselves. Is it coachable? We know he is able to do it but why isn't he doing it consistently?

Zone Coverage, who's fault is it?

Zone coverage is hard... What the heck is going on in your zone? Where does your zone end and another start? What do you need to do when two people enter your zone? Zone Coverage has holes in it and it's hard to cover those up. It's even harder when you are a Linebacker that focuses on what you see and not what you can expect. Raekwon can cover excellent when the play is in front of him but I had a hard time finding tape with the action behind him in zone. The other Linebackers usually had the assignment to drop into zone and Raekwon was just spying the Quarterback's eyes. So there is a big question for me regarding that. Here's an example of his QB spy role.

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Different angle

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Here's another example of his QB spy role

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Now the reason I putt this under zone coverage is simple. How can we judge a Linebacker on his zone coverage when he rarely gets asked to do it? Its one of the hardest things to do as a Linebacker so this raises a flag and questions for me.

Pretty fly for a QB spy guy

Have you ever seen an accident happen on the street and you just walk up to the accident to see what happens yet don't offer assistance because you don't know how to do it? Or maybe just watched a fight happen and didn't stop it? I call that creeping up to the action. Now I think it is human nature to do that. Footballplayers are no exception, except for the fact that football has assignments. A QB spy needs to follow the QB eyes while maintaining a good position on the field. Raekwon has the tendency to creep up to the Quarterback and a hole opens up behind him.

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We all know what he is trying to do. He is trying to contain the mobile DeShaun Watson. And the play design is beautiful with the delayed release on the H-back but why do you have to creep up so extremely far? You can see the Defensive End doing the same.

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The play is a pass yet due to DeShaun Watson being the Quarterback they have to respect the run as well. Raekwon gives up 2 holes and a pass in this play. He walks up to the line of scrimmage towards the right edge(viewer side) giving up the running hole in the middle(the end has the outside covered) and due to his creeping up the extremely small hole is created behind him. That hole is big enough for shifty backs to bring the first down. No reason to give up that hole.

Conclusion

Raekwon is a solid player that showed above average skills at the college level that should translate nicely to the NFL. He is good-, not great athletically, and has the sideline to sideline speed teams want. His man coverage is adequate but his zone coverage is a total question mark. He progresses through his reads quickly and closes down plays before they happen. When he lets the play develop it is when the trouble starts. When he lets the run come to him he gets zoned out of blocks and the longer he spies on Quarterbacks the more ground he gives up. He sometimes overly engages blocks while he has shown he is capable of shedding them. The right coach and the right teams should be able to iron out the flaws and make him a serviceable pro for a decade to come. I grade him as a second round prospect in the upcoming draft.

Please leave a response!

If you have any remarks about my report on McMillan please let me know. If you would like me to do a different player leave it in the comments as well and I will try to do some more in the upcoming week.

I used Draftbreakdown.com's videos for the GIF's. The tapes I watched and some used are: Oklahoma, Penn State, Clemson, Michigan, Wisconsin  

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pride Of Detroit or its writers.