3rd Round Corner. Part I. 

By TOM

Witherspoon  is along tall Corner who got better every year at Colorado. It took him a little while to grow into his body. He is a 6-3 Corner, who as great quick feet and surprising speed. He turns and runs smooth down the sideline with the WR. He tends to keep his eye on the WR, and looks back at the ball a little late sometimes. He will also lock onto the WR like a stalker, and miss the run a lot. Not a very good run defender. 

He does a good job using his long arms to get his hands on the WR in the jam. Terrific job staying in pedal where he can see the QB and WR if Off. He can turn and cut off the WR and knock the ball down with position 50-yards downfield. He catches it like a DB sometimes (which is not a compliment;). 

Nice quick feet in off. He more gallops backwards than pedals in off.  He covers the deep out well. He will give up some room for the QB to throw into, but does a good job arriving as the ball arrives and make the WR catch through contact. 

He gave signals in the secondary sometimes. Terrific against the run. He could play some safety. Protects the sideline very well, and can work through blockers from the side to make the tackle on the Toss. Very smart and aware against the run, when he sees it. Plays the edge very well against the run, and they often leave him out there to set it. More of a hitter than a tackler, and will bounce off big RBs sometimes. Doesn't wrap up or grab, but like to dive and use his shoulder pads. 

He might be better in off. He finds the ball in the air in Off better (and then drops it like he did against Michigan;). He can play it perfectly down the sideline, and cut off the big WR perfectly to take perfect position, and then leap up and drop it. He has that knack for getting inside position on the WR going down either sideline, and making the QB trying to throw over him. He can turn, spot the ball, and tracking very well down the sideline.  

He has some great quick feet moving backwards and shifting inside on the Slant. Great knack for shadowing the WR in man, and taking position as the ball arrives. Much better as the ball arrives than in the middle of the pattern. He has elite size, but is not as physical at the line as you would like in Press. He played more finesse Press than I like for a guy his size. They leave him out on the blindside a lot when no WR lines up on his side, and he protects the sideline very well when they run to his side.

Great job leaping in front of the WR when the ball is going to his outside shoulder. He can leap in front of the WR to try and knock the ball out when the QB fades it over his back shoulder, and almost hit the ball as the WR catches it a yard out of bounds. Great quicks, COD, and Vert when the ball is heading to the WR. He makes catching it very tough for the WR, which is really what you want.

Combine: This guy just ran an incredible time. He can cover as well. But at 6-2, to run under 4.5 is just incredible. 23 PBU. He has some great ball skills, but bad hands. He has some great size and speed. He could end up in the 2nd round. I really like the Colorado kids. Smooth tight pedal. Smooth hips. Nice snap in hips. Little tight flipping hips all the way around. Very big and tall guy, who can really high point the ball. He is one of the most impressive size-speed CBs in this Draft.

Previously released:

He is a wild and crazy CB. He bites on fakes more than any other CB in this Draft. But he also has the best recovery instincts of any CB in this Draft. He is out of position when the QB is looking his way, and then in position as the ball arrives more than any other CB in this Draft. He has to get more consistent with his technique. Nice job protecting the sideline. 

He is most known for his great interception against Oregon. "I was just trying to make a play," Witherspoon said. "Then a few days after is when I really started to realize what a big play it was. To lock up a win like that for the program. To make that kind of play. I see how big it is now. It took a couple of days to really understand." Now he has to step up his game to the NFL. He is already "showing strong interest" from Jets and Detroit. He is guy who could sneak into the 2nd.

He can cover a lot of ground moving backwards. He has some herky-jerky movement moving backwards. Nice tackler. He is a big physical CB, and he can really tackle. He can make a lot of money in a bump and run defense. He is very tough to get past down the sideline when he is bumping. Light on his feet. Turns and spots the ball very well.

Nice quick feet moving backwards. "My competitive fire is always there whether they throw at me or not," Witherspoon said. "I just want to hold it down on my side for [Chidobe] and the rest of the guys. I know he’ll do his job and my teammates will do their job. It’s my job to handle my side of the field." Nice job zoning the Flat. Plays with his hands a little too much sometimes.  

2016 (Sr.): He played in all 13 games (12 starts) at right cornerback, earning second-team All-Pac-12 honors from both the Associated Press and the league coaches. He led the nation in pass breakups with 22 on the year, which tied for the most in CU single-season history with Ben Kelly's 22 recorded in 1998. He ranked second in the nation in total passes defended with 23, trailing only teammate Tedric Thompson’s 25. His lone interception on the year was one of CU's biggest plays of the season, as his pick in the end zone at Oregon when the Ducks had the ball inside the CU 10-yard line with under a minute to play sealed the 41-38 victory. He was credited with at least one pass breakup in 12 games, including seven games with multiple pass breakups (high of four versus Utah). He was in for 797 snaps on defense, recording 24 tackles, 10 third down stops and six touchdown saves. He helped the CU secondary rank No. 3 in the country in pass efficiency defense at 98.1 while opposing quarterbacks completed just 48.3 percent of their passes in averaging only 182.5 yards per game, ranking as the 13th-best passing defense in the FBS. He had a pass breakup in each of the first eight games of the season and was one of only two players in the nation (along with Indiana’s Rashard Fant) to have a pass breakup in every game through the end of October. He posted three tackles and two pass breakups in 49 plays at No. 4 Michigan, and recovered the first fumble of his career at USC, which was one of four takeaways for the Buffs in that contest. He forced the first fumble of his career on at Arizona, a game in which he set a new season/career-high with six tackles. He missed almost all of spring practices after suffering a mid-foot sprain early on (March 14); he was 100 percent by the end of April.

Witherspoon Vs Washington:

He played mostly on the right, but would switch over to the strongside occasionally. Watch the nice quick feet. He showed some great hips twisting outside. It took a guy with 4.22 speed to run by him. But has that knack for being there when the ball arrives (:01). On the QBs right (:23). You can see how he locks on the WR like a stalker moving backwards. I love his transition, and the way he swivels back and runs with the WR down the sideline. He will miss the run while he turns and runs with the WR.

He uses his great feet to slide in front of Ross and cut him off. He likes to get his hands on the WR a little too much (:37). Watch how quick and agile he is when he gets low and cuts off the inside (:47). Nice little jam on the out and up to slow the fastest WR in the Daft (:55). You have to remember this is a 6-3 WR covering the small WR, who is the fastest and quickest WR in the Draft. We know he can cover the big guys. But the biggest problem those giant CB face is can the stay and play low against the tiny waterbug WRs. Who if you blink, they are gone. 

Watch his hips snap outside (1:08). Watch how long he stays moving backwards against Ross to slow his release. That is not easy to do. That is some great finesse press against the fastest guy in the NFL to break up the timing of the route (1:14). He tends to dive low to hit, but is not a wrap up tackler (1:35). Watch the shuffle sideways down field as he is locked onto the WR (1:45). The QB has no room to throw into.

In their defense, he will stay out on the right when they go with one WR (1:55). Staying with Ross on the jerk route (2:16). He stayed in his petal a little too long, and gave up the inside. He instinctually protects the sideline much more than inside (2:27). He had to hop outside to keep up with Ross, but only gave up the Comeback (2:36). Even when he gives up something outside, he is almost always right there.

This is just great coverage against the fastest guy in the NFL. Watch his shadow on Ross, and then the dive in front of him at the last second to break up the pass. That is not easy to do against that guy. Ross should be annihilating any 6-3 CB they put in front of him with his quickness, and he is not (2:44). He does a good job finding his way through trash and traffic to the QB. But lowered his head and missed. He is a terrible form tackler (3:06). But he is going to make his money in coverage, and right now I feeling like I have him underrated as a 3rd Round Corner. 

Weatherspoon Vs Washington:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX5sECWxD8M

Witherspoon's Official Bio:

AT COLORADO: Career—He finished tied for 13th on CU’s all-time passes broken up list with 28. He has accepted an invitation to play in the 2017 East-West Shrine Game.

2016 (Sr.)—He played in all 13 games (12 starts) at right cornerback, earning second-team All-Pac-12 honors from both the Associated Press and the league coaches. He led the nation in pass breakups with 22 on the year, which tied for the most in CU single-season history with Ben Kelly's 22 recorded in 1998. He ranked second in the nation in total passes defended with 23, trailing only teammate Tedric Thompson’s 25. His lone interception on the year was one of CU's biggest plays of the season, as his pick in the end zone at Oregon when the Ducks had the ball inside the CU 10-yard line with under a minute to play sealed the 41-38 victory. He was credited with at least one pass breakup in 12 games, including seven games with multiple pass breakups (high of four versus Utah). He was in for 797 snaps on defense, recording 24 tackles, 10 third down stops and six touchdown saves. He helped the CU secondary rank No. 3 in the country in pass efficiency defense at 98.1 while opposing quarterbacks completed just 48.3 percent of their passes in averaging only 182.5 yards per game, ranking as the 13th-best passing defense in the FBS. He had a pass breakup in each of the first eight games of the season and was one of only two players in the nation (along with Indiana’s Rashard Fant) to have a pass breakup in every game through the end of October. He posted three tackles and two pass breakups in 49 plays at No. 4 Michigan, and recovered the first fumble of his career at USC, which was one of four takeaways for the Buffs in that contest. He forced the first fumble of his career on at Arizona, a game in which he set a new season/career-high with six tackles. He missed almost all of spring practices after suffering a mid-foot sprain early on (March 14); he was 100 percent by the end of April.

2015 (Jr.)—He played in all 13 games, including eight starts, all made at the left cornerback position. He racked up 41 total tackles (36 solo, one a tackle for zero), along with posting seven third down stops, four pass deflections, two touchdown saves and two interceptions, the latter coming in back-to-back games against Oregon and Arizona State. He had a career/season-high six tackles on two occasions, at Hawai’i in the season opener and against Oregon, all of them solo in both games. He had four solo tackles at Oregon State, three of them coming on third downs. He opened the scoring in the spring game with a 69-yard interception return for the Gold team (one of two picks he had in the four main spring scrimmages).

2014 (Soph.)—He played in 10 games, five on defense with one start (at Southern California) as he was hampered at the beginning of the season with a back injury that surfaced in the middle of August camp. He was in for 144 snaps on defense, recording 12 tackles (10 solo), with two pass deflections and a third down stop. He had a season-high five tackles (four solo) against Oregon State, when he also had a pass deflection. He had three unassisted tackles at Oregon, when he played his most snaps in a single game (45). On special teams, he had a knockdown block and an interception on a 2-point conversion try (the latter against Utah). He had a tremendous spring, recording 11 tackles and eight passes broken up in the four main scrimmages; he had three solo stops, an interception and four PBU’s in the spring game alone, three of the latter coming in the end zone. He signed with the Buffs in the December junior college signing period and enrolled in classes for the spring semester; he came to Colorado with four years to play three in eligibility.

AT SACRAMENTO CITY COLLEGE—He played one season at Sacramento City College, starting at cornerback. In eight games, he racked up 21 tackles (15 solo), with seven passes broken up and a forced fumble; he had also had three interceptions, which tied for third in the Mid-Empire Conference. His top game came against Siskiyous, when he had eight tackles (seven solo) and a PBU. Under coach Dannie Walker, Sac City was 1-9 his only season there.

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