Tuesday was the final day of the 2009 NFL Combine and Clemson Tigers football safeties Chris Clemons and Michael Hamlin participated in the workouts and drills televised on NFL Network. Going into the combine, Hamlin was the more highly regarded player of the two and in my opinion was the player who would probably be the first of all the six particpating Tigers selected in the draft. This may still hold true but Clemons definitely impressed with his 40 yd. dash time and performed reasonably well in the live drills on Tuesday. This will certainly help improve his status.
First, let's take a look at Chris Clemons. He measured 6'0 1/8 and weighed in at 208 lbs. On the Clemson roster, he is listed at 6'1, 210 lbs. The big news coming out of today's workouts at the Combine was Clemons' 40 yard dash time of 4.41. He actually ran an unofficial 4.41 on his first attempt and a 4.40 on his second. There were a couple of players in the 4.3's ahead of him but evidently those times did not hold up, as he is listed on NFL.com as the fastest of all safeties and defensive backs who participated.
Michael Hamlin measured 6'2 and weighed in at 214 lbs. He is listed at 6'3 205 lbs. on both the depth chart and the last regular season game roster, so he evidently packed on about 10 lbs. at some point between the two measurements. He may have lost an inch in height as well but I doubt it. Perhaps the most recent measurement at Clemson was just inaccurate. You can rest assured that if a player's height is inaccurate on the roster or depth chart, it will be on the high side and not the low.
Clemons was also one of five safeties who participated in the broad jump and was measured at 10'7". This distance was right in the middle of the five with the two longer ones at 10'9" and 11'0" and two shorter ones at 10'6" and 10'5". At this point, it does not appear that Chris participated in any of the other timed or measured events. In fact, only 6 of the 23 players participated in any timed/measured drills besides the 40 yd. dash and broad jump.
Hamlin ran a 4.60 in the 40 yard dash, which was slightly higher than the 4.57 average of the 23 participating players. The announcers on the NFL Network and especially Deion Sanders made reference to the speed of the WR group at the Combine this year. Sanders mentioned that if the player ran over a 4.50, they would have a very difficult time against wide receivers in the NFL. Therefore, I think this is one area that Hamlin can impove on in the weeks leading up to the Pro Day at Clemson in March.
In the first field drill, players lined up and had to backpedal 10 yards and then watch a coach in the middle of the field with a football holding it to the right or left and turn accordingly. Times did not matter in the drill. The object was to stay low, make the right/left transitions fluid and quick and try to stay on the same vertical line. I noticed that Clemons was the only player who took very big backsteps. In fact, he only took 8 steps back to cover 10 yards whereas every other player I observed took 10-12. Hamlin was not featured in this drill as NFL Network went to commercial.
In the second drill, players lined up and backpedaled while again watching a coach in the middle of the field moving the football to their left or right. The object was to turn the hips in a fluid motion and stay low. At the end of the drill, the player makes a break to the sideline, tries to catch a pass at its highest point, remain inbounds and then sprint towards the end zone. Clemons was only shown completing the last half of the drill due to a breakaway for film study but he did catch the ball. Hamlin looked good backpedaling, made good, fluid left/right transitions and caught the pass.
The next drill was the same as the previous one except it was run to the opposite sideline. This and the previous drill were designed to simulate defending a post corner route. Clemons again looked somewhat awkward in his backpedal by taking such large steps. He also looked to be a little too upright but he made good direction changes and caught the pass. Hamlin had the faster, shorter backsteps and looked more natural in the drill. He stayed low and used good body mechanics and technique.
The final drill basically simulated defending a hitch and go. The player backpedaled 10 yards, immediately had to reverse direction and come forward five yards, then immediately reverse direction again into a full sprint and catch a pass that was floated slightly over their heads. Clemons was not featured in this drill due to a commercial break. Deion Sanders criticized Hamlin for planting his back foot instead of his front and also for stopping his feet during the direction change. One of the other announcers mentioned that this could be due to the way that he was coached.
Overall, I believe Clemons improved his standing with the 40 time alone. I'm not sure if the NFL teams see the large backsteps as a weakness. I think with him playing S instead of CB, it's not as much of an issue because his job is not to play press man but to provide help over the top. His closing speed will obviously be a big benefit there. I doubt Hamlin hurt himself too much but working on his 40 yd. dash times is a must before the Pro Day. Today concluded the NFL Combine coverage but I will do a final wrap up on all six participating players coming up in the next couple of days.
First, let's take a look at Chris Clemons. He measured 6'0 1/8 and weighed in at 208 lbs. On the Clemson roster, he is listed at 6'1, 210 lbs. The big news coming out of today's workouts at the Combine was Clemons' 40 yard dash time of 4.41. He actually ran an unofficial 4.41 on his first attempt and a 4.40 on his second. There were a couple of players in the 4.3's ahead of him but evidently those times did not hold up, as he is listed on NFL.com as the fastest of all safeties and defensive backs who participated.
Michael Hamlin measured 6'2 and weighed in at 214 lbs. He is listed at 6'3 205 lbs. on both the depth chart and the last regular season game roster, so he evidently packed on about 10 lbs. at some point between the two measurements. He may have lost an inch in height as well but I doubt it. Perhaps the most recent measurement at Clemson was just inaccurate. You can rest assured that if a player's height is inaccurate on the roster or depth chart, it will be on the high side and not the low.
Clemons was also one of five safeties who participated in the broad jump and was measured at 10'7". This distance was right in the middle of the five with the two longer ones at 10'9" and 11'0" and two shorter ones at 10'6" and 10'5". At this point, it does not appear that Chris participated in any of the other timed or measured events. In fact, only 6 of the 23 players participated in any timed/measured drills besides the 40 yd. dash and broad jump.
Hamlin ran a 4.60 in the 40 yard dash, which was slightly higher than the 4.57 average of the 23 participating players. The announcers on the NFL Network and especially Deion Sanders made reference to the speed of the WR group at the Combine this year. Sanders mentioned that if the player ran over a 4.50, they would have a very difficult time against wide receivers in the NFL. Therefore, I think this is one area that Hamlin can impove on in the weeks leading up to the Pro Day at Clemson in March.
In the first field drill, players lined up and had to backpedal 10 yards and then watch a coach in the middle of the field with a football holding it to the right or left and turn accordingly. Times did not matter in the drill. The object was to stay low, make the right/left transitions fluid and quick and try to stay on the same vertical line. I noticed that Clemons was the only player who took very big backsteps. In fact, he only took 8 steps back to cover 10 yards whereas every other player I observed took 10-12. Hamlin was not featured in this drill as NFL Network went to commercial.
In the second drill, players lined up and backpedaled while again watching a coach in the middle of the field moving the football to their left or right. The object was to turn the hips in a fluid motion and stay low. At the end of the drill, the player makes a break to the sideline, tries to catch a pass at its highest point, remain inbounds and then sprint towards the end zone. Clemons was only shown completing the last half of the drill due to a breakaway for film study but he did catch the ball. Hamlin looked good backpedaling, made good, fluid left/right transitions and caught the pass.
The next drill was the same as the previous one except it was run to the opposite sideline. This and the previous drill were designed to simulate defending a post corner route. Clemons again looked somewhat awkward in his backpedal by taking such large steps. He also looked to be a little too upright but he made good direction changes and caught the pass. Hamlin had the faster, shorter backsteps and looked more natural in the drill. He stayed low and used good body mechanics and technique.
The final drill basically simulated defending a hitch and go. The player backpedaled 10 yards, immediately had to reverse direction and come forward five yards, then immediately reverse direction again into a full sprint and catch a pass that was floated slightly over their heads. Clemons was not featured in this drill due to a commercial break. Deion Sanders criticized Hamlin for planting his back foot instead of his front and also for stopping his feet during the direction change. One of the other announcers mentioned that this could be due to the way that he was coached.
Overall, I believe Clemons improved his standing with the 40 time alone. I'm not sure if the NFL teams see the large backsteps as a weakness. I think with him playing S instead of CB, it's not as much of an issue because his job is not to play press man but to provide help over the top. His closing speed will obviously be a big benefit there. I doubt Hamlin hurt himself too much but working on his 40 yd. dash times is a must before the Pro Day. Today concluded the NFL Combine coverage but I will do a final wrap up on all six participating players coming up in the next couple of days.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.JPG)
