2012 Recruiting Breakdown: Offense (part 2)

In the second part of the offense/athlete recruiting breakdown I will give my analysis on the remaining 5 recruits. I'll start out with recruit who's last name will catch the attention of any football fan.

Glenn Gronkowski

Position: FB/TE

Height and Weight: 6-3 235

What stands out: Jumping- Gronkowski showed his leaping ability getting up over the defensive backs and making the catch.

Skill Set: Jumping (see above)... Hands- he was able to make several difficult catches with defensive backs covering him on all sides... WR intelligence- he seemed to be able to know how to get behind the secondary and make a standard catch into something big.

Where he fits in: If he comes in as a FB he could contribute as early as 2013 as Braden Wilson, while underrated and in my opinion underused , serves as a great back field blocker for Collin Klein and John Hubert. If he comes in as TE than it still may be another year before he sees meaningful playing time as Senior Travis Tannahill, 6-8 Junior Andre McDonald, and Sophomore Zach Trujillo round out the relatively deep position. I don't see him being quite as good as Rob, probably closer to Dan and Chris, but only time will tell

Other notes: Gronkowski is listed as a FB but all of the videos show him lining up as a TE or big WR. Gronkowski was also listed at 6-1 205 last year and is now listed at 6-3 235, which is great that he keeps growing especially if he is put in as a TE. To be honest I have mixed feeling on him, on one hand he could be good, but on the other hand if his last name wasn't Gronkowski how would we be thinking about him, see the Brown brothers and third Manning brother if you don't know what I'm talking about. Other than a look from Buffalo, K-State was the only school to show interest in Gronkowski.

For more breakdowns keep reading after the jump

Position: RB

Height and Weight: 5-11 180

What stands out: Catching- he showed the much underrated ability to get passes out of the backfield.

Skill Set: Catching (see above)... Change of direction- in several plays he stopped short of the tackler while going full speed and started the in opposite direction also at full speed... Elusiveness- in almost all the plays he avoided getting tacklers with his speed, agility, and finesse moves.

Where he fits in: RB looks to be a pretty good position for us, and it's never bad to add some competition at the position. He could be switched over to WR if RB is not an option for him to get time. Don't expect him to get big playing time in the near future, but don't be surprised to see him to see him do something in 3-4 years. I would be surprised if he doesn't grayshirt this year and red shirt next year.

Other notes: Other than Arkansas State and Tulane, K-State was the only school to offer him a scholarship. Although I was not really impressed by him, if he works hard and shows improvement there will be a place for him in Snyder's system.

Judah Jones

Position: WR

Height and Weight: 6-1 180

What stands out: Down field catching- There were several plays where Jones made me think of Kendall Wright in how he got behind the secondary with just a strait route down the field. He didn't see particularly past, but you only need to be a little faster than the guy chasing you and he did just that.

Skill Set: Down field play (see above)... Screen catching- Jones did an excellent job of faking out the defense to make them think he was going deep while in reality he stayed in the backfield to make the catch and then get into open space down the field... WR Speed- I describe WR speed is the ability to just flat out beat the defensive backs down field to make a play regardless of 40 time or any other measure of speed, Kendall Wright's got it, Chris Harper and Tramaine Thompson both showed glimpses of it, and I think that Jones may have it.

Where he fits in: Jones is gray shirting this year to travel with his family band, and as long as he stays in shape I think its a good thing as WR is currently a very deep position for us. I can't even describe how incredibly frustrating it was to see OU just burn our defense time and time again with the WR screen, what made it even worse was knowing that our offense couldn't even come close to replicating that kind of production. Now I think that we might have a weapon that is capable of making the WR screen plays much more productive. It will be interesting to see him compete with Tyler Lockett, Tramaine Thompson, and Curry Sexton in 2013.

Other notes: Like I said above Jones is gray shirting this year to travel with his Grammy nominated family band. He put up some decent numbers last season averaging 24 yards on kickoff returns and getting over 1,000 all purpose yards and 16 touchdowns. He also had 43 receptions for 728 yards and 6 touchdowns through the air. Jones got scholarship offers from Arkansas, Houston, and Louisiana Tech. So razorbacks you can have your Cotton Bowl, but we'll still get your recruits.

Steven West

Position: WR

Height and Weight: 6-1 190

What stands out: Speed- I know I talked about WR speed above, well this kid has that and is just flat out fast. In several plays he got down field to make the catch within just a few seconds of the snap. In one play he got a pass from behind the line of scrimmage and then dodged and out ran every defender for around 40 yards on his way into the end zone.

Skill Set: Speed (see above)... Agility- West has the nice ability to make guys miss on tackles and get big yards after the catch... Hands- West seemed to have no problem making catches whether it was coming from just a few yards away or over 40 yards away.

Where he fits in: West gray shirted last year but I wouldn't expect him to red shirt. Even with the good depth that we have at WR it is never to early to get young guys valuable experience. Last year we saw Tyler Lockett and Curry Sexton get significant playing time as freshman and if I was to pick one WR to contribute as a freshman this year it would be West.

Other notes: West had a pretty good senior year catching 53 passes for 857 yards, he had an even better junior season catching 52 passes for 1,003 yards. Like I said above I really could see him getting playing time as early as next season. West chose K-State over Colorado State and Houston among others.

Matt Seiwert

Position: ATH (DE/FB)

Height and Weight: 6-3 260

What stands out: Back field blocking- Seiwert does an excellent job of getting out in front of his running back in order to put a defender on his back and create a nice running lane. He did a nice job of protecting the QB on pass plays.

Skill set offense: Back field blocking (see above)... Strength- it can't be easy to stop a defender in his tracks and I imagine its probably even harder to put him flat on his back, but Seiwert sure makes it look easy... Blocking vision- Seiwert showed the ability to know just what lineman/linebacker to block in order to help make a big play.

Skill set defense: Speed off the line- Seiwert explodes off the line and quickly gets in the back field to make a tackle... Patience- In one play a hole in the line didn't present its self so Seiwert didn't panic and try to make something out of nothing but instead waited for an opportunity and ended up making a nice sack.

Where he fits in: Seiwert is a lot like Braden Wilson, and if he is willing to wait a year may get a chance to be his successor. If he decides to go the route of Defensive end he will still probably have to wait a year before he gets solid playing time.

Other notes: I wouldn't be surprised to see him red shirt this year as both positions that he plays are relatively deep. Seiwert was only recruited by K-State.