The 2013 NFL combine gets underway later on this week and Southern Illinois outside linebacker Jayson DiManche is one player that did not receive an invite.
Adam Caplan came across the Youtube video of the small school prospect, and while his technique is certainly tough judge based on the several camera angles, he is a kid that I feel needs more examination as possible late round selection by the Pittsburgh Steelers, especially if they are unable to draft an outside linebacker early on in the draft.
The Salukis play a 3-4 defense and DiManche has experience playing on both sides as you will see in the video below. He appears to be a quick twitch athlete and good off of the edge with his speed rush. There is not much on him bull rushing, so I intend on trying to track down a few of games to get a better look at him. He does, however, look good playing the run, especially on the backside and he is also used to lining up and covering out in space as well.
According to NFLDraftScout.com DiManche measures in at 6012 and 230 pounds, which looks about right according to his highlight video. Further research reveals that he was a team captain in 2012 and was scheduled to graduate in December with a degree in communications and public relations and a minor in marking and journalism.
As far as his statistics go, DiManche recorded 8 solo sacks in 2012 to go along with 12 solo tackles for loss and 6 more assisted tackles for loss. That equates to a more than acceptable production ratio of 2.09, but keep in mind that this a small school player that we are talking about here.
In 2011 DiManche recorded just 2 solo sacks and 1 assisted sack to go along with 8 solo tackles for loss and 2 assisted tackles for loss. Why the lack of production? DiManche said that he battled a groin injury that season.
“I had a little groin injury my junior year and was never the same, DiManche told the Hamilton Post. “I wasn’t 100 percent, but I had to be on the field for the guys. I think if I hadn’t gotten injured would have been able to improve on my individual stats.”
The bottom video was just released on Monday and it shows DiManche training for his pro days, which are apparently set for March 5th at Northwestern University and March 28th at Southern Illinois. The video shows the linebacker doing 19 reps of 245 pounds on the bench, which should equate to him putting up 225 pounds around 25 times at his pro day. He also has a broad jump recorded in the video of 10\’10”, which is quite impressive. At the end of the video he steps on the scale and it appears that he currently weighs about 234 pounds.
DiManche is certainly a small school outside linebacker prospect that is worth tracking over the course of the next several weeks.
