NFL DRAFT 2018: DEADRIN SENAT

The NFL draft is just days away, and by this point each player has been analyzed, scrutinized, and romanticized by every NFL guru from Kalamazoo to Calcutta. We here at pigskinpress.com turn once again to our director of scouting Nathan Cooper to help us look deeper into the draft at some guys from the group of five that may be a real steal on draft day!

Deadrin Senat College: South Florida

Position: Defensive Tackle

Year: 5SR

Jersey: #10

Hometown: Immokalee, FL

Games Scouted: 2017 #3 Illinois, #6 Cincinnati, #8 Houston, #9 @ UConn (Live), #10 Tulsa 2017 Stats: 12 GP, 66 Tackles (35 Solo), 10.5 TFL, 6 Sacks Career Stats: 49 GP, 179 Tackles (104 Solo), 23.5 TFL, 7 Sacks, 2 FF, 1 FR All-Star Game: East-West Shrine Game

Background/Notes

2017 First Team All-AAC (Coaches)
2016 Second Team All-AAC (Coaches)
Squat: 675 lbs
Major in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences
3-Star Composite in 2013 (247Sports)
His mom died from complications of a spider bite his freshman year of high school and his dad died from cancer in 2015
Took in his sister and her two girls to live with him after his dad passed away

Character – A

No concerns

Medical – A

2015 – Injured his knee late in the season and missed one game
Had a minor knee injury that kept him from playing in the East-West Shrine Game

Strengths

Good strength
Ability to play two gaps
Explosive 1st step off the LOS
Shows PR ability

Weaknesses

Size
Struggles to shed larger blockers
Overwhelmed by double teams

Summary:

Senat projects as a 3-technique in a 4-3 defensive scheme at the next level. He has the strength and experience to also move down to nose in certain situations. At South Florida, he primarily played the 0- and 1-technique. He is a very good athlete and moves around well with good agility. The biggest thing that will hold him back is his size. He is borderline too short to be effective at the next level. However, he is thick and squatty with good play strength. He plays with a high motor and good toughness on every play. He does a good job driving and fighting to get to the ball. He is agile with short-area quickness, but doesn’t have great speed to cover a lot of ground side to side. Against the run, he shows the ability to two-gap and be effective in eating up run lanes. If he gets doubled at the POA, he is usually overwhelmed and taken out of the play. He is really explosive with his first step and uses his short frame to get leverage on blockers and dictate the contact. He is also able to get skinny and get into the backfield. He is a sound tackler and doesn’t have any issues bringing ball carriers down. He shows good mobility to get down the LOS, but doesn’t have the range to get out much further than that. Against the pass, he shows the ability to put on PR moves and get into the backfield. He uses his hands well and is violent when he can get into the blocker, but he needs to be quicker more often with his short arms and frame to beat his guy. He is usually effective using a pull-rip move and uses is strong hands to grab and get rid of blockers. With that being said, he likes to use a swim move, but isn’t nearly as effective. At his height, he exposes his ribs on swim moves and gets taken out of the play rather easily. He has enough PR skills and the ability to become better with them to rush the passer on 3rd downs. He can stick at 3-tech or reduce down into nose in those situations as well. He is a solid backup, depth defensive tackle that may need a year to learn and practice against NFL competition, but be able to be an effective rotational piece by year two.

NFL Comparison: Sheldon Day, 49ers (4th Round, 2016 – Jaguars) Senat and Day compare favorably in size and skill. Both are squatty interior defensive linemen that have great strength and explosion off the ball, but they are a little shorter than desired and struggle against double teams.

Grade: 5.9 (Early-Mid 5th Round)

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