Spotlight #1: Boise State RB Doug Martin
Spotlight #2: Boise State DT Billy Winn
1st quarter
13:06: Martin takes an inside handoff for a few, pushing the pile after contact.
12:19: Martin with a gain of 4, has a lot of guys around him because he doesn’t have great foot speed, but he can break tackles and pushes forward well.
11:17: Martin has no room and is stuffed at the line by a pile.
10:35: Logan Harrell, Fresno State’s best defensive player, with an ugly and stupid offsides penalty on 3rd and a long goal.
8:42: Doug Martin runs right into an unblocked man near the line of scrimmage. He needs to display better vision.
7:38: Winn disengages from a block and is able to bring down the ball carrier for a short gain on first down.
7:02: Winn run at again and again it’s a very small gain.
4:57: Martin blown up in the backfield by Logan Harrell. Harrell got penetration extremely quickly and Martin had nowhere to go. Harrell is 3rd in the nation in tackles for loss, but at 6-2 275, he’ll have to move to end at the next level. He’s a mid to late rounder.
3:27: Martin blown up in the backfield by Logan Harrell. I’m making sure to spotlight him at some point this season. Martin is not doing a good job of breaking tackles. He has a mere 8 yards on 6 carries.
2nd quarter
14:01: Chase Baker, another potential draft pick on Boise State’s defensive line, gets a great quarterback pressure on 3rd and 2 here. Billy Winn got free too, but Baker was the lead chase man here and forced the Fresno State quarterback to throw it away.
13:50: Martin gets great blocking to the outside, but with his lack of speed, he was only able to get 7. He’s not great in space.
11:52: Martin gets bounced back on a chip block in the backfield.
11:01: Martin finds a decent hole for a few yards. He hasn’t been terrible impressive tonight.
9:54: Martin falls down on another very poor chip block.
9:40: Martin is run at again and the back is stuffed at the line by multiple guys. This Boise State line has once again done a good job against the run.
8:23: Excellent push by Winn, leading to a double team, and he’s still able to hold his own against a double.
1:56: Winn beats his man easily and gets a strip sack and Fresno State turns it over.
1:35: Martin with a short gain. He’s really struggling this year averaging less than 4 yards per carry and now he’s struggling with Fresno State. His stock is dropping.
1:11: Martin on a screen, again gets nowhere thanks to a great tackle by Logan Harrell. Harrell is able to stay with him and not get faked out by Martin’s dancing around.
1:05: Martin on 3rd and 4 in space on a pass catch in the flat, spins for the first.
0:41: Martin with another reception in the flat. He breaks one tackle in the backfield with a nice stiff arm and he’s able to get a medium sized gain on 2nd and 10.
3rd quarter
14:55: Martin takes a huge special teams hit on a kickoff return.
14:40: Martin with his best run of the night, an 8 yarder up the middle. Nice run.
14:08: Martin stuffed at the line again. He had to shake a few tackles just to get there.
12:26: Winn gets good position, but is unable to disengage from a block. He’s run right past.
9:45: Martin with a decent run.
9:27: Martin finally with a big run. He bounces off a tackle up the middle, cuts to the outside and runs with nothing but open field between him and the end zone for a while. 55 yards. He did everything on that run, speed, strength, elusiveness, vision.
8:59: Martin punches it in on the goal line. He’s too big and powerful there.
1:24: Martin is pulled with a 50-0 lead. If Billy Winn is pulled too, I’m calling this scouting report early. No point in me watching a bunch of backups.
4th quarter
10:46: Winn is out too. That’s all for tonight.
0:00: So I didn’t get to see a full game of either because Boise State had a blowout win here and pulled their starters. However, I did learn some things. I wasn’t terribly impressed with Doug Martin. Martin is being mentioned as a day 2 pick, but I’d have him a little lower than there. He rushed for 94 yards on 16 carries, an average of 5.9 per, but more than half of that came of one 55 yard run. Aside from that run, he had 15 carries for 39 yards.
He looked really slow and while he broke a lot of tackles, a lot of tacklers were able to get to him because he doesn’t have the speed and initial burst necessary to escape them. He had 3 catches and he is a great pass catcher, but he also really struggled as a pass blocker. He can be a decent back at the next level and he doesn’t go down on first contact, but he’s not fast enough to be a consistent back at the next level. He’s averaging roughly 4 yards per carry this season and that’s against a pretty weak schedule. How is he going to maintain a high level at the next level?
As for Billy Winn, he had a good game, as did most of Boise State’s defensive line. Winn held up well when run at decent his smaller size at 6-4 285, but at the same time, he was playing a smaller Fresno State team. He also had a strip sack. I think he belongs in a 3-4 as a defensive end at the next level and he should be a mid round pick. He wasn’t particularly excellent against a weak foe this week and he isn’t having that great of a season, but he’s still good. One final note, Logan Harrell for Fresno State had a huge game against a tough foe in Boise State. I’m spotlighting him next week.
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