Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Two Representing WVU at the NFL Combine

West Virginia will be represented by two former standouts at this year's NFL Combine. Najee Goode and Bruce Irvin will be in Indianapolis for the week-long scouting event. Both players join an impressive list of players looking to impress all 32 teams before the NFL Draft in April.

Goode had a solid final season at the inside linebacker position. He finished with 87 total tackles to lead the team. Goode also had five sacks, one interception, and a forced fumble. He has decent size, very good awareness, and solid tackling ability. He will certainly be looking to improve his speed, and show he can play in a base defense. CBS has him listed as a 7th round prospect.

Irvin is the sack specialist, who had his numbers drop a bit in his final season. However, most scouts will understand that he saw many more double teams this season than last. He still finished with 8.5 sacks and forced three fumbles. He also played many more snaps this season, totaling 40 tackles. Irvin has pure rushing ability, tremendous speed, and technique. Can he play DE in the league? Or is outside linebacker in his future? Look for Irvin to destroy some of the speed drills at the combine. CBS has Irvin as a 3rd-4th round prospect. If he has a good combine and pro day, he will go higher than that.

Snubs: Julian Miller and Keith Tandy both should have been invited. Miller had a productive career at DE for WVU. He is also projected to be a late-rounder. Meanwhile, Tandy didn't have the strongest final season, but does have a very good skill-set at CB, and is projected to be a mid-round pick.

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