Film Room: Defensive End Jason Onye Has Tremendous Potential
Notre Dame has made a living landing long, raw and athletic ends that lack an elite recruiting profile and turning them into standout players in college. The Fighting Irish staff is working hard to make Rhode Island standout Jason Onye the latest player to fit that bill to sign with Notre Dame.
Let’s take a look at what makes Onye such a coveted player for Notre Dame.
JASON ONYE, DE, WARWICK (R.I.) BISHOP HENDRICKEN
Height: 6-5
Weight: 245
IB Grade: 4.0
Upside Grade: 4.5
Offers: Michigan, Penn State, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Duke, Boston College, Vanderbilt, Arizona, Rutgers
SIZE-FRAME — Notre Dame defensive line coach Mike Elston loves length, and Onye has a tremendous frame. Onye has exceptional length, and when he learns how to properly use that trait it will become a signifiant strength of his game. The Rhode Island end has the ideal frame for the strong side position in the Irish defense.
He’s listed between 240 and 250 pounds, and if that’s accurate then he’s a thin 240-250 pounds. Onye should be able to gain at least 15-20 pounds and add a lot more weight room strength. There is plenty of room to add size and reshape his upper body, and his lower body is long and thick.
His size-frame grade was in the elite category, and that alone makes him worth a look.
STRENGTH-POWER — Onye is a tough and competitive young defender. His game needs a lot of technical work, but he’s aggressive and has impressive natural tools. Onye has no clue how to properly use his length and hands yet, but you can see the natural power. Even when he is late with his hands, Onye is able to knock blockers off his body and then lock them out.
The Bishop Hendricken standout can toss blockers off his body, and as his hand technique improves his ability to disengage with force will be greatly enhanced. Onye struggles to anchor against double teams and bigger blockers because he plays too high, but when he does stay low he can be very stout at the point of attack.
ATHLETIC SKILLS — Onye’s athleticism is inconsistent from the standpoint that there are times where his underdeveloped technique keeps him from putting it on full display. But when you see it, you really see it, and it’s impressive.
The 6-5 end shows a top-notch burst off the edge, especially when he stays low out of his stance. With his long legs he can cover a lot of ground in a hurry, which helps him with his get off and also allows him to close extremely well on the quarterback. His open-field speed is impressive for his size, and he shows the ability to explode to the sideline to chase runners.
Onye has relatively good feet, and you’ll see occasional snaps where his lateral agility stands out. Again, in a common theme, his technique can mask that at times, but when he plants with a good base you’ll see him explode to the ball. The tools are there, and the more experience he gets the more you'll see it stand out.
TECHNIQUE/INSTINCTS — Onye comes from a program that is very well coached, you can see that when you break down games, but he’s still incredibly raw as a player, and there's a reason for that.
Onye didn’t start playing football until his sophomore season of high school, and you can see from his sophomore football and basketball clips that he’s hit a bit of a growth spurt between his sophomore and junior seasons. That combination often results in a young player not showing the advanced technical aspects that you’ll see from athletes that have been playing for much longer and are veterans of the camp circuit.
That is something that will make him as a three-star recruit, and it’s why he doesn’t earn a four-star grade on my board. He is a four-star player from a size and athleticism standpoint, but the technical parts of his game need a lot of work. It also wouldn’t shock me if that’s a big reason Elston likes Onye so much, knowing how new he still is to the game of football.
I expect Onye to show significant growth as a senior, and once he gets into college his game should take off.
The first area where he must improve is with his get off. Onye comes off the ball quickly but he often lifts straight up, and with his length that poor pad level allows blockers to get into his body.
His overall hand play and football will need a lot of work, but the positive is he seems to play for a program that is well coached, so he should get good teaching even before he gets to college.
One thing I noticed on game film that impressed me about Onye is that despite being relatively new to football, the Hawks end shows good instincts and a feel for the game. There are a number of snaps where I see Onye engage a blocker, but he’s clearly reading out the play and he then sheds the block and takes off to the ball carrier.
PASS RUSH — Onye has the physical tools to develop into an impact power rusher in time, but he needs a lot of work. He is often late with his hands and he needs to learn how to use leverage and angles to win on the edge. His speed and power impress, but he just needs to learn how to utilize those assets.
As expected, Onye lacks much of a repertoire as an edge rusher, but the physical traits are there. When his technique catches up to his length, burst and power he’ll be hard to handle off the edge. Despite his lack of ideal technique, Onye does look comfortable working on the edge and his instincts stand out.
He graded out as just above average as a pass rusher right now, but if I’m right about what his game is going to look like in college I believe this will eventually become a strength.
RUN DEFENSE — When his base is good Onye can be a beast in the run game, and it’s already the strength of his game. In the run game, Onye is able to just use his God-given ability (length, power, athleticism) to dominate, and he’s a high-motor defender on the edge. He clearly likes playing football and he does so aggressively.
As his pad level improves and his hand play advances you’ll see him thrive as a run defender. One area where Onye really impressed me was his ability to get off cut blocks, which is yet another example of his instincts and natural feel for the game. On a number of occasions he sniffed out the cut and used his length and agility to avoid the cut and drive the blocker into the ground as he quickly got off the block and got to the football.
Onye has the ability to set the edge with force, and when he uses his hands effectively to disengage he can quickly close on the football. The Bishop Hendricken defender will occasionally watch on runs away from him, but when the ball is coming in his direction he shows excellent closing speed and hustle.
INTANGIBLES — Often times when you have a young player like Onye, someone that is new to the game, the concern is does he really have a passion for it, and will he embrace the physicality of the game. This is especially true for basketball players, and that is the sport Onye came to Bishop Hendricken to play. But it took about two series of game film to realize this is a young man that not only accepts the physicality of football, he embraces it.
Onye hustles, he’s aggressive, he competes and when he loses a rep he usually comes back on the very next snap with an edge. I mentioned several times in this breakdown that he shows a natural feel for the game, and that’s another area that makes me feel confident that he’s not only going to make the necessary improvements to reach his borderline five-star tools, but he’ll do it a bit sooner than expected.
FINAL ANALYSIS
If your focus is on what he is right now, I can understand some not being excited about Onye as a prospect. I can even understand why he’s considered a consensus three-star recruit, despite my comments about his upside. But coaches don’t - or shouldn’t - care as much about what a player is right now, as a junior in high school with just two years of football experience, as they do about what he can be.
Onye is a young player that is very new to football, but he has the size, athleticism, natural power and instincts to eventually become a difference maker. I had a hard time not giving him a five-star upside grade, and it wouldn’t shock me if he eventually becomes a truly dominant power player.
He’ll need to put in a lot of work, but if he goes to a program that has a good teacher coaching the defensive line and a strength staff that knows how to take players like him and maximize their frames, he could turn out to be one of the steals of the class.
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