2009 Spartan Nation Football Profile: OLB Brandon Denson #34

2009 Spartan Nation Football Profile: OLB Brandon Denson #34 Height: 5’11” Weight: 231 2009 Eligibility: Senior EXP: 3 Letters Status: Starting

2009 Spartan Nation Football Profile: OLB Brandon Denson #34

Height: 5’11”

Weight:Â 231

2009 Eligibility: Senior

EXP:Â 3 Letters

Status:Â Starting OLB, but will be challenged for that spot in the fall.

 

Strengths: I said in the May Magazine how much I love watching Denson play. He has the pure fast attacking mentality that makes football the game it should be. It is that all out reckless disregard for human life (including his own) that allows him to apply punishing hits on opponents with no care about what it will make him feel like on Sunday morning. The best compliment you can give any football player is when you say that he has “It.” Denson does. Unfortunately for him he wasn’t always played a LB and LB Coach Mike Tressel has lamented that on many occasions. 

 

Denson’s strength is that he can fight through blocks and double teams and his enthusiasm and zeal can make him a force. He can make plays that leave you scratching your head and can pursue from sideline to sideline. You don’t catch Denson dogging it or watching the play go away from him. If you watch, a play can go opposite of him for big yards and he will be downfield. He is tireless.

 

Weakness: Denson’s biggest weakness is that he hasn’t played the LB spot for a long period of time.  With that zeal he can over-pursue opponents and with his big hitting ability, his technique suffers when he goes for the Sportscenter highlight and not the clean tackle. Let me give you an example.

 

One of the thing coaches complain about the most is bad technique and a good result. The reason is that it so rarely happens and players assume because it worked once that it can work again. In the Capital One Bowl, 3rd quarter, Moreno caught an outlet pass from Stafford. Denson dove at him and hit him weakly, but Moreno had his body making a cut and because he was off balance he fell down. Nine out of ten times Denson wouldn’t have caught his (Moreno’s) body off balance like that and he would have easily avoided the tackle for the big gain. 

 

Denson was lucky, but he dove for the big hit, didn’t wrap up and as poor as the attempt was it succeeded. Those type plays can hurt a young at the position talent like Denson because if he continues going for the highlight hit he will get burned more than succeed. It would have been better to wrap up and make the sure tackle.

 

Final Analysis: Denson is fun to watch and is a true wildcard with this spot. He is the starter heading into the fall, but being a senior there are younger players who may be more sound technique-wise that will push him for that spot. Without a doubt he will be on the field and the job is his to keep. If he keeps the job, look for him to be a wrecking crew for Coach Tressel and Narduzzi and watch and enjoy his pure unadulterated passion for football