DE Vernon Gholston (Official Thread)

[MONTbigBuck]

Serius 124, and Pat Kerwin had quite a discussion on Vern yesterday, prompted by a Raiders fan who was concerned about VG not panning out. Kerwin stated that he had watched extensive film on Vern, Probably as much as any player who is in this draft. Kerwin stated that VG showed weakness in pursuit, rarely running down a play. When the play was in the middle of the field or went to his side, he was effective. Kerwin summarized that against pocket passers, he has no doubt that Vern will be '' a force to be reckoned with".

Another tidbit: Vern reportedly did 20 reps of 455# in the squat. A beast!

 

[Buckskin86]

Gholston is No. 1 candidate
This is the last of a series of stories on players eligible for the April 26 NFL draft. Today?s installment deals with linebackers.
By Allen Wilson NEWS SPORTS REPORTER
Updated: 04/20/08

DeMarcus Ware and Terrell Suggs are two examples of college defensive ends who made a smooth transition to outside linebacker in the NFL.

Vernon Gholston might follow in their footsteps.

The Ohio State junior All- American is among the players the Miami Dolphins are considering for the top pick in the upcoming NFL draft. If Miami doesn?t take him, he won?t get past the New York Jets at No. 6 or the New England Patriots at No. 7. All three teams play the 3-4 defense, which relies on outside linebackers to generate the bulk of its pass rush.

?I love playing defensive end,? the 6-foot-3, 258-pound Gholston said at the NFL Scouting Combine in February. ?I love getting after the quarterback and affecting the game that way. But at the end of the day, it?s whatever the team that picks me wants. The biggest thing is I?m capable of playing both positions.?

The Buffalo News: Sports: Gholston is No. 1 candidate

 

[osugrad21]

Dispatch

Overheard: Jim Tressel
Monday, April 21, 2008 5:21 AM

"He could be out there sitting in some Escalade with a flat-screen TV and separating himself, but where would he rather be? He'd rather be with his teammates. That's him." -- Jim Tressel, Ohio State head coach, on defensive end Vernon Gholston

 

[OregonBuckeye]

Scout.com: 2008 NFL Draft - Ranking The Defensive Ends

[FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif]2008 NFL Draft Position Rankings[/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif]
The Defensive Ends
[/FONT] [FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][/FONT] By Pete Fiutak

THE FRANCHISE

1. Vernon Gholston, DE Ohio State
It's all about the motor. If Gholston has the fire lit under him and goes full-tilt all the time, he's the best defensive player in the draft and he could be the best overall talent available. The question will be his game-in-game-out consistency. Oh sure, when it's Monday Night Football and the spotlight is on, he'll blow up and come up with the game needed to make a big splash and create a Pro Bowl buzz, but will he show up for that non-descript 1:00 early November game against Buffalo? Versatile enough to be used as an outside linebacker and more than strong enough to be an every down end, he can do it all for a defense and when he's on, he'll be unstoppable. He has safety athleticism and proved at the Combine he's as strong as any offensive lineman. While he's not the sure thing Chris Long is, there's a much, much bigger upside.
CFN Projection: Top Ten Overall

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Link

Gholston set to be one of top NFL draft picks
By RUSTY MILLER
AP Sports Writer



COLUMBUS - When he was growing up in Detroit, Vernon Gholston always wanted to be a professional basketball player. He got it half right. Gholston's figures to be one of the first names - maybe even the very first - announced from the podium on Saturday in the opening round of the NFL draft.

Just seven years after picking up the game in earnest, the former Ohio State defensive end will be the perfect fit for some team looking for an athletic pass-rusher and team leader. Gholston is looking for the right fit, too.

Continued....

 

[Buckskin86]

NFL draft: Talent lies deep within Gholston
Determination to succeed drives end to new heights
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
By Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Thomas Wilcher still laughs about his so-called discovery of Vernon Gholston, the football player.

As the story goes, Gholston was walking the halls of Detroit's Cass Tech High School seven years ago when Wilcher, the football coach, spotted him. But according to Wilcher, it wasn't like catching the glint of an almost-hidden gold nugget.

"It was his size, man. Shoot, you would have spotted him, too," he said, laughing. "He was a 235-pound scale model of what he is today."

Gholston is now a 6-foot-3, 265-pound man with cannons for upper arms. He's expected to be one of the top eight players picked in the first round of the NFL draft Saturday. After setting the sack record at Ohio State with 14 as a junior last season, he's considered a can't-miss pro as a defensive end or linebacker.

When he first saw him, Wilcher wasn't sure whether Gholston could even be a football player. He just knew he had too much size not to give it shot. But even the massive upper arms Gholston was sporting were the result of determination and hard work.

"One day I saw myself getting a little gut and I decided I needed to fix this," Gholston said. "I started weightlifting."

He was 13.

"I started working out, and then I got really serious about it," he said. "When you do something, you want to go hard at it."

BuckeyeXtra - The Columbus Dispatch : NFL draft: Talent lies deep within Gholston

 

[Buckskin86]

Jets in rush for Vernon Gholston
BY RICH CIMINI
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Monday, April 21st 2008,

Ohio State defensive end Vernon Gholston would bring a Buckeyes-record 14 sacks to the Jets, a team that has not found a path to the quarterback in years.

If the Jets want to reach the Super Bowl anytime soon, they have to figure out a way to strip Tom Brady of his Superman's cape. The Giants accomplished that in the Super Bowl with a relentless pass rush, and there's a player in Saturday's draft who believes he can do that for the Jets.

Introducing Vernon Gholston.

"I have every attribute - size, speed, strength, power, quickness," the defensive end from Ohio State told the Daily News. "If I get with the right team and the right coaches ... in a couple of years you could be talking about the best pass rusher in the NFL, maybe next year."

Gholston said the Jets "welcomed me with open arms" last week in his official visit to Hofstra, and he thinks he'd fit in nicely as a rush linebacker in their 3-4 scheme. There's a good chance he will be available for the Jets (No. 6 overall), who could be faced with a choice between Gholston and Arkansas running back Darren McFadden. Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan would be considered if he somehow slips.

Jets in rush for Vernon Gholston

 

[osugrad21]

AJC

NFL Draft series: Grounded Gholston can display mean streak Ohio State defender brings toughness, savvy to NFL
By Marla Ridenour
Beacon Journal sportswriter
POSTED: 11:46 a.m. EDT, Apr 22, 2008
When coach Thomas Wilcher first saw Vernon Gholston in the hallway at Cass Technical High School in Detroit, Gholston had a Bible in one hand and his books in the other.
Wilcher was taken aback by the freshman's body, already so sculpted from a year of weightlifting that Wilcher thought he was someone's uncle. But as Wilcher tried to convince Gholston to try to play football for the first time, he took note of what Gholston was carrying.
Even then, there was much more to Vernon Gholston than what was on the outside.
Ohio State's junior defensive end has since molded his God-given frame into a well-oiled machine. His dazzling workout numbers and 221/2 sacks over the past two seasons, more than anyone in the country in that span, might have vaulted him into the top seven of the NFL Draft this weekend. He was one of six prospects the league invited to New York.



Cont...

 

[Buckskin86]

Gholston emerges in a rush
Late starter has become prospect
By Christopher L. Gasper
Globe Staff / April 23, 2008

It's a tradition at Ohio State, like dotting the "i." Buckeyes who have graduated to the NFL like Mike Vrabel of the Patriots come back to Columbus during the offseason and work out with the current players. Vernon Gholston always looked forward to Vrabel's homecoming.

"He comes back a lot of times in the summertime for conditioning for the season, so I get a chance to compete with him and some of the other veterans," said Gholston at the NFL Scouting Combine. "Sometimes I beat him and sometimes he beats me."

This past season, Gholston surpassed Vrabel's sacks record, setting an Ohio State mark with 14, one better than the Patriots Pro Bowler recorded in 1995.

Fickell was at Ohio State when Vrabel set the record for sacks in a season with 13. He shared both a room and a defensive line with Vrabel, and the two remain friends. Fickell said Gholston, who declared for the draft as a junior, will have to make some of the same adjustments that Vrabel had to make if he's asked to be a 3-4 linebacker in the NFL.

"I would say that Vernon has played a lot more standup in college than Vrabes ever did," Fickell said. "The things that make them both great ones is that they work hard and have all the physical tools. Mike has the football knowledge and the intangible things that are really essential in becoming a great player. That's where Vernon's upside is going to be because he is still a raw football player.

"Coming here, he didn't play a lot of high school football. When he first came here, he was just learning football, and really it was 2 1/2 years before you were like, 'Wow it's starting to click.' That was going into his sophomore year because he's a redshirt guy. He has so much more growing to do, and that's his upside."

One thing he probably will never be able to match is Vrabel's sardonic wit and outgoing personality.

"He might be his polar opposite as far as personalities," said Fickell. "I don't know him in and out, but he's a guy that enjoys football and lifting weights. He's not a go-out guy. He's more of an introverted guy and really laid back."

Ohio State's Gholston prime NFL draft candidate - The Boston Globe

Draft Preview: Defensive linemen
Mixed reviews for Gholston
By BOB McGINN
[email protected]
Posted: April 22, 2008

Green Bay - Defensive end Vernon Gholston will hear his name called Saturday not long after the National Football League draft commences. However, a shocking number of personnel people have no idea why.

In their opinion, Gholston is the most overrated top player in the draft.

"He's Mike Mamula," a personnel director for an NFC team said last week. "Let's say there's 44 plays. On 42 of them he's doing nothing."

Them's fighting words, sort of like labeling a player in Green Bay as the next Jamal Reynolds.

"I love Gholston," said Bill Polian, president of the Indianapolis Colts. "Size, speed, flexibility, bore, natural pass rush, tough as nails. He's an aggressive, kill-you football player. He and Chris Long are just so overwhelming, just such perfect players."

On tape, there was a lot to like. One personnel man for an AFC team who is notorious for being hard to please voted for him as the best player in the draft and compared him to the Colts' Dwight Freeney.

"He's got the same first step as Freeney and he's bigger and stronger," the scout said. "He doesn't play the run well now and he doesn't play hard all the time, but he can do whatever he wants to do."

Yet, in a survey of 17 personnel men by the Journal Sentinel, Gholston came out as the third-best end behind Long and Derrick Harvey. Long had 14 first-places votes compared with just three for Gholston.

"He'll lock up on blocks and the ball will run right by him," an NFC scout said. "He doesn't play hard. Long and Harvey, they work moves, spin, dip in and out, use their hands. Gholston just runs. I mean, in a straight line. All the workout numbers are there but he just doesn't play instinctively."

"Looks like a Greek god," an AFC personnel director said. "But he is so tight. I've seen where people say he's going to go second, third, fourth, fifth. I don't think he'll just bomb out but not that."

JS Online: Draft Preview: Defensive linemen

 

[Bestbuck36]

There will be alot of critics silenced in the very near future. I wish the 'Phins could've picked up Big Vern, but the Long pick is also a very good pickup for Miami. Maybe Tuna can pull of something miraculous and snag Vern before the Jets or Pats can get him at #5!

 

[Tlangs]

I still have yet to see this "lazy" player who takes 40 plays off a game described in the article above. It is funny how someone probably said something to the effect of...."Gholston doesn't have the same motor as Chris Long" when doing a direct comparison...and now two months later "Gholston takes a lot of plays off"

 

[mb7015a]

It's like one of those nameless idiots on ESPN talking Gholston out of the top ten. The only reason I can see for doing that is to make Long look better by comparison, after all, Long has been that one analyst's pick for top draft choice for seemingly a full year.

 

[Buckeneye]

Well, he's not nameless; and certainly doesnt work for ESPN (see which part I left out?)

But according to our friend Mandel, big vern is the most overrated 3-4 player in the draft.


Overrated/Underrated (cont.) - Stewart Mandel - SI.com


Let me sum up the article for you. Blah blah blah. "I admit I dont watch much college ball. Blah blah blah, I'm a cocksmooch" Blah Blah..

 

[OregonBuckeye]

What am I missing here?

Apparently a lot. Get a clue.

 

[shetuck]

These may as well be the same fools who rated VG so poorly coming out of high school... meh.