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DB Donald Washington III (Official Thread)

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NastyDogg72;1034319; said:
This is no means a slight on Washington because I feel he is a good cover corner but to those who are worried that this is like the sky falling in I just wanted to give you an excerpt from the December 17th Sporting news with a Big 10 coaches perspective on tOSU defense. From page 34

"The defensive line is big and physical. Vernon Gholston is a stud, the best end in the league. Coaches I talk to at Ohio State tell me they can't block Cameron Heywood in practice. ... The linebackers speak for themselves. James Laurinaitis can run and is physical. I think he overshadows the guys on the outside. Those guys are pretty good, too. ... I like the secondary, but I'm surprised Donald Washington starts at corner. He's not very fast or athletic. But he's surrounded and protected by a lot of good players back there."

Couldn't find the story online so that is why I posted it. Now this is only one coaches perspective but I don't think we should go into total meltdown about this. If you were going to rank the players on the defense 1-11 with 1 being the most important to 11 being the easiest to replace Washington would be 11. Once again not a slight against Washington's skills just a comment on how deep we are at that position and how strong we are at all of the others. I am getting less and less worried about this with every passing moment. With our coaches and our personnel by Jan. 7th this could not only be a non issue it could be a huge positive. Chekwa or Amos will step up - 99.9% positive.
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LordJeffBuck;1034347; said:
As far as DW not being "very fast or athletic" (not your words, I know), I really can't think of anything more stupid than that comment. Washington is one of the more "fast and athletic" guys on the team; here are his high school stats - 4.5 forty. 4.12 shuttle, 40" vertical, two-time state long jump champion (he placed second as a senior). My guess is that Washington is even more "fast and athletic" now that he has been in the OSU S&C program for a while, but what do I know....?

Cornerback is arguably the most important position on any defense (a pass-rushing DE is the other) - that's why so many CB's are "over-valued" in the NFL draft. To lose a starting CB - any staring CB - is a big loss to a defense. Losing one of Washington's calibre should not be underestimated - he's certainly not the "easiest to replace" on defense. I'd place Washington fourth behind Gholston (pass-rushing DE), Jenkins (lock-down CB), and Laurinaitis (spiritual leader of the D). Although Chekwa has occasionally been impressive in the nickel packages, he is clearly a step down from Washington, and I have real doubts about O'Neal, Amos, Lane or anyone else as his replacement at nickel back.
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osugrad21;1416115; said:
DWash about to run...announcers going nuts over his earlier numbers:
45" Vertical Leap (2nd best this decade)
11'3 Broad Jump
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I've been saying for a while that DWash was probably the best all-around athlete on the team ... he's also NFL-ready. It will be interesting to see where he goes in the draft.
 
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I forget where I read it, but after I did I ask DW about it after a game once to confirm it. Donald Washington is from Indiana and played high school basketball against Greg Oden's school, Lawrence North. When they did, though clearly not the tallest player on the squad, Washington was assigned to guard Oden.

Even though he smiled and said he didn't fare too well against him, that's still saying something about the guy's athleticism to be 5'11" and asked to guard a 7'0" center, & oh yeah, the best player in the nation. :biggrin:
 
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Ohio State football: Donald Washington jumps through the roof at NFL Combine
by Doug Lesmerises
Tuesday February 24, 2009

I'm not sure what it means for his draft prospects, but former Ohio State cornerback Donald Washington is most likely an excellent dunker.

Washington, who gave up his senior year of eligibility to declare for the NFL Draft, jumped better than any of the 300 or so draft prospects at the NFL Combine, according to results posted at NFL.com. Maybe we should have expected it from a former high school long jump champ in Indiana.

Remember, OSU teammate James Laurinaitis called Washington a freak with first-round talent before the combine. If the broad jump and vertical jump were thought of like 40 times, Washington would be skyrocketing in the draft.

In the broad jump, Washington leaped 11 feet, 3 inches, beating Connecticut cornerback Darius Butler by an inch.

But check out his vertical jump - 45 inches, two inches better than Butler, who again was the second best jumper.

According to data compiled at DraftExpress.com, over the last seven years, the best vertical jump at the NBA's predraft camp was Nate Robinson, who managed a 43.5 inch jump. That would be Nate Robinson, the guy who just won the NBA dunk contest by leaping over Dwight Howard.

Unofficially, from what we've been able to find searching for combine results, Washington's vertical jump seems to be tied for the second-best jump in the last seven or eight years of the combine - unofficially of course.
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Ohio State football: Donald Washington jumps through the roof at NFL Combine - Ohio State Buckeyes Football & Basketball Blog (OSU) - cleveland.com
 
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OregonBuckeye;1416325; said:
Pretty obvious the turf is really slow. No one is running as fast as they thought. Even Maclin and Harvin can't break the 4.3's.
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Yea, the times are down this year for sure. Even Beanie's time really surprised me. On a side note the bench press competition is useless. Completely. How can that possibly be used to determine how talented some is on the field? Especially a corner/safety? They need to start putting the pads on these guys and then let them run drills.
 
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Dispatch


That also meant 100 pairs of free Under Armour cleats to Washington's alma mater, Franklin Central High right there in Indianapolis. According to an Under Armour press release, any player who hit certain benchmarks at the combine while wearing their shoes would win the free cleats for their old schools. The target mark for free shoes was 41 inches.
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Vince PA: Hi Mel, I follow forty times closely every year. I am absolutely convinced that the new turf in Indy is slower than last years turf. 20 cornerbacks ran faster than the fastest time this year. Why is nobody mentioning the fact this track is slower than last years?

Mel Kiper: Individually, they'll have a chance to run again. These guys that didn't run as well. They can look at that and assess that. That's when you have to be careful with the 40 times. You have to look at what the surface was. It's a tool in the whole process. I've talked to several NFL people after the combine and they were very disappointed in the DBs. One guy said that you can see why teams were scoring so much, because the DBs were completely overmatched. Whether it's right or wrong, this DB group was a major disappointment. There will only be about 2 in the first round right now. Then you can say if there's a guy that's been helped by it is Donald Washington. He's got good size, he ran well. He's athletic. He's benefitted. People questioned him for coming out early. He's at worst a second round pick and he could be a first round pick.
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ESPN: Chat with Mel Kiper - SportsNation
 
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