#15 Gavin Barthiel - LB (Lake Gibson - FL)

Techbert said:
I'm trying to get a feel for what CGC looks for in his defensive players, and some patterns have emerged already.

He likes length. Barthiel does not have length. So what does he bring to the table?

The position where so far he is most willing to sacrifice length is linebacker. He'll go a little small if he gets mobility, instincts, form tackling, assignment discipline, and position flexibility.

Barthiel has all those things. Mobility, instincts, and form tackling are obvious, with the instincts cementing between his soph and jr years. His instincts were good then, but his play was a bit tentative. As a jr, his play screamed, "I got this." Assignment discipline is always hard, cuz you are never 100% sure what he is supposed to do on any play, and unless you see a complete game you don't see the plays he quietly fulfilled his assignment without making the play. (You also with only highlights don't see him in Kansas when he needs to be in Florida, on a play.) With that said, he looks like he does his job. He was great at setting the edge. When in coverage he sat in his zone until the play was committed, and then he zoomed.

Position flexibility? He was a safety or slot defender a lot, particularly as a soph but also as a jr. He showed different looks from olb as well. If a high school moves a player around, that tells you he is a student of the game and he listens to coaches. This also tells you he can probably learn a new defense in college pretty quickly. If Coach is serious about "controlled chaos" on defense once he gets his own players in, this is a big deal.

We know CGC wants all his players to work hard during the week. The best benchmark for that without talking to staff is endurance during the games. All I know is his team let a star olb/s sprint 60 yards on kickoffs when he would presumably stay in the game for that next series and run around more on defense. That is either a huge vote of confidence or dire desperation. I suspect it is confidence.

What don't I like? I didn't see him used on assigned pass rushes. When he went after the qb, it looked like it was based on diagnosis not scheme. This is probably what depresses his rating, that and two inches of height. I also did not see him communicate pre-snap, helping other players be in position.

His floor is special teams demon, but I don't see why he can't start at will.

Let me know if you agree or disagree with my observations.

BTW, does anyone remember linebacker Marlon Williams from the early 1990's?
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Yep, his strength is closing speed and mobility.Interesting you made comment on no assigned pass rush.I went to his school stats and found he had NO sacks.Very strange for a guy with that speed.
On the other hand they were 11-1 losing in state class (3rd highest) finals.Maybe they were so good in basic Def they didn't need him to rush.also Maybe they played in weak conference even as at 11-1 ,the team was only rated 82 nd in state.

This guy looks like made to be in a def vs a 4-5 WR set.Our nickel-back of future?
 
There’s one guy whose opinion I value more than any other when it comes to evaluating defensive players.

@ibeeballin, whaddaya got?
 
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