Scouting Report 7 - RaShede Hageman - DT #4

As promised, here is my second scouting report of today. It is for RaShede Hageman. I'm still super excited at Aaron Donald by the way, I wasn't expecting him to be that good. Anyway, back to Hageman, here's his information:

Name: RaShede Hageman
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 310 lbs
College: Minnesota
Stats: 38 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 int, 8 Passes defended

Alright, well unfortunately I couldn't find anything from this year, so i'm starting with MN vs. UM from last year. I'll keep looking so maybe by the end I'll come up with one.

On the first plays he seems to be extremely quick and strong. However, it seems to fade as the game goes on. Initially, he seems unblockable when he has a single blocker in front of him. He also displays the ability to maintain his gap in the running game, and uses his hands well to shed blockers.

However, as the game progresses he seems to be unable to generate consistent pressure. He never beats a double team and he displays an average burst. Perhaps he is relying too much on his strength to beat defenders, I'm not really sure. But by the end of the game, he is somewhat useless against both the run and the pass. I don't know if this is a conditioning problem, or if he just started out strong or the guard started off slow. Either way, by the end of the game, he was not impressive.

The next game is the Gophers versus Wisconsin, also from 2012.

While his height might be an advantage for him in some instances, I think overall it is detrimental. While his body angle seems to be good, and would create huge mismatches if he was an average height, his pad level seems to be a bit too high allowing the offensive lineman to get underneath him. He also seems to rely too much on his strength, as he attempts to bull over offensive lineman. He needs to develop more moves and use his hands better. While he is very quick, his quickness doesn't generate into a consistent pass rush, I think because he doesn't have great burst.

He is very good in the run game though. Although he struggles to get any sort of pressure if he's double teamed, he can maintain his gap and shut down runs in the same scenario. He is able to use his athleticism to his advantage and is a solid tackler. While he doesn't have great burst, I would say it is average to slightly above average.

The final game I'm going to look at is Minnesota against Texas Tech (although I cannot link this video to this page) in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. This took place on December 28, 2012.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHjCRb49ER0

Again, he doesn't seem to be able to generate consistent pressure. He cannot beat single teams to get pressure. However, his athleticism, quickness, and strength allow him to over power or get through to occasionally pressure the QB. He is very disciplined as he consistently maintains his gap in the running game and passing game. His issues seem to be similar to Jernigan's in that he will not overwhelm you as a pass rusher, but he is very good against the run. However, he did seem to be able to generate pressure coming from the outside when he lined up as a defensive end. I don't know what Minnesota asked Jernigan to do. They may have told him to maintain his gap integrity and let the edge rushers attack the QB. However, when he lined up as DE he blew away the tackle. That being said, I think his size is what is ultimately killing him as a DT.

Overall, as I said before, he seems to suffer from the same problem as Jernigan. Only Jernigan was elite against the run, I'd say Hageman is very good. Having said that, Hageman's quickness, strength, and athleticism allow him to generate more pressure and be more effective in the passing game. I wonder if someone his size wouldn't be better suited as a defensive end, or a 3-4 defensive end. There is definitely some potential with this kid, but I don't think he is the playmaker you are looking for at number 14. Having said all of this, please keep in mind that there were no videos from this year that I could find - and I scoured.