{"id":6672,"date":"2017-04-10T14:00:25","date_gmt":"2017-04-10T18:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordoncollegefootball.com?p=6672&#038;preview=true&#038;preview_id=6672"},"modified":"2017-03-28T18:56:00","modified_gmt":"2017-03-28T22:56:00","slug":"curtis-samuel-2017-nfl-draft-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2017\/04\/10\/curtis-samuel-2017-nfl-draft-profile\/","title":{"rendered":"Curtis Samuel 2017 NFL Draft Profile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>Position<\/strong>: Running back\/wide receiver<br \/>\n<strong>Height<\/strong>: 5&#8217;11&#8221;<br \/>\n<strong>Weight<\/strong>: 196 pounds<br \/>\n<strong>School<\/strong>: Ohio State Buckeyes<\/p>\n<p><strong>Combine Performance Data<br \/>\n40-yard dash<\/strong>: 4.31 seconds (third overall at 2017 Combine)<br \/>\n<strong>Bench press<\/strong>: 18 reps (tied for fifth among wide receivers)<br \/>\n<strong>Vertical jump<\/strong>: 37 inches (tied for fifth among wide receivers)<br \/>\n<strong>Broad jump<\/strong>: 9 feet, 11 inches<br \/>\n<strong>Three-cone drill<\/strong>: 7.09 seconds<br \/>\n<strong>20-yard shuttle<\/strong>: 4.33 seconds<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Curtis Samuel 2017 NFL Draft Profile<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Ohio State is a national program from a recruiting standpoint. And the Tri-State area is a region head coach <strong>Urban Meyer<\/strong> wants to have a consistent year-over-year footprint in. <strong>Curtis Samuel<\/strong> committed to the Buckeyes from this part of the country, hailing from Brooklyn, NY.<\/p>\n<p>Meyer saw in the four-star wide receiver an ideal fit for the H-back role so integral to his offensive philosophy. It involved Samuel lining up in a wide variety of sets both out wide and in the backfield. His impact in the offense gradually expanded during his three seasons in Columbus, culminating with a prolific junior campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Samuel managed 1,636 yards from scrimmage in 2016, a total which ranked third in the Big Ten. But 771 of those yards came on the ground, by far the highest total in the nation among players classified as a wideout. He added eight rushing and seven receiving touchdowns en route to First Team All-American honors from the Associated Press and The Sporting News. The Chicago Tribune also named him a finalist for their Silver Football Award.<\/p>\n<h3>Strengths<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>versatile, multi-talented athlete who excelled in the H-back role.<\/li>\n<li>exceptional initial burst out of his breaks.<\/li>\n<li>sees the field extremely well; dynamic in space.<\/li>\n<li>superb twitch with change of direction moves on slants\/curls\/outs.<\/li>\n<li>durable player who stayed healthy throughout the entirety of his time at OSU.<\/li>\n<li>ran a fairly extensive route tree in college.<\/li>\n<li>will fill in well on teams who incorporate zone read schemes.<\/li>\n<li>has special teams experience as a kickoff returner.<\/li>\n<li>shows up in big games; had three key plays during OT in OSU&#8217;s win over Michigan last year, including the game-winning touchdown.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Weaknesses<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>doesn&#8217;t have the widest catch radius in the world.<\/li>\n<li>persistent inability to bring in contested balls.<\/li>\n<li>dealt with focus drops at times.<\/li>\n<li>gets overly jammed at the line of scrimmage in press coverage.<\/li>\n<li>needs to pluck the ball out of the air instead of relying on his body to make catches.<\/li>\n<li>has issues adjusting to the flight of the ball.<\/li>\n<li>questions remain as to his ability as a blocker.<\/li>\n<li>only had one year of above average production from a yardage\/touchdowns standpoint.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>NFL Comparison<\/strong>: <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/H\/HarvPe00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Percy Harvin<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Teams With Need at Position<\/strong>: Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Chicago Bears, Los Angeles Rams, New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers, Tennessee Titans<\/p>\n<p><strong>Projection<\/strong>: early to mid second round<\/p>\n<h3>Bottom Line<\/h3>\n<p>Given the way Samuel operated in a Buckeye uniform, versatility is the first word that comes to mind. Meyer utilized Harvin in a similar role in his previous head coaching stint at Florida, hence the comparison. And it worked to magnificent effect as the Gators won two national titles during Harvin&#8217;s three seasons in Gainesville.<\/p>\n<p>But there are concerns about his ability to succeed long-term at the next level. His skill set is similar to another former Buckeye in <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/M\/MarsJa01.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalin Marshall<\/a><\/strong> who declared for the draft last year.\u00a0Ultimately, teams were unsure about a defined role for Marshall\u00a0and he signed with the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent.<\/p>\n<p>Samuel currently projects higher than Marshall at this point in the draft process. And he possesses a bit more athleticism and upside. But if there are misgivings about his ability to transition to full-time receiver (his most likely role at the next level), he might go later than expected.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, his vision, durability, competitiveness and potential for him to contribute immediately as a kick returner make Samuel an attractive prospect.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/615559896\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.329966% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/615559896?et=rmjZLwuAQMN4tqC1f8ot4A&amp;tld=com&amp;viewMoreLink=on&amp;sig=Rja1E3qysEUB6x7CXX0RksThEN9LfrJcU89jTif_gWE=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"394\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Curtis Samuel 2017 NFL Draft Profile: A versatile athlete who excelled as an H-back at OSU, what makes Samuel stand out as to his next level potential?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":742,"featured_media":6673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,8,2,1480],"tags":[1478,398,71,1075,1202,73],"class_list":["post-6672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bigten","category-fbs","category-featured","category-nfl-draft","tag-2017-nfl-draft","tag-curtis-samuel","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-draft","tag-ohio-state-buckeyes"],"modified_by":"John Bava","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/742"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}