Prospect Profile: Mykel Williams, EDGE, Georgia

Evaluation

Get Off

An interesting discussion given how the Defensive Line at Georgia has looked over a number of years now, with high-profile Draft prospects all with impressive athletic profiles, all showing a relative weakness in their burst upfield. Georgia throws a lot at their Defensive Linemen and Williams has had to play all over the formation with all kinds of responsibilities so it isn’t fair to judge this too harshly, especially given the explosion you can see from him on-field, but currently is get-off is only really adequate in most situations and only really improves in obvious passing situations when he rushing from a wider 7-technique alignment.

Rushing the Passer

He has a frustratingly under-developed rush plan that could be a quick fix for some team when he gets to the league. He has a wide array of moves, some more developed than others, that he doesn’t set up well with a coherent plan for his opponent or even in knowing how he can keep savvier Offensive Linemen off his primary weapons. His best move is a bull-rush that always allows him to push the pocket to a degree facilitate by his good hand placement and timing. He has under-developed counters off this move though and his opponent can often reset his feet and re-anchor to prevent any pressure on the QB. He doesn’t yet have a well developed or often used bull-slip which looks like it has potential with his game, and his pull-slide needs more accuracy and polish. Where he could look to really take advantage of his athletic gifts is with his inside moves. He has lightning quick hands and when timed well he can execute a lethal club swim. This, combined with his explosive lateral movement – he can teleport around the line of scrimmage – has the potential to wreak havoc when he rushes inside, either against the OT from his wider alignment or when running stunts and games. However an issue arises that causes him trouble when cornering too, he stands up too quickly and loses his pad level and therefore leverage. When cornering, his bend is solid but OL with good hand strength can stay latched and keep him from hitting or sacking the Quarterback. Some of his sacks this year were opportunistic. He has the beginnings of a cross-chop but he doesn’t disengage violently enough to take the OL’s outside hand out of the rep entirely. He doesn’t threaten the outside edge very often and it allows OL with better processing to sit on his more dangerous moves, inside or through the opponent. He has outstanding traits for rushing the passer, including excellent hand usage – he has fast hands and generally places them well in most situations. If he can get the Offensive Linemen to over-set more regularly as part of his plan, he can have more success with his primary pass-rush offerings.

Defending the Run

When he can use his explosion to penetrate quickly, he can wreak havoc against the run due to his leverage, power, and hand usage, he will reset the OL’s levels and make plays on the ball-carrier. When defending Zone on the play-side, he keeps his eyes in the backfield, has good placement and timing with his hands and gets into most OL first. He can then use his quick hands to disengage quickly and get into the backfield. He is able to jolt Offensive Linemen backwards when setting the edge and plays with good leverage. He can throw Offensive Linemen aside and make a play on the ball carrier. If he’s in position to bench-press the blocker and shed, he is good against the run. When he’s back-side you’d like to see more ferocious pursuit and he can struggle to avoid or get off backside cut-off blocks. Against Gap runs, he isn’t quick to process movement across the formation from the Offensive Line from pullers or kick-out blocks and he can get stuck on these. Operating in more space can cause him issues with slipping off Running Backs when laying out to make a tackle.

DRAFTED RAVEN COMP
Paul Kruger

PRODUCTION
Final year on campus: 5 Sacks, 6 QB Hits, 15 Total Tackles, 1 FF
INJURY HISTORY: Played final season with a Grade 2 left ankle sprain; didn’t practice until late October.

RAVENS FIT
Athleticism 4
Intelligence 2
Versatility 4
Grit 4
Scheme 4