NFL
By: Bill Carroll
Bill Carroll’s New Scout’s Eye View turns to one of the “sexiest” positions on defense; the 2023 Defensive End Class is my focus. Though it wasn’t always thought of as such. When Leonard G. “Len” Ford Jr. was selected in the third round of the 1948 All-America Football Conference draft, (14th pick overall), he reported to the Los Angeles Dons’ camp in 1948, once there, as was common at the time, was a two-way player.
He was an end, [now a tight end] on offense and played end on defense as well. Before long he proved adept at both. He was catching passes, Ford caught 67 passes for eight touchdowns for an average of 17.5 yards with L.A. He also intercepted two passes, in his early career on defense, also he was especially effective at rushing the passer and causing turnovers.
In the 1948 season, Ford started 10, of 14, games for the Dons at right end and caught 31 passes for 598 yards, seven touchdowns and intercepted a pass. More evidence that he was the “Julius Peppers” of his era is that, between the 1948 and 1949 football seasons, Ford played basketball for the Dayton Rens, a National Basketball League (NBL) team, for the 1948-49 season and were the only all-Black team to play in, an otherwise, all White league.
The Rens were one of the first professional basketball teams to field all, or even mostly, African-American players, predating Jacky Robinson’s MLB debut by nearly a year. Some basketball historians have theorized that the reason the NBA counted the [The Basketball Association of America] or BAA’s history and not the NBL’s history as its own, despite the two leagues merging, was due to the Rens and their Black players.
Following the 1948–49 season, the BAA absorbed most of National Basketball League (NBL) and rebranded as the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Rens began life as the New York Renaissance, [later the name was shortened to Rens], at the height of the Harlem Renaissance, in 1923 when they were a barnstorming team.
The Rens were a team of African-American players in an era where segregation was the norm. When they were not road, they could by found playing in established basketball leagues such as the Midwest Basketball League, The East Coast Basketball League, and the National Basketball League. As a forward and center for the Rens, Ford played six games and scored six points.
In 1949, Ford started eight out of the Dons’12) games at right end for the Dons and caught 36 passes for 577 yards and a touchdown. Ford again had an interception, which he returned for 45 yards. The All-America Football Conference folded at that season’s end and Paul Brown of the Browns saw that Ford was born to be a superstar pass-rusher.
Brown was a man ahead of his time and he saw the same in Ford. In 1950 most of the blocking schemes, often, had offensive tackles charging at defensive tackles across from them. This is would be like a 3-4 ‘5 Technique’ DE today. Dissecting a scheme asking the offensive guard to ‘flare-out’ and block the onrushing ‘5 Technique DE, we can see some vague resemblance to the ways that some offensive lines approach blocking now. Particularly when dealing with the (‘wide-9’ alignment today); [“wide 9” simply refers to the alignment of a player in the-9 technique, or the far-outside alignment, across from the tight end’s outside shoulder, of one or both of a team’s pass-rushers].
Needless to say, those era’s blocking schemes simply were not prepared for Len Ford, and he would utterly feast on the athletic imbalance and unfairness of being a modern-day 6’4 ½” 247 pound, elite-level pass-rusher, facing, on average, a 6’2″ 234 guard who was both slower and weaker. Ford was among the game’s first true pass-rushers and 1976 he was made a Hall of Famer, unfortunately, neither sacks, tackles nor tackles for loss were tabulated during his career. What we know is he recovered 19 fumbles in, regular-season, Browns games, another in his final year in Green Bay, and he scored a touchdown on defense along with the eight he scored on offense.
Enough of looking back, let’s look forward to Bill Carroll’s Scout’s Eye View: The 2023 Defensive End Class. There are some terrific prospects out there and nearly everyone has Alabama’s Will Anderson as their top overall prospect.
I promise you there will come a time when he will be discussed and analyzed, but today is not that day. My focus instead will fall on those who are not seen, at least not yet, as top 50 prospects.
10. Malik Hamm of Lafayette is a bit of a Terrell Suggs replica, in terms of the way he plays and his frame, at the same point in their development. This season he has 21 solo tackles, with 16 assisted tackles, 10 pressures, seven and a half sacks, three forced fumbles, he has blocked three kicks, with two pass break-ups and 11 ½ total tackles for loss. He has an aggressive get-off and uses his hands well to create separation and shock blockers.
9. Ronnie Thomas of Mississippi Valley State has a squat and powerful frame that is reminiscent of Elvis Dumervil or Dwight Freeney. He can beat blockers on their up-field shoulder, but his inside moves and bull-rushing are nearly unstoppable. In 2022 he has managed to earn 48 tackles, 28 of them solo, with 14.5 total tackles-for-loss, eight and a half of those are sacks, with three pressures and two pass break-ups.
8. Loobert Denelus of Benedict is the fifth best Division II pass-rusher that I have graded this season. He is another of the thicker framed, power pass-rushers. He has had two, three sack games. For the season he’s produced 32 solo tackles, 12 assists, 16 total tackles-for-loss, 10 sacks, a pressure, a blocked kick and he recorded a safety on a tackle in the end-zone.
7. Caleb Murphy of Ferris State is an explosive and slippery, Division II pass-rusher, who has put up the type of numbers that may take him to Mobile, Alabama and the Senior Bowl. He has been consistently disruptive. The season he has 30 solo tackles, 33 assists, 14.5 sacks, 5 forced fumbles and an interception. He’s about 233, at almost 6’4″ so he projects to OLB, but even then he could afford to gain weight.
6. Andrew Barber II of Lane College is just a ‘Manster’ half man and half monster. In 2021, after being the best defensive player in the SIAC, he resisted the siren-song of the transfer-portal and has returned bigger and better than ever. In 2023 he has 6 sacks and 19 other TFLs for a total of 25 in only 9 games, that’s a career for some. He also added 7 pressures, a forced fumble and 3 PBUs. He is also the proud winner of a NBS “Nutty Award“.
5. TyJuan Garbutt of Virginia Tech, had drawn comparisons to Darryl Tapp, for obvious reasons. Both are built like safes with arms and legs, both played for Virginia Polytechnical Institute and both are a scourge to QBs. In seven games he has 11 solo stops, helped on 10 more with 8 TFL, 4 ½ sacks, a pressure, a forced fumble and a pass-breakup.
4. Chico Bennett of Virginia, plays a DE/OLB hybrid position known as the “Bandit”, in their nomenclature. He is most certainly a brigand when it comes to the offensive fortunes of the opposition. The 6’33/4” 251, Georgia Tech transfer, has long arms, loose hips and knows how use both. His 2022 campaign has yielded 34 tackles, half of them are solo, 7 sacks and another ½ a TFL, with a pair of forced fumbles.
3. Jose Ramirez of Eastern Michigan, has a emerged as a force on defense this year. He has 29 solo tackles and helped on 23 more, with 13 total TFLs, of which 8 were sacks, 7 pressures, 2 forced fumbles, 1 recovered fumble and 2 pass break-ups. At 6’1½” 252 he has the athletic ability and frame that is prized by odd front teams.
2. David Perales of Fresno State may not have the measurable, tangible traits that send scouts’ hearts aflutter, however he has won a “Nutty Award“, he is constantly productive, he is good against the run and devastating as a pass-rusher. Of his 38 tackles, 23 were solo and 15 assists, with 13 TFLs, 9½ of that total were sacks. He can win with power and he uses his hands very efficiently.
1. Thomas Incoom of Central Michigan, a Valdosta State transfer, is 6’3 ½” 262 and he has a tremendous first step, a violent punch and a few vicious, inside counter moves. This season he has 48 total stops, 28 of them all by himself, as well as 20 assists, of his 16 total TFLs, 9½ were sacks, he also has three pressures, 2 fumble recoveries and a forced fumble.
Next Bill Carroll’s New Scout’s Eye View will focus on the undervalued members of the Defensive Tackle class.
