Deerfield Beach (FL) Deerfield Beach defensive end Elias Rudolph committed to Michigan on Monday. He picked the Wolverines over offers from Florida State, Georgia, Miami, Ohio State, Penn State, and others.
Rudolph is listed at 6'4" and 205 lbs.
RANKINGS
ESPN: 4-star, 81 grade, #29 DE, #239 overall
On3: 3-star, 89 grade, #38 edge
Rivals: 4-star, 5.8 grade, #13 WDE, #219 overall
247 Sports: 4-star, 90 grade, #19 edge
Hit the jump for more.
Michigan offered Rudolph back in April of 2022, but an Ohio State offer in July made me think, "Surely this Ohio kid with an Ohio State offer will be playing his college ball in Columbus." Wait, did I say he's from Florida above? Not so fast, my friend. Rudolph attended Cincinnati (OH) Taft through this past fall and then transferred to Deerfield Beach, which is where Denard Robinson attended. Anyway, for the past few months, it seemed like things were warming up with Michigan through an unofficial visit and then an official during the second week of June. Michigan insiders have been confident that the Wolverines would be the pick on his planned commitment date of July 3, and that came to fruition.
There's a lot to like about Rudolph's film, and the first thing that stands out is just his overall athleticism. Also a basketball player, his burst off the ball and his closing speed are going to be assets. He also shows off a spin move in his pass rush that is so quick that high school offensive tackles can't handle it. He mostly plays right defensive end in a 3-3-5 defense, but the coaches occasionally move him inside to nose tackle to use his quickness to befuddle slower interior blockers, too. After a few clips, though, the thing I like most is his ability to get low, get on the legs, and dip his shoulder to turn the corner.
The obvious glaring question mark is his bulk. Rudolph is listed at 205 pounds, and he probably needs to add at least 40 pounds before becoming a feasible option on the field in the Big Ten. He's a beast on the high school field, but he doesn't even look imposing against central Ohio 17-year-olds. When he adds strength, he will need to work on a few more moves so he can hold up against quicker, bigger college offensive tackles; right now his spin and rip moves are the only two he relies on with regularity.
Overall, Rudolph is an exciting piece of the puzzle for a program that has produced some tantalizing edge rushers in recent years, including Chase Winovich, Josh Uche, David Ojabo, and Aidan Hutchinson. Rudolph is probably more Uche than anyone else; Uche was listed at 6'2", 212 lbs. coming out of high school, and his quickness and ability to bend indicated he could be a successful edge rusher. He made 8.5 sacks as a senior at Michigan and now has 15.5 career sacks through three years with the New England Patriots. Rudolph will probably end up playing outside linebacker at Michigan, using his quickness to rush and occasionally drop into coverage.
Michigan now has 25 commitments in the class of 2024. Several players can duke it out for edge rushing duties, including Rudolph, Devon Baxter (LINK), Jaden Smith (LINK), Dominic Nichols (LINK), perhaps Mason Curtis (LINK), and perhaps Cole Sullivan (LINK).
The last time Michigan landed a player from Deerfield Beach was Denard Robinson in 2009. But there has been some talk that Rudolph will end up back in Ohio before his senior year begins. Michigan has not signed a player from Taft since fullback Joseph Mosketti in the late 1970s.
TTB Rating: 84
"Rudolph is listed at 205 pounds, and he probably needs to add at least 40 pounds before becoming a feasible option on the field in the Big Ten."
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned Josh Uche ... according to the official roster numbers, he's how he progressed weight-wise:
2015 -- High School - 212 lbs -- baseline
2016 -- Freshman -- 217 lbs -- +5 lbs
2017 -- Sophomore -- 226 lbs -- +9 lbs
2018 -- Junior -- 238 lbs -- +12 lbs
2019 -- Senior -- 250 lbs -- + 12 lbs
2020 -- Draft Profile -- 245 lbs -- -5 lbs
Uche was 6'2' or 6'3", depending on who you believe. Rudolph is 6'4" and 205lbs.
Question #1 -- I would imagine Rudolph has the frame to carry 50 or so pounds, but I'm hardly an expert. Do you think he does?
Question #2 -- What would you think is his 'optimal' weight, given his height, frame, and current athleticism?
1. I think he can add 50 pounds. The only reason someone that height can't add 50 pounds is if they're unwilling to lift/eat the way they're supposed to.
Delete2. He has a pretty narrow frame, so I think he's going to need to end up in the 245-250 pound range. I don't think he's going to be one of those guys who ends up 270-275 unless he hits a growth spurt.
While I know these semantics don't really matter - I'm curious why you say "Rudolph will probably end up playing outside linebacker at Michigan" when he is listed as a DE in his profile and his projection is to other pass rushing EDGEs that were typically considered DEs.
ReplyDeleteUsually when I see EDGE types listed at OLB it is in a 3-4 defense (like Rashan Gary on the Packers or Josh Uche on the Pats) and when you see EDGE types at DE it's in a 4-3 (like Aiden Hutchinson on the Lions and Chase Winovich on the Browns). At Michigan we see most commonly 4-2-5 personnel which would seem to me to be a DE more than an OLB. Though we do see these guys stand up pretty often these days, even if there are just a 4-man front.
I don't pretend to know the modern Xs and Os well enough to know the answer but it seems like EDGE is a more general term that covers DE/OLBs while calling someone a DE or OLB implies to me a more specific and limited role.
So I guess my question is if you think Rudolph might play a more limited role in sets where Michigan is in something closer to a 3-4 than their typical 4-2-5.
FWIW. I agree with the projections above about adding 40-50 pounds. Would not be unusual. My default assumption for anyone in the 6'3/210 range recruited for EDGE is that they will be somewhere in the 240-270 range.
See, Lank, you're getting pulled into the EDGE confusion! Nobody really used the term "EDGE" until like three years ago when a couple of the recruiting services bought into it, and now it's confusing even smart people like you.
DeleteJust kidding.
I use "defensive end" somewhat generically, basically in the same way that 247 and On3 use "edge." It basically means the end man on the line. (I've worked with coaches who have used EMOL or EMLOS to identify that guy from the offensive side of the ball.) So edge, DE, EMOL, EMLOS, whatever, it's all roughly the same thing.
Outside linebacker is the spot Jaylen Harrell plays. He mostly comes off the edge like a 3-4 outside linebacker, but he also drops into coverage more than the strongside end. Michigan's defense is somewhat amorphous, as we've addressed in previous posts, and it's like a 4-2-5 or 3-3-5 or 3-4. I think Rudolph will play that spot like Harrell/Ojabo rather than the stand-up defensive end spot like Hutchinson/Morris.
It IS confusing me! LOL
DeleteI have also seen EMLOS used too, especially from the offensive perspective because, I assume, they can see various fronts depending on opponents and don't want somebody looking for a DL-shaped guy to block and end up with a DB-shaped guy instead and do the wrong thing. But pretty much since EDGE got popularized it's mostly faded away (at least to a casual like me, I can't speak to those of you going to coaching clinics and whatnot). Though it's not exactly the same thing.
Alright so, the new EDGE paradigm it's still mostly the same as the SDE/WDE paradigm, which is pretty much the same as the old DE/Rush LB paradigm, and on a down to down basis depending on the play call a guy we might call an EDGE could be more of an OLB or DE. So EDGE seems like a more general term, especially for a defense that is "multiple".
I'm mostly with you on Harrell's role but I'll call it EDGE to avoid confusion. Michigan has used LB, DE, and Edge to describe Ojabo and Harrel (and others) at various points. Harrell is currently listed as an EDGE on the roster, as was Morris for that matter.
https://mgoblue.com/sports/football/roster/jaylen-harrell/24354
https://mgoblue.com/sports/football/roster/mike-morris/23092
Though I think that was new terminology (for Michigan) introduced in 2022.
The next part that gets me real confused is when people say someone is a "pure" edge. I take that to be what we used to call a WDE but I suspect it varies somewhat from individual to individual. Bottom line is there are bigger DE-shaped EDGEs and and smaller LB-shaped EDGEs but anyone of them could be used in various DE/LB capacities as we saw with Morris and Harrell last year.
If our best examples of OLBs are guys like Harrell, Ojabo, and Uche and those guys are also called DEs at least as often as they are called LBs and, now, EDGEs more often than not, I'll just steer clear of all that confusion with OLB and DE.
I think I've reached the same conclusion (preference for generic terms) for the position group of EDGE in the same way that I do for WR, even though I know that Mike Morris and Josh Uche are pretty different players functionally, just as Mike Sainristil and Nico Collins are different players. But when you try to put do-it-all guys like Chase Winovich, Rashan Gary, Mike Danna and Aiden Hutchinson into a box, you end up with the same issue as with putting Roman Wilson and Jeremy Gallon into a box -- you end up implying some limitations that might not be all that relevant. Like -- those big dudes are fast and can kill the QB and those little guys can burn you deep and win a fight for a jump ball so watch out.
In both cases (Edge and WR) Michigan wants a variety of skillsets and body types but almost everyone is going to be expected to be able to overlap in job duties. For Edges that means stop the run, play on the line with your hand down, rush from a stand up spot, drop into coverage. For WRs that means run short routes, up the middle, outside, lineup inside and out and go deep. There are smaller lighter guys who are more likely to lean 80% one way and bigger guys who are more likely to be 20% that way, and then theres the guys who are pretty much 50/50 and fall somewhere in the middle (DPJ, Danna) and you can flip them around and rely on them to do anything you need within the spectrum of duties.
How's that for overthinking it!?!
My guess is that EDGE isn't going away and OLB/WDE will go the way of Flanker and Split End. But who knows - we definitely hear talk about guys like Van Ness and Gary on the Packers "changing positions" when they move to a new scheme and "slots" are still distinguished from outside WRs at times.
Not getting lost in the LB/DE debate lets us focus on the important matter of tweener DL recruits who might be Edge or might be DT depending on how much bigger they get. LOL
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