DE Zach Harrison (All B1G, Atlanta Falcons)

[RB07OSU]

He played the most snaps of the DE Saturday hopes that changes as the season progresses.

Interesting, perhaps the coaches were hoping he would get a chance to make some plays and turn it around? It really is a mystery to me, Zach seems like a great kid that works hard and of course he is a freak athlete, something just never clicked in turning that into production. I think everyone is rooting for him to turn that around, but the clock is ticking and close to being expired. Candidly, if he doesn't step it up asap, I could see Friday, Curry (especially Curry, kid is going to be very good and looks ready now), Abor, etc. getting more of his snaps.

 

[Captain Buckeye]

Interesting, perhaps the coaches were hoping he would get a chance to make some plays and turn it around? It really is a mystery to me, Zach seems like a great kid that works hard and of course he is a freak athlete, something just never clicked in turning that into production. I think everyone is rooting for him to turn that around, but the clock is ticking and close to being expired. Candidly, if he doesn't step it up asap, I could see Friday, Curry (especially Curry, kid is going to be very good and looks ready now), Abor, etc. getting more of his snaps.

I think Zach has played fine to be honest. He's not going to be a game changer at this point IMO but he can certainly be a 5-7 sack sort of production.

Should be noted though that none of our ends are getting home right now but 33/44/9 are all playing very solid.

If we are going to get to where we want our ends have to start landing a few times per game. Mike Hall and LB pressure through the A gaps I'm hoping makes offenses think twice about providing support out wide every time.

 

[Thump]

You're not wrong, if anything it looks like he's regressed from last year, or doesn't fit well in the new scheme. Plenty of games left but given it is Zach's senior year, I also don't see him being more than someone who gives JT and Sawyer a breather unfortunately. Like you, really hoping to eat crow on that prognostication.

Maybe he has things that interest him more than football? Good for him if so!

 

[Thump]

I think Zach has played fine to be honest. He's not going to be a game changer at this point IMO but he can certainly be a 5-7 sack sort of production.

Should be noted though that none of our ends are getting home right now but 33/44/9 are all playing very solid.

If we are going to get to where we want our ends have to start landing a few times per game. Mike Hall and LB pressure through the A gaps I'm hoping makes offenses think twice about providing support out wide every time.

I think the “Dog” personality is something he does not have and that is absolutely fine!

I’d be proud if my son grew up to be like this young man!

 

[pnuts34]

Maybe he has things that interest him more than football? Good for him if so!

I think the “Dog” personality is something he does not have and that is absolutely fine!

I’d be proud if my son grew up to be like this young man!

I was about to put this in the thread. I don't think he ever was completely in love with football, but when you're 6'6' 260+lbs and live in OH, you kind of get pushed in that direction. I think he has other aspirations in life, and seems for into social justice. It just stinks because he had the intangibles to be a possible great one in football. He can still get to 5+ sacks like @Captain Buckeye said, but I think our assumption is that he'd be in the 12+ sack range. But if in the end he's a productive member of society, has a good family and career, who are we to judge?

But we all knew that he was a project to start. In his recruiting journey, we all knew he would need a minimum of 2yrs to get mentally and physically ready for CFB. And that was if the light ever went on and he had the dog in him to come out. It doesn't seem like the internal animal is inside him in the sports capacity

 

[Onebuckfan]

I was about to put this in the thread. I don't think he ever was completely in love with football, but when you're 6'6' 260+lbs and live in OH, you kind of get pushed in that direction. I think he has other aspirations in life, and seems for into social justice. It just stinks because he had the intangibles to be a possible great one in football. He can still get to 5+ sacks like @Captain Buckeye said, but I think our assumption is that he'd be in the 12+ sack range. But if in the end he's a productive member of society, has a good family and career, who are we to judge?

But we all knew that he was a project to start. In his recruiting journey, we all knew he would need a minimum of 2yrs to get mentally and physically ready for CFB. And that was if the light ever went on and he had the dog in him to come out. It doesn't seem like the internal animal is inside him in the sports capacity

Make sense since LJ has publicly supported him in the off season for 3 years..he loves Zach but he lacks the Neanderthal Gene. He’s a fine man and he’ll be fine in life.

 

[Buckeye86]

It has been said by people who know better than me that a big change in the defense from last season is that the dline is responsible for controlling gaps to stop the run, rather than attacking through gaps to get in the backfield like last season.

The goal is to control all the gaps inside and to bounce everything to the edge where unblocked linebackers can flow and make the tackle—I’ve heard the strategy called “spill and kill.”

I think Harrison is very, very good at controlling or collapsing his assigned gap and keeping other players clean to make plays—namely the LBs and sometimes Sawyer.

I think Harrison is bad at improvising off of his initial assignment and making the play himself—call it a lack of football instincts if you want.

Compare that to someone like Mike Hall, who flashes like crazy even within a scheme where he’s primarily responsible for gap control, and someone in the middle like JT, who flashes a little bit just because he is such a monster, but mostly puts in workmanlike performances where he disrupts plays by absolutely stonewalling his assigned gap which allows other players (again, mainly the LBs) to stay clean and make plays.

I am happy with how Harrison has played so far this year despite the lack of flashy plays/production. As far as I’ve seen, he doesn’t get moved from the spot where he’s supposed to be, and he’s often disruptive, in the backfield, and around the ball—he just rarely makes a flashy play himself.

Long story short, I think criticism of him underperforming is WAY overblown at this point. He’s extremely solid at what he’s supposed to be doing, at the very least.

 

[pnuts34]

It has been said by people who know better than me that a big change in the defense from last season is that the dline is responsible for controlling gaps to stop the run, rather than attacking through gaps to get in the backfield like last season.

The goal is to control all the gaps inside and to bounce everything to the edge where unblocked linebackers can flow and make the tackle—I’ve heard the strategy called “spill and kill.”

I think Harrison is very, very good at controlling or collapsing his assigned gap and keeping other players clean to make plays—namely the LBs and sometimes Sawyer.

I think Harrison is bad at improvising off of his initial assignment and making the play himself—call it a lack of football instincts if you want.

Compare that to someone like Mike Hall, who flashes like crazy even within a scheme where he’s primarily responsible for gap control, and someone in the middle like JT, who flashes a little bit just because he is such a monster, but mostly puts in workmanlike performances where he disrupts plays by absolutely stonewalling his assigned gap which allows other players (again, mainly the LBs) to stay clean and make plays.

I am happy with how Harrison has played so far this year despite the lack of flashy plays/production. As far as I’ve seen, he doesn’t get moved from the spot where he’s supposed to be, and he’s often disruptive, in the backfield, and around the ball—he just rarely makes a flashy play himself.

Long story short, I think criticism of him underperforming is WAY overblown at this point. He’s extremely solid at what he’s supposed to be doing, at the very least.

I guess you choose to wear these in the thread...
Fake OSU had almost 20 sacks from their DEs, and the 3rd DE had 3.5 sacks(that would probably be Harrison), but he also had 11.5 tkls for loss. Harrison should be in attack mode, but is more hesitant. If he can produce those numbers, than you're looking at top 10 defense easily if the other DEs have 20+ sacks and and almost 30 tkls for loss like what Knowles had last year.

 

[ScriptOhio]

 

[Bestbuck36]

Forced fumble and tipped pass both resulting in turnovers. Big time by Zach today

 

[ScriptOhio]

Forced fumble and tipped pass both resulting in turnovers. Big time by Zach today

 

[Gunlife]

Obviously he will never live up to the hype we bestowed on him, but yesterday I loved what I saw. For the first time it actually looked like he loved being out there balling. Seemed super pumped up and engaged, and obviously made at least 3 dominating plays. If he keeps playing with that fire, the athleticism is still there. He could be a bigtime difference maker later in the year.

 

[ScriptOhio]

 

[RugbyBuck]

Could be one who's a better pro (assuming, of course, that he wants to do it) than college player. He was, as I recall, very young when he got here and while that's not always an impediment (See-Styles, Sonny) or an excuse, it could certainly be part of a reason. He seems in the interviews to have matured as a person and player (I'm not calling him immature, previously) and may be rounding into his game.

 

[pnuts34]

Could be one who's a better pro (assuming, of course, that he wants to do it) than college player. He was, as I recall, very young when he got here and while that's not always an impediment (See-Styles, Sonny) or an excuse, it could certainly be part of a reason. He seems in the interviews to have matured as a person and player (I'm not calling him immature, previously) and may be rounding into his game.

I was discussing that with friends if he'd be a better pro or college player. And he's been so inconsistent in college, that I wonder how his game translates to the NFL. As he seems to be more of the run stopping DE now, despite running a 40 in the 4.5-4.6 range and having some of the longest arms I've ever seen. His measurables scream, that he should be a pass rushing terror, but his actual game has been more in the run game and far less in the passing game. But maybe a team falls in love with his size and speed, IDK, because his pass rushing film still leaves a lot to be desired.