Arizona Pro Day

Per NFL Prospect analyst Gil Brandt:

Wildcats OT Eben Britton is expected to be a first-round pick in the upcoming draft and eight offensive line caoches showed up to watch him work out. In fact, 50 scouts overall came to Tuscon — the largest turnout ever at the school. Britton (6-6 1/2, 310 pounds) had a 28 1/2-inch vertical and did position drills. Sixteen players ran drills indoors on AstroTurf at the Arizona Pro Day.

Here are the other notable players who worked out:

WR Mike Thomas (5-8 5/8, 193 pounds) had a 10-foot, 4-inch broad jump and 16 bench press reps. He kept everything else from the combine.

QB Willie Tuitama (6-2 3/8, 234) ran a 5.01 twice in the 40, had a 26-inch vertical jump, an 8-foot, 4-inch broad jump, a 4.63 short shuttle, a 7.25 three-cone drill and threw the ball very well in position drills.

S Nate Ness (6-0, 193 pounds) really made name for himself. Largely unknown prior to his pro day, he posted some eye-popping numbers. He ran a 4.46 and 4.49 in the 40, had a 36-inch vertical jump, a 10-foot, 3-inch broad jump, a 4.16 short shuttle, a 6.63 three-cone drill and had 17 lifts in the bench press.

Eben Britton has easily solidified himself as the number #4 offensive tackle behind Smith from Baylor, Oher from Ole Miss and Monroe from Virginia. He is a mauler with good athletic ability and I feel he has moved himself into mid to late first round consideration, as early as the Redskins at #13 to as late as the Steelers at #32. The rest of the Arizona Wildcats' prospects will go undrafted unfortunately... except maybe Mike Thomas who might see action in the 6th or 7th round for his good speed and solid return ability.

-Matty

Matty's Big Board Prospect Countdown: 14!

Hey folks, the Super Bowl is behind us and it's time to focus on the next big event and that is the all powerful and mighty draft, which has the ability to take a team from the bottom of the barrel and turn them into a playoff caliber team (ex. Dolphins and Falcons). What I plan on doing is twice a week until draft weekend, I'll be counting down my top 25 prospects, discuss their strengths, weaknesses, overall impact in the NFL and potential landing spot. So, without further delay, I bring you the player who ranked number 14...

14. Eben Britton, OT Arizona Wildcats

2008 Season Stats:
1st team All Pac-10

Career Stats:
2nd team All Pac-10

Personal Stats:
6'6" 309 lbs. JR

Strengths:

Britton's best strength is just that, his strength. He is a big and physical offensive lineman who likes to mix it up, use aggression and finish blocks. He has great strength and hand placement and when he gets his hands on you, you stayed blocked, he has decent foot work and agility in the pass protection game and he blocks very nicely in space. Getting him outside onto outside backers, corners and safeties is a mismatch considering his speed and strength as he was one of the top fastest offensive linemen at the scouting combine. I like his aggression, raw power and his willingness to put the work in at the weight room, he is also a smart fella when it comes to the ins and outs of the game.

Weaknesses:

Britton's weaknesses are his short arms and his immobility in the passing game as he tends be rather flat foot footed and heavy legged in the pass game and really wasn't a fit for the spread offense emplyed by Arizona. He also tends to get too tall when pass blocking and run blocking and this will be a big thing he has to work on because he'll find himself to often in a stalemate or getting pushed back at the next level, if he can learn to sink his hips and use his natural abilities to gain leverage on defensive linemen he should have no problems. I also feel that his work in pass protection may limit the number of teams he can go to in the NFL.

Overall:

In totality, I believe Britton to be an incredibly talented and versatile offensive lineman who could find his way into the top fifteen selections with the recent fall of Andre Smith. I think he projects as a RT in a heavily passing offense, he can also be a left tackle in a zone blocking scheme or he could even kick inside to guard in a power running scheme. I think he will add a lot of versatility to a team and I think he is probably the dark horse, sleep candidate of the offensive tackles to be taken in the first round and though I couldn't find any Arizona game tape of him, I was able to find some high school film of him where you can see his abilities on tap from three years ago.

Eben Britton - Burbank, C @ Rivals Video

Projected NFL Destination:

With the 12th selection in the NFL Draft, the Green Bay Packers select...









There you have it folks, be sure to tune in next week for Prospects #13 and #12!