NFL Draft Profile: Ralen Goforth, Linebacker, USC Trojans
In this story:
#10
Pos: LB
Ht: 6021
Wt: 235
DOB: 11/02/
Hometown: Long Beach, CA
High School: Saint John Bosco
Eligibility: 2023
Ralen Goforth
USC Trojans
One-Liner:
A hard-hitting linebacker with a ton of pop and blitzing ability that can play Mike linebacker in the league. He is already good enough in zone but needs to become a better man coverage linebacker to fully unlock his potential.
Evaluation:
Athletically inclined and hard-hitting linebacker. Goforth has a ton of pop in his hits and rarely gives any more ground at the point of contact. In zone coverage, he has solid reaction time that allows him to break up passes. He also can diagnose weak spots and slide well to cover ground. He is effectively physical in the route. Has solid hands to break up passes. In the run game, he is a mauler. He attacks gaps with a vengeance and leaves runners wondering why they challenged him. He has excellent lower-body explosion to shoot the gaps and solid diagnosis to be in the right place. He also excels as a blitzer and can affect the quarterback before the throw with his quickness while still being patient. Goforth is stiff in the hips and can not be trusted in man coverage yet. He needs to loosen his hips in order to fully unlock his range as a linebacker. He could also improve his processing. Though he does well with gap responsibilities, he rarely shows an ability to effect plays outside of his responsibilities. A hard-hitting linebacker with a ton of pop and blitzing ability. Ralen Goforth is a Mike linebacker who can stop the run and react well in the passing game when asked to be in zone. In the passing game, he is a good diagnoser of the weak spots and cover them well. He is physical enough to affect the route without causing penalties. He also has solid hands to break up passes though not great ball skills to pick them off. In the run game, he reacts and blows up gaps well. He has an explosive first step that allows him to shoot gaps and stop plays for minimal yardage. Goforth is slightly stiff in the hips and needs to loosen them up to reach his full potential in range from sideline to sideline. As a blur we from the mike spot Goforth excels. He clearly affects quarterbacks with quickness in his decisions to blitz, the suddenness of his blitzes and a hard-hitting nature that affects the pass.
Grade:
5th Round
Background:
He is a psychology major at USC with a 3.16 GPA. His brother, Randall, was a cornerback at UCLA (2012-16) who spent 2017 on injured reserve with the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles and then was with the Arizona Hotshots of the Alliance of American Football in 2019. He made 2018 PrepStar All-Western Region, Tacoma News Tribune Western 100, All-CIF Division 1, Los Angeles Times All-Area and Long Beach Press-Telegram All-Area first team as a senior outside linebacker at St. John Bosco High in Bellflower (Calif.). He had 103 tackles, including 7 for losses (with 6 sacks), plus 3 deflections and a fumble recovery in 2018. St. John Bosco advanced to the 2018 CIF Division 1 championship game. In his career, he has 44 tackles (3.5 for losses of 5 yards) and 2 deflections. He has appeared in 17 games in his career, with 5 starts.
