Name: Jake Eldrenkamp
School: Washington
Position fit: Guard
Stats to know: Eldrenkamp surrendered five (two sacks, three hurries) of his nine pressures (two sacks, seven hurries) in two games against USC and Alabama.
What he does best:
- Eldrenkamp pulled on power more than 50 times this season and sprung some big runs for Washington off the right side. Graded positively on 25 percent of his pull blocks Washington gained 7.4 yards per carry on power right with Eldrenkamp pulling.
- His highlight block of the year came on a pull block against Arizona pancaking Paul Magloire Jr. to spring a 44-yard gain.
- Rarely loses at the point of attack; downgraded on just nine percent of his blocks on runs to the left Washington gained 6.0 yards per carry on runs to the left side.
- Eldrenkamp improved his pass protection in his second season at guard allowing zero pressures in six games compared to four games in 2015.
Biggest concern:
- Eldrenkamp is prone to lowlight blocks as much as highlight blocks on pulls; positively graded on 25 percent of pull blocks he was also negatively graded on 21 percent of his pull blocks.
- Struggled at times on stunts but this was not unique on a Washington offensive line that had difficulty with stunts for much of the season.
- Eldrenkamp had limited exposure to outside zone plays in Washington’s offense this season raising some questions of his ability to play outside of gap and inside zone heavy schemes.
- His two lowest-graded games came against Washington’s two toughest opponents in their two defeats (45.3 vs USC and 48.8 vs Alabama); can he perform against the best opposition?
Bottom line: When Eldrenkamp puts it all together both on runs to him in gap scheme and when pulling to the playside he can dominate opposing defenders. Consistency though is Eldrenkamp’s biggest question mark, just as well as he can take down a defender on a pull block he can miss the defender from the same spot and disrupt the play as a result. His progress in pass protection in 2016 was encouraging but poor performances against his toughest opposition may raise questions as to whether he can excel at the next level.