Matt Alkire, National
Director of Football Operations
It’s Friday morning in the
Alkire War Room and as I open my email and look at film, Christmas has come
early in the way of Sonny Abramson career highlights. Ask and ye shall receive.
The 6-foot-2 gunslinger from the Garden
State has been committed
to the Cavaliers for months now so frankly, I haven’t talked to him much, but
getting to see him run yet another new offense this year makes me want to do a
career scouting report. Why you ask? Because there is something so very wrong
with me that it feels very right.
Abramson’s football IQ,
toughness and the overall quality of his throws have always not just impressed
me, but absolutely wowed me. He went out and literally chose the schools he
wanted to approach, didn’t play what I call the “recruiting game” and ended up
right where he wanted, in Wahoo Country. After working on the media side of
recruiting for five years, I admire that. Not many players brave that trail.
Let’s talk football.
One of the things I have
always been extremely impressed with concerning Abramson is his ability to use
both progression reads and coverage reads, and he’s been doing them both since
his freshman year. The key here however is that when he is in his progressions,
he doesn’t stare down receivers and his ability to process information quickly
and find a target is uncanny. Also, I love the ball fakes incorporated into his
game to fool safeties and linebackers. Abramson throws receivers open quite
often, a skill that I don’t see often at this level. While he is quick
delivering the ball, I rarely see him go to his first read though. Typically
watching a progression read signal caller, I’ll see the ball forced into
coverage to a first option. The few times I see that here is on deeper breaking
routes when the ball is placed where the receiver can run open and make a big
play.
As for his coverage reads,
Abramson is outstanding. I sat and talked to him once asking him “what do you
do if this player does this”, half expecting a two-minute long answer. I was
delivered a 40-minute long running diatribe that I needed a compass and a
Sherpa to find my way out of. You see a lot of Abramson throwing to spots on
film with great ball placement when receivers are coming out of breaks and this
is showing that ability. Frankly, to see him doing both at such an advanced
level as a sophomore in high school was pretty impressive.
Sonny does have a live arm.
He’s not Ryan Leaf. I don’t expect him to kneel on the 20 yard line of your
local stadium and throw one over them there mountains like Uncle Rico, but seeing
him hit a receiver 40 yards downfield from the opposite hash on the outside
shoulder scores an A+ in my book every time. I will say something here though.
While a strong arm is important, throwing a catchable ball is just as important
and that is where Abramson really excels at his craft. Whether from a static
position in the pocket or throwing on the run, his ball has a tight spiral and
his ball placement is nothing short of excellent. You see no float on his
passes and also, he’s not killing worms out there. He can roll out of the
pocket, draw coverage and loft a fade with great touch into the back of the end
zone.
I spoke about ball placement.
That is true accuracy. I don’t care about your completion percentage. Does the
ball arrive to the receiver in a position where he can catch it and turn up
field and is it also in a position where the defender cannot make a play on it?
That is true accuracy. Years ago, Tom Brady had one of the most prolific
seasons in the history of the NFL with Randy Moss at wide receiver (I’m not
comparing Brady to Abramson). Arguably one of the best quarterbacks to every
touch a pigskin, Brady was throwing beautiful balls to Moss, but when his
receivers were covered, he was chucking the ball out of bounds at a high rate.
I can remember reading an article from a prominent sport’s writer that Brady
was “losing his accuracy” with great receivers because he was tossing the ball
out of bounds. Throwing the ball out of bounds is a good thing. You don’t take
sacks and you don’t cause turnovers. I watch Abramson and the ball is either
going to a receiver or a water boy.
In this day and age,
intangibles are getting thrown to the side for talent far too often. I have a
reputation when it comes to quarterbacks and honestly, it’s that I don’t often
like them much. I grew up playing in a Wing-T where our quarterback couldn’t
throw the ball further than 15 yards with any accuracy, also played defensive
end and our 325-pound offensive linemen were afraid to look at him funny. Call
me old school.
I work with very few
quarterbacks because of this. I watch Sonny Abramson stand in the pocket, get
speared helmet to helmet, not shy away and hit a receiver on a post route for a
touchdown and I want to put pads on and play for him. Admittedly, that would be
a pathetic endeavor. I’ve watched the young man since he was in 7th
grade and he is a throwback. He takes hits, gives hits, fights for extra yards
and is a leader. I’ve never heard of him complaining. He’s quick to praise his
teammates and even quicker to avoid spotlight. I’m not sure you could walk into
Sparta, N.J.
and say something bad about him and come out unscathed. That’s the type of guy
a team will follow into war, a player that leads by example. A prominent
quarterback coach sent me a hilarious picture two years ago detailing what was
wrong with Sonny Abramson after watching him throw among the nation’s elite.
The negative points were, “pads too big, no gaudy jewelry, not enough Nike
Combat gear and must buy neon colored shoes”. Those are all negatives on the
Abramson scouting report.
The last thing I want to talk
about is Abramson’s mobility, which I’ll break down in two phases. First is
pocket mobility and second is overall mobility.
Sonny does have outstanding
mobility. He moves around in the pocket with the best of them. Now, when you
read about mobile quarterbacks, you’re going to think of the Michael Vicks of
the world. He’s awful in the pocket. I’m talking about guys like Aaron Rodgers,
Tom Brady and Andrew Luck. Quarterbacks that feel the rush … scratch that …
anticipate where it could come from, step into the pocket and fire at their
targets. They escape sacks, buy receivers and extra second to break their stems
and get that ball downfield. Abramson has excellent mobility, feel and pocket
presence. I haven’t seen better in high school football.
Next is his
scrambling/running ability. This is obviously a completely different monster.
Abramson isn’t a quarterback you’re going to put in a run first offense. He is
however an athletic kid that will give you the option to run many different
offensive schemes with. The read option is en vogue in college football right
now. I don’t see Abramson having any trouble running it. As a senior, he was
basically thrown back into having to run the ball quite often for Pope John and
he can move.
He isn’t a quarterback that
is going to chose to run often, but when he does break the pocket, he can make
a difference. I watch his film and immediately I think of a specific play. Earlier
this season, Irish running back C.J. Prosise took a handoff and blast through
defenders 91 yards to the end zone, inciting a near riot in the stands at Notre
Dame. One would think with all of the great tailbacks in the history of such a
storied program, this would be commonplace. The truth of the matter is the last
run of over 80 yards by anyone on a Notre Dame roster was nearly a decade ago,
and that player was Brady Quinn with an 82-yard scamper against the USC Trojans.
Brady Quinn. No further
typing necessary.
I’ve never been one to mince
words. I think back to the best players I’ve seen in person living in the
Northeast and I can name them for you. The defensive linemen have been Bjoern
Werner, Sharrif Floyd, Adrian Robinson and Aaron Donald. The best cornerback
I’ve ever seen was Demetrious Nicholson. The best offensive line prospects I’ve
ever seen were Eric Shrive and Mike McGlinchey. You ask for linebackers and I
give you Brendan Beal. My running backs would have to be Tavon Austin, Derrick
Jones and David Williams. If I could have taken any tight end I saw in person
it would have been Hubie Graham. Some of those guys didn’t fare so well, some
you’ve never heard of and some … well I’m sure you’re saying “duh”.
I can say this without any
hesitation, Sonny Abramson is the best quarterback I’ve ever seen in the
Northeast and frankly, I’d take him over any I’ve seen on film as well. Am I
saying he’s better than everyone else? No, he’s just exactly what I’d want in a
quarterback if I wanted to go win a National Championship and that is the goal
of every single program in the country.
After sitting here all
morning watching this film and seeing Abramson go through different receivers,
different lines, different offenses, playing injured and just playing
consistently outstanding football, that’s my guy. I don’t do rankings people. I
wouldn’t pretend to understand how to do them. I’ve watched the big boys though
and he’s a big boy.
I guess the best way to put
it is this, if I’m making a decision with my job on the line for a quarterback
in this class, this is the kid I’d go with. Not my usual “scouting report”, but
anytime I am forced into talking quarterbacks, it gets a little weird. Someone
go find me a defensive end to talk about before I go crazy now.
Here are his “Career
Highlights” so you can get a taste of what he has done.
