College Football Recruiting: Washington 3* OG Dylan Jemtegaard announces commitment to California
Absolute unit
Dylan Jemtegaard, a 6-4, 270 lb offensive guard from Yelm, Washington, has committed to the California Golden Bears. Jemtegaard picked the Bears over offers from Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and the Air Force.
Jemtegaard has been a part of football ascendence at Yelm High: in the last two years, Yelm High tripled their appearance count in the Washington state playoffs. Last season, Yelm went up against Tumwater High. Although Tumwater dominated the scoreline, Jemtegaard was reported to have proven himself against 4* defensive lineman Jacob Schuster, another Cal target. Jemtegaard also performs the shot put in the spring season.
Jemtegaard prides himself on his nasty play. He plays offensive tackle but projects to move inside to the guard position.
Watch his highlight reel on Hudl here.
Welcome to Berkeley, Dylan! GO BEARS!
Brain
While one might fantasize about getting five star linemen, the brutal truth is that a lot of recruits cannot be targets because they donāt have the academic chops to make it at Cal. Dylan is juuuuuust short of a 4.0 GPA shows that he has the brains to belong at Berkeley. That alone is a huge achievement and a welcome qualification. We want football players who succeed in life, not just for the few years they play at Cal.
Competition
In short, Yelmās competition is not top notch. While Yelm will have one of the biggest student bodies in the entire state this year, it remains in the lower tier ā3Aā division after demoting itself from ā4Aā in 2016. Yelm is a tiny town that draws its students from the surrounding semi-rural/sub-urban catchment. Being the big fish in a small pond means that Yelm one of the best teams in its South Sound division. Heck, even the track and field team fields nearly 150 members. However, there is still a gap of talent and South Sound teams tend to fare poorly in inter-divisional matchups and crash out early in state postseason. And this dynamic shows on Dylanās tape. All you see on Dylanās highlight reel is him taking sub-200 pound defensive linemen to the woodshed. Itās not much help in evaluating him. I prefer to look at game highlights against playoff teams. Hereās the highlights vs. Kennewick in the playoffs.
https://www.hudl.com/video/2/38724/5eda986438642d0b30f540b7
Or when they played a decent Central Kitsap team:
http://www.hudl.com/v/2Cbhet
Unfortunately, I couldnāt find any non-camp video of the 2019 Yelm-Tumwater game that Dane spoke of. There is video of Tumwater highlights, but Dylan gets schooled when he played DL.
Tangibles
As a junior, he was reportedly 6ā5ā 260 lbs. His team reports that he is 6ā5ā 305 lbs, but Dylan himself reports that he is 6ā4ā 295 lbs. So he is still likely growing. Very big frame. Lots of mass on the frame. He appears to have good chest strength, but here is a good photo of his body type at the end of 2019:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EKLFpyLUwAAJSoH.jpg
He apparently has decent amount of weight that he can covert into higher quality muscle mass. Heāll need lots and lots of S&C. But, man, that frame and size is there and seems like he can be a legit 320 pound lineman. He seems more suited to be a guard than a tackle.
Technique
He plays a very good pass block technique. Eyes up. Legs coiled. Balanced torso. Arms ready to punch. Heās got flashes of really great, violent arm work. Nice nasty streak. Unfortunately, heās got plodding footwork, resulting in sluggish movements. If he locks up with his opponent, he wins. However, he is vulnerable to getting burned by quicker opponents. He shows flashes of a nasty road-paving run blocking technique. There was one play where his team was backed up on its own goal line and he went off with a peel two guys backwards. But he seems to rarely use it. Likewise, on defense he would have a few energetic plays and then just lean on his man the next play. My guess is that it seems like itās a conditioning issue. It will also greatly help when he doesnāt play both ways. Time to invest in your future, Dylan. And hereās where you pay: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D8eLuKdU8AEtAte.jpg
Bottom line
Cal gets a lot to work with. Dylan has a ton of potential.
Roll on You Bears...