Spotlight #1: North Carolina OLB Zach Brown
Spotlight #2: NC State DT JR Sweezy
1st quarter
14:42: Charles Brown with an awesome interception, his 2nd of the year. If Brown were a receiver, this would have still been an awesome catch. That’s how good it was.
13:21: Sweezy in on a pile in the backfield.
13:02: North Carolina State’s talented linebacker Audie Cole with a strip sack, recovered by North Carolina.
11:00: Zach Brown takes a bad route to the ball, can’t get off a block.
10:34: Brown with a nice ankle tackle on a ball carrier on a run.
9:58: Donte Paige-Moss with a sack. Coples got pressure too.
4:20: Coples almost gets a sack, quarterback shakes it, but Tydreke Powell cleans up the play and gets a sack.
1:29: Brown blitzing, splits a double team well to get pressure.
2nd quarter
13:04: Zach Brown burst up the middle for a tackle after a 2 yard gain.
12:30 Brown with pressure up the middle.
11:42: Sweeezy can’t get a tackle from behind after a short completion. Looked slow here.
10:12: Dwight Jones with a nice catch and an awesome run after for a huge gain, nullified by a hold.
4:07: Brown looking good in coverage, forcing an incompletion.
1:58: Brown around on the coverage on an incompletion.
3rd quarter
13:23: Sweezy, who has been quiet tonight, surrenders a big gain through his gap.
12:55: Sweezy can’t change directions quickly in the open field.
11:01: Sweezy in on an outside tackle. Nice speed for a defensive tackle on this play.
10:01: NC State sophomore cornerback David Amerson with his 9th pick of the season. He leads the country.
4:00: Terrell Manning, a stud sophomore linebacker for NC State, with a sack. He’s shown up on several plays big time tonight.
0:58: Brown showing his awesome speed and acceleration on a quarterback pressure.
0:51: Brown with a tackle up the middle.
0:18: Brown unblocked on another good blitz and pressure, forcing a very early and inaccurate throw.
4th quarter
13:23 Brown with a tackle after a medium sized completion.
3:36: Sweezy with a quarterback hit on an interception. He hasn’t had a lot of big plays tonight, but he has one here and he’s held up well against the run. The 6-5 290 defensive tackle looks like a natural 3-4 defensive end and a late round pick.
0:00: Zach Brown didn’t quite have as many WOW plays tonight as he normally does, but he had a solid game once again and should keep his stock stable as a top 15-20 pick. On the season, he has 71 tackles, 9.5 for loss, 5.5 sacks, 4 pass breakups, and 2 picks on the season. He had 9 tackles tonight and showed his good speed and instincts on several occasions.
He’s a bit undersized at 6-2 230, but he makes up for that with legit 4.4 speed, instincts, and coverage ability. He also plays bigger than his size and he has a great motor. He’s been used very effectively as a blitzer this season, as shown by his 5.5 sacks. He didn’t get to the quarterback tonight, but he showed good blitzing ability once more getting pressure on several occasions. He is deadly as an unblocked blitzer, but he can also get off blocks as well.
He reminds me a lot of Lawrence Timmons. Timmons was undersized, 6-1 230, coming out of Florida State and was drafted by a 3-4 team in the Steelers. Even though he didn’t fit the 3-4 scheme naturally, he still turned into a Pro Bowl caliber player. Now Timmons is also playing outside in a 3-4 even at 230-235 pounds. Brown can be that type of player. He can play any linebacker position in any scheme. He looks like he could be the first linebacker off the board.
North Carolina’s defensive line played well again. Quinton Coples, who only has 4.5 sacks on the season, got consistent pressure once again and almost had a sack, instead the quarterback squirted out, only to get sacked by Tydreke Powell. Coples still looks like a top 10 pick. Powell got his first sack of the season. He also has 4.5 tackles for loss on the season. He’s a good player against the run, but he’s still slipping as he was once an early day 2 prospect. Donte Paige-Moss also had a sack. He know has 2 sacks and 4 tackles for loss as a situational player. He is a great pass rusher who will likely return to school and try to go in the first round next year. North Carolina held NC State to 3.1 yards per carry.
North Carolina was even worse on the ground than NC State was. They had 3 yards on 28 carries, 4 sacks included as they were shut out. Part of that was JR Sweezy playing well against the run. He’s a bit skinny at 6-5 290 and he didn’t make a lot of standout plays, but he played the run well here. Audie Cole was even better against the run. He looks like a late day 2 pick. He and sophomore linebacker Terrell Manning were flying all over the place and having huge games. Manning had 11 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 sack, and 3 pass breakups. Cole had 7 tackles, 1 for loss, and 1 sack. In 9 games, the experienced senior middle linebacker has 76 tackles, 8.5 for loss, 3.5 sacks, and 4 breakups.
Even with North Carolina’s ineptude, Dwight Jones once again had a good game. He caught 9 passes for 72 yards and had a huge gain wiped out by a penalty. North Carolina only completed 16 passes for 162 yards so what Jones did was even more impressive. The 6-4 receiver is very underrated. Despite quarterback problems, he has 63 catches for 912 yards and 8 touchdowns in 10 games. In fact, he’s been so consistent, his 72 yards this week was his 2nd lowest total of the season. I think he’s a first rounder.
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