Scouting Report: Trevor Laws

You can find Notre Dame football here. I've spent most of the day watching condensed games. I skipped through Notre Dame's offense to save time. Line play is both fascinating and tedious. It requires a lot of patience and discipline, because where Laws is isn't always where the action is.  Laws plays all over the line, so it's not always fun finding him in the split second before the play starts. Needless to say, many even most plays I had to watch a few times to see what really happened. If you're looking for just one game to watch, check out Notre Dame/Boston College. The Irish play more from a 4 down lineman package, and not so much from the a regular 3-4. I think Laws looks a lot more comfortable working as an interior, disruptive defensive tackle.

Skills are broken down from a ++ to --. ++ are complete skills, pro ready. -- are glaring weaknesses. The kind of faults that can fell an otherwise top talent.

++

Awareness: Laws is always aware of where the ball carrier is and how to work his blockers to get to him. Excellent timing on passes and kicks. Will turn tips into interceptions. Needs to refine his screen awareness.

Motor: Nonstop. Never quits on a play. Very dangerous on broken plays. Will appear out of nowhere.

Tackling: Sure tackler, but also dangerous. Wraps guys but also blows them up. Surrounded by a better line, will force fumbles.

Conditioning: Maintains high level of play into 4th quarter.

+

Ability To Shed Blockers: Good at riding his blocker to the ball carrier. Works well through garbage. Especially skilled at giving his blocker a big push and exploiting the space. Faced double and triple teams.

Burst: Good burst as a pass rusher. Gets off the line quickly and frequently wins at the point of attack.

Quickness: Quick enough to exploit the edge. Able to reach the ball carrier on backside pursuit. Shows the kind of burst that turns pressures into sacks.

Leverage: Gets under blockers, but can be pushed down.

Splitting Double Teams: Employs an effective swim and compact spin move. Much better at splitting rather than controlling double teams.

Versatility: Plays all over the line. Strong enough to play inside, quick enough to play outside.

Footwork: Good feet, good horizontal speed on stunts. Efficient lines to the ball carrier.

0

First Step: Deadly when it's there, but inconsistent. Occasionally downright slow off the snap. Laws worked all over the Irish line, assigned single gap penetration and two gap control. Could flourish in a single gap system.

-

Two Gap: Laws looked his worse when attempting to play a two gap 3-4. He wasn't a liability, but instead of exploding to the ball carrier, Laws was often washed out, driven back or knocked down.

--

n/a

Optimum Position: 3-tech, especially in a Tampa-2 or similar single-gap, disruptive system.