The Idaho Vandals rarely make national television and thus, NFLDraftScout.com's top rated offensive guard Mike Iupati is one of the more unknown prospects to most fans.
Fans will get an opportunity to watch Iupati today against Bowling Green in the Humanitarian Bowl at 4:30 EST on ESPN.
The 6-5, 330 monster lines up at left guard and wears #77.
Iupati was born in American Samoa and struggled making the academic standard initially due to his late start on learning the English language. Bigger teams knew of him and recruited him, but thought he was a risk due to the fact that he was a partial qualifier academically. Thus, Idaho got a rare ultra-talented propect.
Iupati is a road-grader in the running game. He uses his rare size and strength to simply overpower most defenders. What makes him so unique, however, is how light on his feet he can be. Iupati can pull around the edge and hit the roaming linebacker at the second level. He can adjust in pass protection to surprise blitzes.
He has the talent to do it all at the NFL level, as well, which is why he's ranked as NFLDraftScout.com's top-ranked senior guard since October.
At this point, Iupati remains a work in progress technique-wise. He is so used to dominating his opponents with just his size and strength that he fails to move his feet laterally and lets smaller DTs get their hands into his chest and bullrush him.
Coaches at Idaho rave about Iupati's character. With NFL-caliber coaching and a strong work ethic, he could prove worthy of a first round grade -- a few OGs deserve that -- especially in a class as loaded as the 2010 crop.
Don't miss out on top rated OG Iupati today
Posted on: December 30, 2009 1:22 pm
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nybites |
Posted on: January 2, 2010 4:40 pm
Don't miss out on top rated OG Iupati todayWatched the game, Mike Iupati is a beast, best OG since Steve Hutchinson perhaps. With the contracts that Faneca and Hutchinson got, Iupati would be a bargain if taken mid to late first round,
I Could not overlook Freddie Barnes however, and I do not care what the drivel from ESPN said on the air. If you catch 150 balls you have talent. They implied or inferred that the 3 NFL scouts in attendance did not even have Barnes on their radar. Why, because Kiper and McShay say so? Your site, nfldraftscout lists his speed at 4.56, ESPN says 4.65. The combine will sort all this out, but I want to see him in the Shrine Game before I label him a 5-6 rounder like everyone else. Last year I had Knox, Wallace, and Collie pegged pretty well, they ran good routes and caught the ball. Since Barnes is a former QB, he understands seperation and how to present himself as an open target to the Passer, and can certainly find holes in the zone. I like the fact that even when the opposition doubled him, he was still productive. My only concern was his level of competition, but certainly not his production. Any NFL scout will tell you countless stories about kids they found while looking at other prospects. Marques Colston was taken in the 7th round because they thought he was a tweener, too big and slow for WR, and too small for TE. Everyone needs to quit pigeon holing eveyone and determain if they are a football player or not. |
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