SI All-American Candidate Cole Batson Highlights and Evaluation
Prospect: ATH Cole Batson
Projected Position: Off-Ball Linebacker or Safety
Status: SI All-American Candidate
Vitals: 6-foot-4, 190 pounds
School: San Clemente (Calif.)
Committed to: Boston College
Frame: Tall and long frame with wide shoulders. Narrow torso and waist. Athletic lower base.
Athleticism: Also plays WR on offense. Effective space-player with solid movement skills. Good quick-pedal with easy downhill linear transition. Can drive well on underneath routes in coverage and can disrupt catch points with length. Slips around blockers from flanks. Gets a fair hug on ball-carriers to make it tough to escape clutches.
Instincts: Good coverage awareness and zone eyes. Doesn’t panic versus multi-receiver route combinations. Can relate, see 2 go inside and flip eyes to 1 with good break and catch-point timing. Solid mesh-point vision and ball-location skills to work in box versus run.
Polish: Plays a safety/rover-type role and is asked to be rob-player in cover-3 concepts. More man coverage reps versus running backs and tight ends need to be obtained, along with adding more mass and strength. Also will need to improve shed-package to challenge and escape offensive linemen.
Bottom Line: Batson is a versatile prospect who can play receiver, safety, rover and linebacker. He has ideal length, range and is very good in zone coverage. While he could nestle fine in the secondary, Batson has an ideal skill-set for the Sam linebacker role in a 4-3 base structure and should be able to stay on the field in sub.