I find scouting three-star linemen to be more challenging because of the amount of strength and technique they gain in the few years before they see the playing field at the P5 level. It’s really only the elite linemen and those that won’t make the cut that are easy to scout. All 3-star linemen dominate at the high school level, or at least – they should.
As can be expected, he dominates his opponents on his highlight reel. But there is a certain qualitative extra in how he dominates. He has the ability to be explosive off the snap if someone lines up way outside. He has decent footwork that puts his body in the correct spot. Doesn’t dip his head or need to stiffen/slow his body for impact. Good violent arm extension. Some hints of nastiness as he buries a few beaten players. No fancy handwork like Will Reed, no superior flexibility like Bastian Swinney. He straight-up beats people with a plain vanilla block, which is a good thing because everything he learns is gravy on top of an already solid lineman.
Hold up, there’s a play of him switching his block to get a second defender and almost reaching a third. And there’s another. It has been a long time since I’ve seen a high school player have the maturity to switch off his man once he’s beaten him.
Good effort in running down the field, albeit at a speed one would expect for a 325 lbs HS junior. The eyeball test shows he has superb weight distribution – big legs and torso without the sloppy gut. But still plenty of upside as he conditions. He can be a legit 340 pound mauler. I haven’t read anything yet, but I suspect he’ll move inside to guard unless he can really make a leap in quickness.
As can be expected for a kid who just got his new body, he’s slow. His 5.96 40 yard dash and 5.5 20 foot shuttle show that he’s a bit ponderous beyond a few steps. But these measurements are less meaningful for offensive linemen, who should be tested on the 5 yard dash and 9 foot shuttle. Again, his first steps/get-off are pretty good.
Hey – there’s another Cal commit, Akili Calhoun on the reel! Let’s see how he fares up when we look at the game highlights from Akili’s game highlights (naturally biased to Akili).
The first play, Akili is beaten by Ryan but makes the tackle after Ryan eases up and the running back comes into range – so it’s hard to call that a win for Akili. The second play, Akili speed rushes the outside shoulder, puts his inside hand up, which appears to bait Ryan to set his feet too early, which allows him to pressure the QB off the outside shoulder. So this is a good example of how Ryan’s physical development for speed will help him avoid getting burned on the outside. And that’s it - a very short highlight reel. I’ll choose to see this as glass half-full that Ryan can do well against good competition.
If I were to rank them, Ryan looks like one of the better c/o 2021 linemen recruits, further developed with a better chance to see the field as a freshman. And this is important because the bench gets pretty thin after this season. But this Oline commit group looks like one of Cal's strongest from top to bottom in a long time.
Giant dude but looks like he can add some muscle. Winning head-to-head against SC in the recruiting battle is a feather in McClure's cap (and also Wilcox')!
Another great recruit! There was a lot of talk last year about how that was the best class in the Wilcox era and a really good class for CAL in general...this one will probably blow it out of the water. Wooooooo!
I don't follow recruiting (I tried one year and it ended up being the Toshpocalypse and it never felt like a worthwhile exercise since), but I would be surprised if last year's class were good for us historically based on these star rankings considering the caliber of classes we were bringing in during the Tedford days. (Ironically, those being thanks to Tosh.)
I would say based on the results so far that Wilcox and Co. have done a better job at pulling production (especially on defense) with "lesser" talent than Tedford did..especially the last few years. So if the trend continues, these 4*s/high 3's in 2020/2021 classes should be able to shine under this staff and continue to elevate CAL. And probably more importantly, keep CAL relevant in the north for more than a couple seasons
Ryan Lange
Pittsburg HS (Pittsburg , CA)
6’6”-325 lbs
I find scouting three-star linemen to be more challenging because of the amount of strength and technique they gain in the few years before they see the playing field at the P5 level. It’s really only the elite linemen and those that won’t make the cut that are easy to scout. All 3-star linemen dominate at the high school level, or at least – they should.
Let’s go to Ryan’s highlight tapes:
https://www.hudl.com/profile/8770125/Ryan-Lange
As can be expected, he dominates his opponents on his highlight reel. But there is a certain qualitative extra in how he dominates. He has the ability to be explosive off the snap if someone lines up way outside. He has decent footwork that puts his body in the correct spot. Doesn’t dip his head or need to stiffen/slow his body for impact. Good violent arm extension. Some hints of nastiness as he buries a few beaten players. No fancy handwork like Will Reed, no superior flexibility like Bastian Swinney. He straight-up beats people with a plain vanilla block, which is a good thing because everything he learns is gravy on top of an already solid lineman.
Hold up, there’s a play of him switching his block to get a second defender and almost reaching a third. And there’s another. It has been a long time since I’ve seen a high school player have the maturity to switch off his man once he’s beaten him.
Good effort in running down the field, albeit at a speed one would expect for a 325 lbs HS junior. The eyeball test shows he has superb weight distribution – big legs and torso without the sloppy gut. But still plenty of upside as he conditions. He can be a legit 340 pound mauler. I haven’t read anything yet, but I suspect he’ll move inside to guard unless he can really make a leap in quickness.
As can be expected for a kid who just got his new body, he’s slow. His 5.96 40 yard dash and 5.5 20 foot shuttle show that he’s a bit ponderous beyond a few steps. But these measurements are less meaningful for offensive linemen, who should be tested on the 5 yard dash and 9 foot shuttle. Again, his first steps/get-off are pretty good.
Hey – there’s another Cal commit, Akili Calhoun on the reel! Let’s see how he fares up when we look at the game highlights from Akili’s game highlights (naturally biased to Akili).
http://www.hudl.com/v/2CTmYg
The first play, Akili is beaten by Ryan but makes the tackle after Ryan eases up and the running back comes into range – so it’s hard to call that a win for Akili. The second play, Akili speed rushes the outside shoulder, puts his inside hand up, which appears to bait Ryan to set his feet too early, which allows him to pressure the QB off the outside shoulder. So this is a good example of how Ryan’s physical development for speed will help him avoid getting burned on the outside. And that’s it - a very short highlight reel. I’ll choose to see this as glass half-full that Ryan can do well against good competition.
If I were to rank them, Ryan looks like one of the better c/o 2021 linemen recruits, further developed with a better chance to see the field as a freshman. And this is important because the bench gets pretty thin after this season. But this Oline commit group looks like one of Cal's strongest from top to bottom in a long time.
Adding on, his power ball (35 feet) and bench (245) is not great. So this underscores how much S&C he needs. But he still looks very very good.
Giant dude but looks like he can add some muscle. Winning head-to-head against SC in the recruiting battle is a feather in McClure's cap (and also Wilcox')!
Another great recruit! There was a lot of talk last year about how that was the best class in the Wilcox era and a really good class for CAL in general...this one will probably blow it out of the water. Wooooooo!
I don't follow recruiting (I tried one year and it ended up being the Toshpocalypse and it never felt like a worthwhile exercise since), but I would be surprised if last year's class were good for us historically based on these star rankings considering the caliber of classes we were bringing in during the Tedford days. (Ironically, those being thanks to Tosh.)
I would say based on the results so far that Wilcox and Co. have done a better job at pulling production (especially on defense) with "lesser" talent than Tedford did..especially the last few years. So if the trend continues, these 4*s/high 3's in 2020/2021 classes should be able to shine under this staff and continue to elevate CAL. And probably more importantly, keep CAL relevant in the north for more than a couple seasons
we were bringing in great classes before Tosh though. Tosh just made us elite...for a short while until we found out his classes were all busts