Brandon Spikes is a very well known name around the country-he is not just a draft community name. Spikes was a great player in 2008, but had some injury and character concerns this season including an incident where he blatantly eye-gouged an opponet during the season in which he was suspended for half a game vs Vanderbilt.

To his credit, Brandon Spikes suspended himself for the entire game, which shows that he can take responsbility for his actions.

Let’s check out Brandon Spikes.

ProDraft Party Video:

Brandon Spikes

(Combine Numbers Posted Here When Available)

Born September 3rd, 1987 (will be 23 next season)

6′3” 260 pounds.

Rated 33rd best player by scout.com coming out of high school

From wikipedia:

Spikes was a consensus First-team All-American and First-team All-SEC selection and a team captain in 2008. He was selected as a finalist for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and a semifinalist for the Lombardi Award and Chuck Bednarik Award. He was a starter at middle linebacker and led the team with 93 tackles on the season, including 8.0 for a loss. He made six tackles in the BCS National Championship Game win over the University of Oklahoma and had seven tackles, two QB hurries and broke up one pass in the 2008 SEC Championship Game against the University of Alabama. After the season (his junior year) he decided to forgo entry into the 2009 NFL Draft and returned to Florida for another season.[6]

In October 2009, Spikes was named a midseason All-American by The Sporting News and CBS Sports.[7][8] He was also nominated as one of 16 semifinalists for the 2009 Butkus Award.[9]

Stats (ESPN.com)

Career: 285 tackles, 6 sacks, 1 FF, 6 sacks.

2009 52 tackles (26 solo)  3 sacks, 2 INT.

Big Games:

At Kentucky 10 tackles

At LSU 11 Tackles, 3 sacks,

at Alabama 9 tackles

Suspended vs Vanderbilt.

Did not play or get stats in two other games.

2008: 87 tackles, 2 sacks, 4 INT.

2007: 131 tackles, 1 sack, 1 FF
Brandon Spikes was a pretty productive Collegeiate Football player.

His tackle numbers went down drastically from 2007 to 2009. But his sack numbers and INT numbers went up the question is whether or not Spikes was asked to support the pass more at the expense of being a down hill run defender.

Scouting Reports

Here is a Scouting report for Brandon Spikes from walterfootball.com (from 2008)

Strengths:

  • Great production since sophomore year
  • Big-time hitter
  • Prototype size and strength
  • Always around the ball; active
  • Explosive athlete
  • Diagnoses run well
  • Disengages from blockers
  • Aggressive
  • Comfortable in space
  • Good pursuit
  • Physical
  • Good vision and can locate ball-carrier
  • Durable
  • High upside

    • Weaknesses:

  • Doesn’t always take proper angles
  • Hips could be more fluid; a little stiff
  • Looks somewhat awkward in zone coverage vs. pass
  • Lacks really impressive speed
  • Occasionally out of position
  • Good aggression, but sometimes does too much (overpursues, goes for big hit)Summary: Brandon Spikes is the prototypical 3-4 inside linebacker, but at this point I am not sold on him being the top-20 2010 NFL Draft pick most are hyping him as. He has a few technique flaws that really concern me, but he might improve those next season.

    • Player Comparison: E.J. Henderson Spikes and Henderson have outstanding tools against the run, but have weaknesses in zone

    NFL Draft Scout’s Scouting Report

    Read & React: Quick to diagnose and has good speed to the ball. Has the speed to beat the back to the edge due to good athletic ability and little to no wasted motion.

    Run defense: Rare size. Explosive punch at blockers to quickly disengage. Likes to initiates the action and is physical in removing himself from the blocker to find the ball. Can be undisciplined. Attacks the line of scrimmage so aggressively versus the run that he leaves cutback lanes for quick-footed runners to exploit. Can get locked up with blockers if his initial pop is absorbed. Needs to work on his use of hands to disengage.

    Pass defense: Quick footwork to get depth in coverage. Very good reading the quarterback’s eyes while in coverage. Breaks downhill quickly to close on the ball and arrives with an attitude.

    Tackling: Explosive wrap-up tackler who can separate the football from the ball carrier. Good athletic ability and balance to break down in space to make the tackle against the smaller, quicker athlete. Doesn’t consistently pursue with the reckless abandon normally associated with the position.

    Pass Rush/Blitz: Effective stand-up blitzer. Varies his speed off the edge and uses his explosive upper-body strength to push the blocker into the pocket. Good strength and lateral agility to slide off blocks and pressure the passer.

    Intangibles: Voted a team captain in 2008 and was a member of the 2008 UF Football leadership Committee. Returned for his senior campaign despite earning a first-day grade from the NFL Advisory Committee. Good bloodlines. Cousin, Takeo Spikes, plays inside linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers.

    NFL Comparison: Takeo Spikes

    Big Board Rankings (1/11)

    ESPN Scouts Inc: 20th

    Draft Board Insider 34th

    Drafttek.com 11th

    Pro Draft Party  25th

    Bartolis Summary and Final Verdict

    Brandon Spikes is a first round N.F.L. talent, but I think he is a fringe first round N.F.L. talent.

    Linebackers and running backs are the two easiest positions on the football field to fill later in the draft in my humble opinion.

    Becuase of that I don’t want to take any linebackers high unless they are elite pass rushers or absolutely dominating athletes, I do not believe that Brandon Spikes is that kind of player.

    It is troubling how much his numbers dipped from 2007 to 2009. He did make a few more impact plays, but the stats, at least, indicate that he was not as consistent in his production.

    Spikes is a player that could be a dominating presence as a 3-4 inside linebacker, where players dont’ need to operate in as much space as they do in the 4-3.

    Spikes is a fiery leader and he is very good against the run, but there are real concerns about how he operates in space.

    And also, I heard (did not hear it myself though) that Mel Kiper was on T.V. saying that teams are so worried about his speed that he could fall into the 4th round.

    But like I said I did not hear that myself, and I think that would be a mistake for some teams later in the first round especially those who play a 3-4.

    Final Verdict

    I, for one, think that Brandon Spikes is over-hyped and also overrated. He is a good fiery leader, but I do not want to touch him within the top 15 picks of the N.F.L. draft, and I especially don’t want to see him on the New York Giants where I have watched plenty of slower linebackers play the run well and struggle covering tight ends lately.

    I’m much more interested in a player like Darryl Washington out of T.C.U. in the second or third round who has some speed and can make some plays than I am about Brandon Spikes.

    I like Rolando McClain, who I think can do well in a 4-3.

    I’m not as sold on Brandon Spikes in that system.

    It’s also troubling that there are quite a few games over the past few seasons in which he did not accumulate any statistics, especially for a middle linebacker-if he was hurt in those games, that’s not any more  comforting because that means that there are injury concerns.

    I am completely AGAINST Drafting Brandon Spikes with the 15th overall pick in the N.F.L. Draft.

    If Spikes falls to the New York Giants in the second round I think that would be very good value and then the Giants should draft him with the 47th overall pick in a heart-beat.

    If the Giants draft him with the 15th overall pick, I’ll be dissapointed.

    That’s not to say that My analysis could be completely off with Brandon Spikes, but that is to say that I think it would be a big mistake.

    A mistake I don’t expect Jerry Reese to make.

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    ILB Rolando McClain

    RB C.J. Spiller

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