Round Three: Uchenna Nwosu, OLB, USC
The Jets add more pass rush in round three:
"Uchenna Nwosu is still fairly new to football, having started playing his sophomore year of high school, but he was meant to play the sport. Nwosu can rush the passer with an array of moves. He has the speed to bend the edge and the strength to use a bull rush."
For anyone not familiar, here are his college stats:
| Tackles | Def Int | Fumbles | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | School | Conf | Class | Pos | G | Solo | Ast | Tot | Loss | Sk | Int | Yds | Avg | TD | PD | FR | Yds | TD | FF |
| *2014 | USC | Pac-12 | FR | LB | 8 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| *2015 | USC | Pac-12 | SO | LB | 10 | 14 | 18 | 32 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| *2016 | USC | Pac-12 | JR | LB | 12 | 28 | 25 | 53 | 7.5 | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | |||
| *2017 | USC | Pac-12 | SR | LB | 14 | 47 | 28 | 75 | 11.5 | 9.5 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Career | USC | 94 | 75 | 169 | 20.5 | 12.5 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 1 |
Nwosu really came into his own last season with career highs in TFL’s and sacks. He showed himself as a player that can spend the day in the backfield on Saturdays, and potentially Sundays. Here is an interesting quote from his profile at With the First Pick:
"Using Nwosu in coverage is a bit of a waste of his talents. This is someone who needs to work at the line of scrimmage and rush the passer. Nwosu is a top-flight prospect who could quickly develop into a terror off the edge."
It’s interesting because the Jets have made this type of mistake with defensive players in the past. They previous administration asked Quinton Coples to drop into coverage and we all saw how that worked out. We also saw the current staff put Sheldon Richardson into different types of roles, almost like a linebacker instead of a defensive lineman. Seeing a player that will suffer being used that way brings back memories of Jets gone by.
Here is some footage from a game against Ohio State:
Next: The rise and fall of Big Mo
It is clear from this footage that Nwosu is more comfortable at the line of scrimmage than dropping into coverage. In the clips shown here he almost looks like the old version of Demario Davis in coverage, and that is bad. He has a high motor but he needs to get stronger. He can be controlled by talented linemen. He clearly wants that football and can get to it though.
As for third round value, not bad here at all.