Thread by @eric_crocker

Who is Damon Arnette?

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I think there’s a chance Arnette “slides” to the 3rd round (for reasons mentioned in my article) but his film definitely says day 1 talent. fourthandnine.com/post/there-s-v…

6-foot even. 195 lbs
30” length arms (7th percentile amongst CBS)
4.56 40 (50th percentile amongst CBs)
And he didn’t do any other agility testing at the combine which I think will hurt him. Analytical guys will have a field day with that but again.. the film says otherwise

I have a TON of clips on him. Maybe 40 saved cut ups. I wont post all of them but lets get to it..

The first thing i wanted to know was, who is he? Like whats his mind set? We all know about Okudah and how he plays. Arnette plays a similar brand of football. Willing to give up his body and fill gaps while already wearing a cast on his right wrist lol tough guy.. love it

Some more on his mind set. Disengage from the block and get to the ball. Damn near got him self rolled up but i like guys going out of their way to get dirty. Mind set

I'll get into his coverage skills after this.. but again.. mind set.. throw the receiver out the way.. they really don't want to block.. and get to the ball.. good stuff. I like where his heads out

Like Okudah, Arnette plays with a ton of confidence. Looks get into the coverage skills and one area where i think he can improve.

Alright here we go. Go job fighting through traffic. The one think i preach a ton is playing through the hands. Whether the catch is completed or not.. play through the hands. Violent hands. Eventually that ball will come out. Good habits

Good job with hand placement here. Shoots inside hand.. comes back with outside hand.. squeezes receiver. I think his consistency in press technique was extremely impressive to me. And he switched it up.

I always say "tough to play back shoulder AND go route" Well he did both here. Nice strong stab. Controlled the receiver. If you are even expect back shoulder so he looks through receiver. Back shoulder doesnt come so Gets his head around and still plays the ball. Very good rep

Switching it up now.. giving the receiver something to think about. Sets up for the quick jam.. Speed release by the receiver and effortlessly flips hips.. gets in phases.. chest to chest.. looks though receiver. Showed some nice fluid movements there.. nothing looked forced

This was like the next play.. or 2 plays later.. something like that. That same quick jam he was setting up before, he gets the receiver here.. Nice lil switch up

When playing man the opposite field corner for Ohio State will go to the slot on the other side. Probably playing what i call combo 13. Press the point and combo 1/3. Does a good job of staying square now drive the man a little more so there's no space. I'll get to his eyes

Switches up his press again. We've seen regular inside hand punch.. We've quick jam. Now works more "inch tech". Good job of staying square.. gets in phase chest to chest and makes a play on the ball.. great stuff

Now here's something i didn't see often but you guys know on these threads i dont cherry pick plays. I feel like the receiver didn't threaten him vertically. Looked very comfortable. He could have definitely read down the receiver better. Got too far up field shoulder

Finally he's playing off. I think at times he gets a little lazy with his eyes. I think that was the biggest difference between him and Okudah. Okudah's eyes stay on point and his anticipation is GREAT. I think Arnette from off didn't always looked locked in. From what i've seen

Here he is again from off up top. Now he's probably keying the QB and the QB floods right. But i'd still like to see him squeeze this with more urgency. Could be nitpicking but lets be great

Love this rep. Good feet at the LOS. Gets in phase just fine. Does a great job getting his head around.. finds the ball.. delivers a blow. I said it before but I like his mind set. Tough guy and not a fake tough guy

Kinda gets bullied here but the contact distracts the receiver enough to lead to a drop. I always talk about spacing on here and the db dictating the route depth. He did a good job of doing that here.. just don't get caught flat footed

Starts from a staggered stance.. comes back square.. gets receiver off of him.. good rep! If you are consistently working square you'll be fine

Just spoke about staying square and then he opens up too soon. Tough when the receiver is off the ball. The good thing here is every rep isn't going to be perfect and although it wasn't ideal, he recovered extremely well. Good stuff!

Now here i think his initial break was solid.. it was clean.. no wasted steps. I think he could have exploded out a little more. I want to see him REALLY close..

Another lazy close. And i know it has to do with his eyes. I want to see him really fire out and close the distance before getting his eyes back to the qb

Feel me. Lets be great. I think this dude can be really good... Just tighten up on the little things.

This is solid right. Really good job closing on the receiver and making the tackle. NO leak yardage.. that's solid. But again.. I still think he can fire out og his break a little more. I think he has that ability. I want to see him look explosive out of his break.

I was watching this Okudah play and i was like GOT DAMN HE CLOSED FAST.. i want to say that about Arnette

This was good here. You push i pull. I should post the TV copy of this play.. you can see it better. But you guys see that little shoulder shrug as he's walkin off.. he's feelin himself and i like that sh*t haha

If theres one thing he does consistently well, It's play press man. Extremely consistent at the LOS. I think he has good zone eyes. I just think sometimes his eyes get a little lazy

Not bad here. Still not explosive like what im looking for but really nice pedal and clean break. Got a little high in his pedal but clean feet

Forced the QB to throw it away. Hands on chest to chest read through the receiver. Good stuff here

Some cover 3. Good eyes

I think by this time you guys know who he is.. I think now ill post a few clips that stood out to me. But at this point its clear who he is and what his strengths are along with the area i think he can improve on. Ill also tweet it in a conclusion tweet

Again from off coverage. I thought his speed turn was a little lazy. Flip and squeeze with urgency

side note: Monster hit by Okudah

Good stuff here in the red zone to look through the receiver and play through the hands. Violent hands

Good job here to help contest the deep ball with Okudah. Nice understanding of the coverage to know he can fall back and help

I think i'll end on that. lets talk about who Arnette is

Terrific press man corner. Definitely has a ton of confidence in himself as a press man corner. I think he has really good feet and hips. Fluid mover for sure. I think he gets lazy with his eyes from off which lead to him not exploding out of breaks as quickly as he can

I think what looks to be limited athleticism on paper to teams might worry them. NFL receivers will be more skilled and athletic as whole than what he faced in the Big10 this past season. If he's not as athletic, he needs to make sure he's better with urgency and anticipation

Still want of my favorite prospects. I value movement skills and press man ability first. I feel like i can teach the rest. Cant teach speed though so 4.56 combined with short arms and no agility testing scores will likely make him be a late day 2 pick. But we'll see.

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