Colts 2022 Draft Interviews: Forrest Rhyne, LB, Villanova
Forrest Rhyne is a former two star recruit out of Waynesboro Area High School in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. Despite having a ton of success at the high school level, he didn't have any FBS offers when it came time to commit. He opted to attend Villanova University at the FCS level.
I asked him why he chose Villanova over other FCS schools that were recruiting him:
It was a combination of great academics and the chance to play in a great football conference (in the CAA Conference of the FCS). I didn't get any FBS offers, so at the time, I wanted to play in the best FCS conference.
Villanova was just a school that was going to push me academically, mentally, and spiritually to grow to be one of the best humans that I can be. When I visited there, I just loved the coaches and the program itself. It's a winning program and I was just happy to carry on the tradition.
Rhyne appeared in 17 games in his first two seasons, mostly as a reserve player. He totaled just 19 tackles in those years. Rather than transferring or holding resentment for his lack of playing time, he patiently waited for his chance. His opportunity finally came in 2019 as a junior.
In his first year as a starter, Rhyne turned out elite production. He accumulated 116 tackles, 14.5 tackles for a loss, 6.5 sacks, and a forced fumble. He was given CAA First Team Defense honors for his strong play.
I asked him what led to this sudden uptick in production and how he mentally prepared to be the starter in those first two seasons:
There was always such great competition at Villanova in terms of linebacker play and defensive quality. We were the number one defense in the FCS when I came in (and we were again this past year too).
So, coming in, they had some studs playing linebacker. I was a-okay with taking a backseat my first two years. I was just grateful to get in and play special teams, and I got a lot of great experience in those first two seasons.
When I was finally able to earn the starting position as a junior, it was just me playing into the defense and not doing anything outside of myself. It was just me doing what was best for Ola Adams' defense, and in this defensive scheme, it allowed for the linebackers to make a lot of plays.
In our three-three stack, having three unselfish defensive linemen take up gaps really allowed for me and the other linebackers to run around and make some plays.
Rhyne carried the success from his junior season into the final two years of his collegiate career. He was effectively the top defender in the conference over the past three seasons, and led one of the best defenses at the FCS level.
All of his hard work paid off in his final year, as he was named the CAA Conference Defensive Player of the Year. I asked him what it meant to be given this honor in his final season:
It was just a testament to all the work that I put in personally, but also to all the work that the people around me put in. Whether it be my family, or my friends, or my coaches, they all had a part in me winning that award. It was just awesome to bring that award back to Villanova.
We had a defender named Tanoh Kpassagnon win it in 2016 and being able to bring that back for the trophy case was awesome. Our defensive coordinator actually moved on this year to take an Assistant DB Coach job with the Denver Broncos and I'm glad I was able to win this award and help him move up to the NFL as well.
Talking Film
So, this interview is going to be a bit different than some of the other ones I have done this year. This conversation revolved almost entirely around film study. So, I'm going to break up the different topics we covered under this category below.
Putting in Work in the Film Room
Rhyne was a graduate student this past season (due to the extra year of eligibility through Covid), so he was basically a full time football player. As a result, he spent a majority of his free time in the film room.
I asked him how many hours a week he spent watching film during the season:
I was only in two classes this past year, since I was doing a Graduate Certificate of Higher Education Leadership. That was usually only about three hours a week for me, so I was essentially a full time football player in 2021.
I would spend all of my waking hours watching film without falling asleep (laughs). I'd be chewing bubblegum or spit some sunflower seeds in order to stay awake. I'd be watching as much as I could though, whether that was with the coaches, on my own time, or in the office.
I was trying to get anywhere from five to seven hours a day watching film.
What Rhyne Studies in Opponents
I then asked him what he was watching in those hours that he spent grinding in the film room. I asked him about his process in watching film and what he was particularly trying to find when studying an opponent:
Most of it revolves around schematics. I'll be breaking down what an offensive coordinator likes to call in certain situations or against certain defenses. Then I'd break that down to certain down and distances and certain parts of the field to see what he liked to call.
What do they like to lean on? Who do they trust with the ball in their hands? Aside from that, I'd look at their personnel and look for tells. Some offensive linemen have obvious tells that give away what type of block they are doing or if it is a run or a pass on every play.
Then I'd break it down by position. What do certain running backs like to do in the offense? What are their route running abilities? How do they like to run inside zones? You can break that down by each player or each play to get a good feel for everything that an offense is going to do.
Each position has their own set of tells that you can look at and dissect on film.
Talking About Tells on Film
For this next section, I'm going to transcribe our exact conversation about offensive tells for a linebacker. Everything that I say will start with a ZH and everything he says will be in the same block quote.
This was a super fun conversation that I wanted all of you to be able to see.
ZH: I'm not going to ask you to tell me about specific tells on certain teams you played, but what are the most common tells that an offense has to say whether the next play is a run or a pass?
As a linebacker, our first priority is to get the defense set. If the defense isn't set, it doesn't matter what tell you get. If you are the only one that sees the tell and the defense isn't set, then it isn't going to be beneficial regardless of what you see.
Once I have the defense set, I will look at all the offensive linemen to try to get a run-pass tell. Usually throughout the week, I will have identified a single offensive lineman that is going to give me that pass-run tell every single time.
I'll look at it during the week and pick out the guy that gives me that read the easiest. I'll get familiar with it and watch all of their games during the week to really confirm that tell. Then, on Saturdays, I'd peak at him prior to the snap and see if it is a run or a pass.
It depends on the tell, but I'll usually get up to around 90-95% correct in a game. It depends on how confident I am in the tell, but I'll sometimes implement a Red (run) or Purple (pass) call to alert the defense to what is coming.
ZH: That's incredible. I've talked to so many guys over the years and I've always loved learning about this aspect of playing defense. I was talking to defensive end Larell Murchison during his draft year and he told me about the time he played North Carolina, and how their left tackle would have his hands give away the call on every snap.
We had a game like that too and it kind of escaped out that we knew about it. We played Penn State early this past season and we played them pretty tough defensively. Their left tackle had the worst tell that I had ever seen. I was calling it out and you could hear me saying "Red" and "Purple" on the T.V broadcast of the game.
Our coach ended up telling the guy that he had a bad tell after the game. The next week I was watching them on the Big Ten Network and he was still doing it (laughs).
ZH: I actually read about you finding a tell that game. I turned on some film prior to your call and made it my goal to find the tell. I didn't watch enough of the game, but I knew it had to do with one of the tackles.
He would have his arm straight and on his thigh whenever it was a pass and he would bend it on his knee whenever it was a run. It was very clear to me (laughs). He's a good player, though. It was just funny to me that he didn't change it up.
NFL Draft Outlook
I finished off the interview with the same way I finish all of them. I asked Rhyne how he would sell himself to a team this offseason. I asked him what my team would be getting, on and off the field, if they draft him:
You are going to get somebody that is going to do whatever it takes to bring a Super Bowl home to an organization. I'm willing to work as many hours as they need and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to win in the NFL.
Rhyne was an absolute blast to talk to and he is definitely one of the smarter players I've talked film with over the years. He may not have elite traits, but he is an impressive player with the mental makeup to succeed in the NFL.
His film was really strong at the FCS level too! Whichever team takes Rhyne in this class is getting a true film junkie that can instantly make a linebacker group better.
Follow Zach on Twitter @ZachHicks2.
