Posts tagged: harrison smith

Smith, Burton, And Others Get Time With The First Team

June 13, 2012, by 6 comments

Here are some interesting tidbits for how the depth chart looked during Tuesday’s OTA practices:

SAFETY:  It didn’t take long for first round pick Harrison Smith to “work his way up” the depth chart and received mostly first team reps on Tuesday.  Across from him, Mistral Raymond and Jamarca Sanford rotated first team reps.

“I saw a play (Tuesday) where he really got angry,” Leslie Frazier said of Smith. “He got pretty fired up, and you kind of need that out of your defensive backs. You need them to have a little something about them, and it was good to see.”

CORNERBACK:  Smith and Matt Kalil aren’t the only rookies to be getting first team reps at this point.  Third round cornerback Josh Robinson received some reps as the starting right corner.  It isn’t clear why, but Antoine Winfield missed Tuesday’s practice, and it is equally unclear if Winfield’s absence resulted in Robinson getting his chances with the first team.

LINEBACKER:  Jasper Brinkley suffered a minor groin injury last week and, while he is expected to be fine, has missed some time.  Chad Greenway has been in South Dakota dealing with his family matters and Solomon Elimimian has had to sit out with a hamstring injury.  That means that the starting group of linebackers has looked like this:  Erin Henderson, Larry Dean, and Tyrone McKenzie.

WIDE RECEIVER:  With the absence of Percy Harvin, Stephen Burton has been filling in as the go-to flanker with the first team.  Burton has generated a lot of offseason buzz, along with Jerome Simpson, and these reps with Christian Ponder could give him the inside track to a roster spot.

OFFENSIVE LINE:  Matt Kalil, Charlie Johnson, John Sullivan and Phil Loadholt.  These guys are assumed to be occupying four of the starting spots along the offensive line from day one, which means there should be one hell of a competition for the starting gig at right guard.  Right now, Brandon Fusco is acting as the starting right guard with Geoff Schwartz getting reps with the second team.

KICKER:  Blair Walsh has been handed the kickers position on a silver gold platinum platter.  On Tuesday, during 11-on-11 drills, Walsh made four of six field goal attempts.  He missed from 42 and 44 yards.

First Round Safety Smith In The Fold

May 31, 2012, by 31 comments

Third round cornerback Josh Robinson and first round left tackle Matt Kalil are now the only members of the Vikings 2012 Draft class not under contract.

Jeremy Fowler of the Pioneer Press reports that first round selection Harrison Smith, a safety out of Notre Dame, agreed to a four year deal on Thursday.  There is no indication as to whether or not a fifth year option is in the deal, as no details have yet to be released.

Under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, there is no reason to believe that Kalil (or any other rookie) could potentially be a training camp holdout.  All contracts are likely to be finalized in a relatively short period of time.

WELCOME TO THE BIG SHOW: Harrison Smith

May 1, 2012, by 13 comments

Welcome to part two of our ten part series called “Welcome to the Big Show” where we give you an in-depth look into each of the Vikings ten Draft selections of 2012.  Brett did a fine job handling Part One, a look at Matt Kalil, and now we move onto our other first round pick, Harrison Smith.

PERSONAL HISTORY

Born on Groundhog’s Day in 1989, Harrison Smith grew up as an extremely gifted athlete.

From a young age, adults took notice of Smith’s leadership abilities and willingness to include everyone.  His mother received calls from summer camp counselors telling stories of Smith comforting kids through the night as they cried from being homesick, and often including other kids in activities even when other children considered them outcasts.

Smith went to high school at Knoxville Catholic where he was a do-it-all player.  Heck, he was even a solid basketball player.  He ran wild as a running back, was a gifted receiver, and showed prowess on defense, and even averaged 14 yards per punt return as a senior.  In 2006, he was selected as Tennessee’s Gatorade Football Player of the Year.

Having grown up at a Catholic school with a strict dress code, Smith got to Notre Dame and let his hair grow out.  While drawing comparisons by some to Justin Bieber, he preferred the Scooby Doo comparisons and embraced the “Shaggy” role when Halloween rolled around.

He was a four star athlete coming out high school, with some schools envisioning him on offense and some wanting him to play defense.  With offers on the table from a number of schools that included Tennessee, Auburn, and Alabama, Smith ended up choosing Notre Dame.  His decision not to play for Tennessee ended up seeing his family be semi-spurned in their hometown.

At Notre Dame, he graduated from Mendoza College of Business with a management-entrepreneurship degree and enrolled in a graduate studies program.

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Day Two Questions Just For You

April 27, 2012, by 2 comments

Here we are, Day Two of the NFL Draft!

The Vikings entered the first round armed with 10 picks.  They have now expectedly upgrade the left tackle, safety, and arguably left guard position and still have 10 picks to spend.  As a result, I have three questions I want to ask each of you.

 

 

REACTION AND GRADES: Day One

April 27, 2012, by 14 comments

On Thursday, the Vikings weeks of posturing ended up right back where everyone assumed it began, with them selecting USC left tackle Matt Kalil with their first pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.  The only caveat was, after picking up three extra picks, he was selected one spot later than we all expected.

While Rick Spielman had enough media types bamboozled into thinking they might take LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne, but instead they took the player they likely targeted all along.  Then, they snuck into the end of the first round and selected Notre Dame safety Harrison Smith.

Following the Draft I will dust off my old “Welcome to the Big Show” features and we’ll look at every prospect selected very closely.  For now, however, I want to provide some instant reaction to the selections and give you an idea for how I feel on each guy.

MATT KALIL

The Vikings expect that they have found themselves a cornerstone for the organization that will be around for at least a decade, protecting quarterbacks and paving paths for runners.

Kalil’s real strength matches well with the weaknesses of the Vikings current tackles.  He is a superb pass protector who utilizes his athleticism and quick feet to ensure that if the quarterback gets hit, it won’t be from his side.  USC often left Kalil by himself and he held up great despite the lack of help.

His run blocking has been pointed out by many analysts as needing improvement, but somewhere along the line “needing improvement” turned into “a huge weakness” within media circles.  The truth is, Kalil’s smaller frame and upright style seldom affected his game negatively in college, and his ability to get to the second and third level in the run game to take on linebackers and safeties far outweighs any negatives.  Sure, he can add some bulk and a little strength (which he probably will) but there is no denying that this kid is an elite prospect as a left tackle.

Left tackle is where he will immediately be plugged in.  With Kalil manning that spot, the Vikings then plan to slide Charlie Johnson inside to left guard, thus upgrading two positions with one choice.

I couldn’t be happier about this pick and while he won’t single-handedly win Minnesota a Super Bowl, he should prove to be a huge step in the right direction for this offense that needs to be built around Christian Ponder and Adrian Peterson.

Adam’s Grade:  A+

HARRISON SMITH

The Vikings desperately needed help at the safety position.  If they went into the season with Jamarca Sanford and Mistral Raymond as their starters, well, I just wouldn’t be expecting much… we’ll put it that way.

To me, the top two safety prospects in this Draft were clearly Mark Barron from Alabama and Harrison Smith from Notre Dame.  After that, I felt like there was a great disparity between them and the second tier of safeties.

Barron went to the Bucs very early on in the Draft and the Vikings gave up a fourth rounder to move to the 29th spot from their original second round position and grabbed Smith.  In doing so, they filled a huge need with a very solid prospect.

Smith has a nice, big frame and is known to be kind of a jack-of-all-trades type of player.  The Vikings liked the versatility from what they saw of him at the Senior Bowl.  His athleticism and range should be of benefit to a Vikings secondary that needs some positives added to it.  He truly is a sideline-to-sideline type of player.

Having even played some linebacker in the past, the Vikings surely like Smith’s tackling abilities and physical style of play.  He is at his best when playing downhill and is plenty capable of delivering a jarring hit.  Smith will event present the Vikings with a good ability to blitz on occasion.

Most attractive, however, were the leadership abilities he displayed within Notre Dame’s defense.  He is known as an ultra-competitive guy that is going to give you everything he’s got and then some.

There has been some knocks on his coverage ability, however, which would be why he never was considered a “blue chip” type of player.  His tape reveals some stiffness in his game and his interception totals went from seven as a junior to none as a senior.

Overall, Smith seems like a day one starter, especially for the Vikings.  He has room for improvement, but looks to be like an investment that could be well worth it.  I am looking forward to seeing him matchup against some of those big tight ends in our division.

The Vikings filled a need and got a very promising prospect.  Tough to find many complaints about this one, other than perhaps the fact that they had to trade up to get him.

Adam’s Grade:  A-

Assessing The Value: Trading Up

April 27, 2012, by 6 comments

Rick Spielman and the Vikings enjoyed their success in the first round that they decided to jump back into for a little more.

After completing a no-brainer trade at the top of the first round (read my assessment here), the team engaged in something a little more risky towards the end of the evening.

The Vikings traded their second round pick (#35) and their original fourth round pick (#98) for the Ravens first rounder (#29) and grabbed Notre Dame safety Harrison Smith.  Targeting Smith wasn’t a huge surprise as he has been the apple of many Vikings fans’ eye for months now, the team has a thing for Notre Dame players, and safety was arguably the team’s biggest need.

We will get into a more in-depth analysis of what Smith brings to the team a little later on, but from a trade value standpoint what exactly did the Vikings do?

According to the old Jimmy Johnson trade chart, found on this page, the Vikings gained 90 value points by moving from 35 to 29.  However, the fourth rounder they gave up is valued at 108 points so the Vikings overpaid a tad, according to this chart.

The newer “Harvard Chart” that claims to account for factors more accurately, including the new CBA, values the 29th pick at 208.7 points.  The 35th and 98th picks combine, according to this chart, for a point value of 268.5.  This chart suggests that Vikings overpaid by more than the old trade chart suggests, but both indicate that they overpaid.

The overpayment is slight, however, and the Vikings obviously targeted Smith enough to move up at all.  If they weren’t quite as smitten with the kid, then they probably would have been content to just sit back and see if he was there as an option at 35.

They got their guy, and it is hard to fault them for that even if they overpaid.  Heck, a few years back, they gave up more than that to move up a short distance and grab Toby Gerhart.  So, at the very least, this trade up was an improvement.

“I guess it went well down there,” Smith said of his work with Vikings staff at the Senior Bowl. “I really like playing for those guys and took to their coaching and I think we kind of got a good feel for each other.”

The Vikings obviously got a good enough “feel” for Harrison to overpay a bit in trading up to get him.

Inside Our War Room: The Risks Continue

April 17, 2012, by 5 comments

(Note: This is a continuation of a series where we take you inside our War Room for the #MockOne draft series. This particular version is for #MockFour. If you are unfamiliar with what it is all about, you should probably start off by reading about what we did in the previous #MockThree. For prior #MockFour posts, check out #MockFour Begins.)

Round 1
Trade – Vikings 1.03 for Rams 1.06, 2.07 and 4.01
1.06 – Justin Blackmon, WR, Oklahoma State
Trade – Vikings
1.29 – Jonathan Martin, OT, Stanford

Our first pick of the second round was incredibly difficult. Our war room was essentially tossing and turning between to particular prospects. While both would fill a position of need, they each had qualities that made them drastically different. Player one, while the much safer choice, would provide an immediate upgrade to arguably our weakest area. Player two is potentially a top-10 talent who has some major character concerns that caused his draft stock to drop significantly. I’ll cut straight to the point and tell you who we took then provide some more insight and reasoning. (You’re probably going to want it.)

With the 3rd pick in the 2nd round of the 2012 #MockFour draft…

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