Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Sonny Abramson Evaluation



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.