Jaguars sign CB Ashton Youboty and DE George Selvie

…Ladies

(Yes, I made a Youbody joke. Now I have it out of my system. Thank you for humoring me.)

Of course, being released by 2 teams makes me wonder if I should still think highly of him as a player, but…c’est la vie.

Ashton Youboty Scouting Report

Assets
Has exceptional wheels and very good all-around balance, managing to mirror his man without much obvious effort. An above-average athlete and a playmaker who will step up and blitz (and will also make the interception in coverage).

Flaws
Injury-prone, in part due to his lack of size and bulk. Needs work on positioning, fundamentals, and play-reading.

Career Potential
Backup cornerback with starter tools.

ESPN/Scout: Youboty is an early entry prospect with loads of upside but also lots of room to improve. He possesses an outstanding combination of size, athletic ability and speed, and he also flashes playmaking skills as a man-to-man cover corner. However, he inconsistent in terms of his technique and recognition skills in coverage, which leads to entirely too many big plays allowed on his watch. In short, Youboty is by no means a finished product but he has the potential to develop into a shutdown cover corner in the NFL, which is why he could come off the 2006 draft board late in the first round.

Analysis

Positives: Has an athletic-looking frame with good height, adequate shoulder thickness, good bubble and knotted calves … Has the quickness to recover from his mistakes, showing good hip flexibility and natural explosion … Has the speed and feet to handle man coverage assignments, staying fluid and efficient in his backpedal … When he recognizes the routes, he breaks on the ball quickly … Plays hard and has the leaping ability to go up and get to the ball at its high point … Has soft hands to make plays on the ball, showing the body control and leaping skills to compete for jump balls … His closing quickness allows him to compensate for peeking too long into the backfield … Plays the receiver tight in zone coverage and has the burst to cover ground when the opponent eats up the cushion … Does a good job of shading the ballcarrier in attempts to fulfill his run force assignment, showing above average catch-up speed and range … Likes to tackle on the side rather than facing up, but has enough hand strength to drag down or hold on until help arrives … Not used much to plug the rush lanes, but fills hard and takes good angles attempting to make the open field tackles.

Negatives: Like Chris Gamble, he still relies more on his athletic ability and speed to make the play, as he is late at times recognizing the play develop and will then have to close in a hurry to get back into the action … Has the speed and strength to be a lock-down cornerback, but gambles often and has a tendency to eye the backfield too long, getting beat by the receiver as he fails to recover in time to make the play … Has loose hips to turn and mirror the receiver coming out of his backpedal, but needs to get his head turned around quicker to look the ball in … Lacks the bulk and strength to be effective working in the box and while he can string plays out, he is more of a drag-down tackler who will take a side rather than wrapping to secure … Has problems dealing with the jam technique because of marginal hand placement.

Youboty is the latest in a long line of athletically-gifted cornerbacks to perform at Ohio State in recent years. He is a fluid open field runner in the Ahmed Plummer mold, showing the loose hips and explosive burst to give more cushion than usual and then instantly close on the ball. He needs to play his man tighter, as he sometimes takes a false step in transition that slows down his turning motion.

Youboty has good ball skills when he is able to locate it. He is not used much in run force because he lacks the lower body strength to stack and control and will struggle to shed when a bigger blocker latches on. He showed some improvement later in the 2005 season, but does not have the bulk to explode behind his hits.

Youboty shuffles his feet well to flip his hips, doing a nice job of planting and coming back to make plays on the ball in front of him. In man coverage, he is effective in either shadow or trail technique, but does like to gamble a bit by attacking the ball rather than staying tight on the receiver’s hip.

When he is beaten, it is usually on a vertical route. This is due to his penchant for peeking into the backfield too long and he needs to do a quicker job of reading the quarterback. He has the speed to recover, but when he is not challenged, he can get a bit lazy. He also appears to struggle some getting his head turned properly to track the ball in flight.

While Youboty is fast to come up and support vs. the run, he lacks the lower body strength and overall bulk to stand up the lead blocker to clog the rush lanes. He needs to use his hands better coming off blocks and still struggles with hand placement when executing his jam technique.

He is a raw prospect who gets by more on athletic ability than technique, much like the player he replaced at OSU, Chris Gamble. He needs to recognize screens quicker, but when he does react vs. the run, he takes good angles in pursuit. With additional strength and more repetitions, he can develop into a solid cover cornerback, but it is doubtful if he will be the physical, shutdown time like another former Buckeye, Nate Clements. For the team’s sake that drafts him, let’s hope he is not the second coming of Ahmed Plummer.

Something I rarely get to say, other then this summer

Genes eye for defensive talent… but he has a terrible eye for the o side of the ball.

let’s see what Coach Cullen has up his sleeve for Selvie. I’m won’t make any predictions for instant success, but this may be another jar on the shelf, rotation guy to throw into the mix.