FanPost

Prospect Spotlight: Connor McGovern, OG Missouri

Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Connor McGovern. Get to used to the name. Give him a follow on Twitter. Because there is a very good chance he will be your next Seahawks guard! Lets start with the basics:

  • He played his high school ball in North Dakota and was the Gatorade player of the year as a senior. He is an agricultural academics major, and was on the SEC Academic Honor Roll as a freshman and as a sophomore. Bright kid.
  • He earned his first starting job on the Missouri offensive line as a redshirt sophomore. Current Seahawk Justin Britt was the starting left tackle at the time. As a junior, McGovern started at right guard most of the season. Mitch Morse, who was rumored to be Seattle's top OL prospect that year, was playing left tackle. This year, as a senior, McGovern started all 12 games at left tackle. See the pattern? Yeah, it's real. Seattle likes Missouri offensive line products, and McGovern should be next.
  • He is 6'4" and weighs 306. His arm length is 32 7/8 inches (Meaning he will be playing guard or center), and he pairs that with 10 3/8 hands.

What They're Saying

When I am researching a prospect, even before I watch film and develop my own opinion, I like to figure out the media's perception of them, and specifically what the experts are saying. My go-to on prospect rankings is CBSSports (They use nfldraftscout's rankings). They have McGovern ranked as the #7 guard, and the 107th overall prospect. That projects him to be drafted anywhere from the middle of round 3 to round 4. The report on CBSSports was done by Jamie Newberg, and was updated on 1/11/16. I've tried to put together the most relevant parts of the strengths and weaknesses section:

"McGovern's strength is his strength." He broke numerous school records squatting, and also bench presses very well (33 at the combine). "He can translate that strength to the football field. McGovern gets out of his stance well and can drive defenders off the ball. He shows good awareness in zone blocking." Sounds like a Seahawk to me! "In pass pro, McGovern sets quickly and can slide his feet to mirror and stay in front of defenders. He's best in phone booth, where he can eat up defenders in tight quarters. He has more difficulty with the speedy and quick players, particularly on the edge. He does have some stiffness, which is not surprising considering his strength." It sounds like McGovern will be best at center or guard, but having the flexibility to play tackle makes him even more valuable to the Seahawks.

Most of you are familiar with Rob Staton from Seahawks Draft Blog. I looked through his recent articles on the site, and here's what he had to say:

In an article from March 13th, he said "If there’s a prospect they might ‘reach’ on a little bit — it could be Missouri offensive lineman Connor McGovern. He’s the SPARQ king on the O-line this year with experience at tackle. The Seahawks like their interior lineman to play tackle in college and they’re attracted to the way Mizzou coaches their unit." I also could see Schneider reaching for him. Even though it would make sense to take McGovern in the 3rd, the Seahawks may see him as a "can't-miss" and take him in at the end of round 2. Rob also recently said in an post that "Connor McGovern looks like he’s destined for the Seahawks."

Jared Stanger, a must-follow on Seahawks Twitter, has tweeted a lot about him. Here are my favorites:

Jared has also written about McGovern several times here on Field Gulls:

Back before last season started, Jared wrote an OL scouting piece and McGovern was already on his radar: "Plenty of power at the LOS to handle the big DT’s, very fluid moving to the 2nd level and finding work. So pencil in 'stud RG' as McGovern’s floor, in my opinion. But then hope that he has the upside to man RT."

In October, Jared wrote his 2nd mock draft this year and raved about his successful LT play: "Initially, over the summer, I only had tape of him at OG, and that is where I was projecting him. But now, after 8 weeks playing LT, I’ve been able to study multiple games worth of tape at his new position, and I’ve been EXTREMELY impressed. Not only does McGovern have the strength to get good push in the run game, his movement and footwork on his pass sets has been a VERY pleasant surprise."

Does He Fit The Athletic Profile Of A Seahawks Offensive Lineman?

Some of you may be familiar with the work Zach Whitman does at his website (3sigmaathlete.com). There, he back-calculated SPARQ, Nike's old formula that gives a players's athletic profile a "rating." It takes into account the size, speed, and agility of a player (There is more to it, but for now let's go with that). Well, Connor McGovern has a SPARQ score of 117.9, which is easily the best of any offensive lineman in the 2016 draft. It also puts him in the 89th percentile (top 11%) of all NFL offensive lineman. Pretty impressive.

Additionally, Connor McGovern hit all of the benchmarks that Seahawks offensive lineman must meet. Jared Stanger has him in the small group of lineman that hit the "requirements" in broad jump AND the 10 yard split.

Just to take this even farther, I went to find a comp to Connor McGovern and found gold. Mockdraftable has the #1 similar player to McGovern as (who else?) Mark Glowinski. They have an 84% similarity rating. Zach Whitman also pointed this out shortly after the combine:

Connor McGovern, OG Seattle Seahawks?

The evidence is overwhelming. I cannot guarantee that McGovern will be drafted by the Seahawks (obviously), but there does seem to be real reason to believe it will happen. John Schneider might pull the trigger with one of his 2 3rd round picks, but it would not surprise me if he did it in the 2nd. It seems like a lock if he were to fall to the 4th.

12s: This is my first time attempting to write something on here. I would appreciate any advice you guys have. What more would you like to hear? What could you care less about? How could I change the formatting to make it a better read? Also, if there is any specific prospects you would like me to do this on, I am open to suggestions for my next one! I have a couple guys in mind (Germain Ifedi, Nick Martin, Sterling Shepard, Travis Feeney, Le'Raven Clark, a few RBs) but if there is one in particular you really want, I might give them a try. Thanks!