Lawrence Jackson, DE. Southern Cal

Man don't ruin my morning by this Chad Johnson talk. If we give up our number one pick for an aging wr I'm going to shit in my pants. If this guy Jackson is available then he should be our pick. He could be another Charles Mann where you just put him in as a starter and don't worry about that position for 10 years. I was watching the North/ South game and NOBODY could block the guy. There was also a DT from ND ( I forget his name) that was just killing people.

I know who you are talkin about. His name is Trevor Laws from ND. He and Sedrick Ellis were the only two DT's beasting out there.

hopefully he'll be there at 21.I think it would be a solid pick.

I think I'd actually prefer him to Campbell being that he played against stiffer competition during his career.

Looks more and more like the guys going to be available. Personally I'm starting to like him for a few reasons

1. He played LDE in college
2. He usually got 9-10 sacks a year when lining up at End in a 4-3 (Only had 4 sacks as a 3-4 DE but thats equivelent to playing DT in a 4-3).
3. He played in a conference thats known for great offense.
4. Played for a quality program.

YouTube - USC Football 2007 Lawrence Jackson (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKR22maHQBI) - As you can tell from the video he's coming from the QB's frontside which basically means he played LDE.
Lawrence Jackson
DE (http://insider.espn.go.com/nfldraft/draft/tracker/position?id=31) | (6'4http://assets.espn.go.com/i/nfl/trans/3_8.gif", 261, 4.919) | USC (http://insider.espn.go.com/nfldraft/draft/tracker/school?id=2450)

Scouts Grade: 89

Flags: (D: DURABILITY) Player that can't stay healthy(S: SPEED) Player lacks ideal speed at positionView by: Player (http://insider.espn.go.com/nfldraft/draft/tracker/players?draftyear=2008) | NCAA School (http://insider.espn.go.com/nfldraft/draft/tracker/school?draftyear=2008) | Position (http://insider.espn.go.com/nfldraft/draft/tracker/position?draftyear=2008) | NFL Team (http://insider.espn.go.com/nfldraft/draft/tracker/team?draftyear=2008) | Flag (http://insider.espn.go.com/nfldraft/draft/tracker/alert?draftyear=2008)http://assets.espn.go.com/i/in.gif | All Ranked Players (http://insider.espn.go.com/nfldraft/draft/tracker/rankedPlayers?draftyear=2008)http://assets.espn.go.com/i/in.gif | NFL Draft History (http://insider.espn.go.com/nfldraft/draft/tracker/histround?year=2006&draftyear=2008) You are signed into Insider http://espn.starwave.com/i/in.gif and have access to the exclusive draft content below.
Strengths: Possesses prototypical size. Is tall and thickly built. Is fluid and mobile for his size. Shows some variety as a pass rusher, using a combination of quickness and power. At his best as a pass rusher when working one-on-one on the perimeter. Displays enough upper and lower body strength to seal off the perimeter when he's playing with leverage. Has long arms and does a good job at times of keeping separation from blockers.

Weaknesses: Is quicker than fast. Lacks ideal top-end speed. He will never be the type of speed-end that can consistently run past offensive tackles. Lacks explosive first-step and closing burst as a pass rusher. Really struggles to split the double-team. Needs to fire out with more consistent leverage and still working to master his array of pass rush moves. He gets frustrated very easily and it affects his performance. He leaves his feet too frequently. Durability is only a minor concern but he has had ankle surgery twice during collegiate career; once in 2003 and most recently in spring of 2007.

Overall: Jackson was redshirted in 2003 and underwent post-season arthroscopic right ankle surgery. During his first three seasons (2004-'06) he played in 39 games recording 121 total tackles, 35 tackles for loss, and 20 sacks. Jackson had another right ankle surgery before 2007 spring practice. Jackson was one of the best young defensive ends in the nation during his first two seasons at USC (2004-'05) but his production tailed off as a junior in 2006. Part of the problem was that Jackson spent more time inside as the Trojans' injected more 3-4 alignments on defense. The other problem was that Jackson didn't handle all the double-team attention well. Regardless, Jackson has prototypical size, good quickness and power. He has the physical tools to develop into a solid starter in the NFL but he will never needs to be used as a traditional end on the perimeter in order to be effective. With all that said; Jackson is an overrated prospect at this point and he needs to show significant improvement as a senior in order to regain what was once considered to be first-round draft potential.