Community Scouting: Jonathan Stewart

by John Morgan on Nov 3, 2007 8:44 AM PDT in Field Gulls Info

Jeff Eager sent me this scouting tidbit after watching Stewart and the Ducks face USC last week.

Jonathan Stewart made a phenomenal catch over the middle in last Saturday's game against USC. Dixon, as he did most of the game, had all day to throw the ball and Stewart was wide open over the middle, crossing about 15 yards deep. Dixon, who was inaccurate with many of his throws yesterday, threw high. Stewart leapt very high straight up and snagged the ball. Based upon both Stewart's position on the field when he caught the ball, and the way in which he leapt to catch it, I (and I believe the announcers) initially thought it was a WR who caught the ball. Really impressive, and the type of receiving ability Stewart has not shown to date.

Stewart also showed his usual power running ability, gaining tough yards against a good SC defense. His awareness appears very good. Although he is known as a powerful guy, this year he seems not to get hit straight-on very often. Once he gets amongst the line scrum, he takes good angles that allow him, even when he's hit by a LB, to get an extra two yards. When it's a DB hitting him, he gets another 4.

After trying, I think unsuccessfully, to decode the NFL combine last year I'm taking a different tack to talent evaluation for the 2008 draft: Community Scouting. Not unlike what Tango Tiger does here. Right now I have two hangups, one, I don't know how to program, and, two, I don't know how to create a poll without programming it myself. That should all be resolved before next year. For now, I'm attempting a trial run for tonight's Oregon State/USC game. In the diary section I will create a series of polls each evaluating an ability of Yvenson Bernard on a simple 5 point scale (from very bad to very good). It would be a great help to me if everyone who has seen Bernard play, or will watch Bernard tonight, to vote. This is just a trial run, so don't worry about being perfectly accurate, just vote what you think. Hopefully, I will be able to set up something for the top 100 prospects or so and be able to create a database of fan scouting. We'll see how tonight goes and work from there.

Thanks to everyone who votes.

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Sounds good

I'm gonna be watching at a sportsbar with my kickball team (we're in the playoffs in an hour, wish us luck!), so I won't be able to comment immediately, but I'll fill it in later today or tomorrow.

Hey, btw, in terms of evaluation, are we going on a pure 1-5 scale, comparing the individual to all other athletes on the field, or to all other players at that same position? Just making sure, some people do odd things.

by jimmimoose on Nov 3, 2007 8:54 AM PDT reply actions

Good luck.

Comparing to position. So for Bernard one might be, "hits the hole". You want to compare him to whatever your idea of typical running back play would be.

by John Morgan on Nov 3, 2007 8:59 AM PDT up reply actions