Villain's Final 2019 Mock Draft. W/trades. R 1-4

[Villain The Foe]

7 minutes ago, sec101row23 said:

Again, you miss the point.  If you can’t tell the difference between blocking in WSU’s offense and blocking in an NFL system then I’m sorry.  

You've demonstrated nothing. No demontration of that WS offense and all of this 2 second passing. 

Which I can tell anyone right now if they want to see Dillard block for way more than 2-2.5 seconds as well as following the defender around the back side of the QB while playing in the snow, go watch the WS vs U. Washington game. 

If you can show something, then I wont miss it. Right now all you've shown was the ability to partially read quotes and make claims. 

 

Here's that Washington game. 

 

[sec101row23]

Just now, Villain The Foe said:

You've demonstrated nothing. No demontration of that WS offense and all of this 2 second passes. 

Which I can tell anyone right now if they want to see Dillard block for way more than 2-2.5 seconds as well as following the defender around the back side of the QB while playing in the snow, go watch the WS vs U. Washington game. 

If you can show something, then I wont miss it. Right now all you've shown was the ability to partially read quotes and make claims. 

 

Here's that Washington game. 

 

Oh boy

[RobR]

13 minutes ago, Villain The Foe said:

Confirmation of what he played at the Senior Bowl doesnt confirm what he played during his college games. 

If there is one thing the Senior Bowl does, it is the fact that they play them, and practice them where they are expected too play in the NFL. They also do a very good job of it. It's also no different and especially true for Offensive Tackles kicking inside. 

[#27TheDominator]

1 hour ago, Villain The Foe said:

It is what it is with Oliver. The only guy I want to use the word safe with is Sam Darnold. Keeping Sam healthy and in the game keeps this franchise safe. That's more important at this point in time IMO. 

I figured if im able to finess the draft by taking two of the top Linemen available and still get a guy like Banogu, then missing on guys like Oliver is something that we can live with. We solidified the Oline and drafted the most explosive Dlineman in the class, and he happens to be a pass rusher. 

I am probably overrating Isabella, but really for the sake of not having to shuffle the same names over and over again and making a predictable draft with the same names that we all generally expect or have seen. I look through alot of guys every year when I do this and I like to bring some fresh faces. Isabella is arguably the most productive WR of the class and no one around here has even heard of him because he happens not to be DK Metcalf, though Metcalf is one of the least productive WR's in this class that will most likely be drafted in the 1st round. He plays bigger than his size and for small hands he's a sure catcher. Dude has some soft hands, which honestly was what most impressed me. 

In an Air Raid system Isabella is a weapon. Today's NFL rules allows for a guy like Isabella to not only have a job in the NFL, but could actually be a Star because if schemed correctly, you basically cant touch him, his track speed translates to the field and he's actually a pretty good route runner and doesnt just rely on his speed. He's a wide receiver in an 8th grader's body. 

Im probably overrating him, but im willing to do that for a guy who's shown that he's more than his size. Besides, the irony is that he's from "Mayfield, Ohio"....which already makes him a legend in my book!  

 

I also didnt know about the Bassey news. He will be on my watch list this year for sure. Dude is f'ing legit.

Well, I guess you really are overrating Isabella.  Track speed?  That's nice, but there are dozens of faster guys.  Several will go undrafted.  I took 4 guys faster than "track speed" in the JN mock.  2 WRs and 2 CB. He ran a 4.45.  That is great, but far from untouchable by CBs.  Hell a DE ran that this year.  His agility times were solid but not insane.  A guy like Scott Miller (another fidget) is faster and had good, but not quite as great, production in the same sh*tty conference.  You don't even hear his name. Isabella's hand size and wingspan make him borderline undraftable in my book.  Rather have a giant speedster like Boykin.   I actually kind of like Isabella, but this draft is way too stacked with guys that played high competition and can run for me to take him in the 3rd.  

As for Oliver, I think a great player is worth several good ones and IMO he has the best chance of being a great player in this draft.  FWIW, I am not as high on Bradbury as most.  He is a great athlete and more of a ZBS only guy.  I would rather have a power guy with athleticism.  

[Villain The Foe]

2 minutes ago, sec101row23 said:

Oh boy

Cant argue with tape huh?

[sec101row23]

3 minutes ago, Villain The Foe said:

Cant argue with tape huh?

Again, you’re missing the entire point.  

But great job with that mock.  

[Villain The Foe]

7 minutes ago, #27TheDominator said:

Well, now I know you are overrating Isabella.  Track speed?  That's nice, but there are dozens of faster guys.  Several will go undrafted.  I took 4 guys faster than "track speed" in the JN mock.  2 WRs and 2 CB. He ran a 4.45.  That is great, but far from untouchable by CBs.  Hell a DE ran that this year.  His agility times were solid but not insane.  A guy like Scott Miller (another fidget) is faster and had good, but not quite as great, production in the same sh*tty conference.  You don't even hear his name. Isabella's hand size and wingspan make him borderline undraftable in my book.  Rather have a giant speedster like Boykin.   I actually kind of like Isabella, but this draft is way too stacked with guys that played high competition and can run for me to take him in the 3rd.  

There are dozens of fast guys who arent wide receivers, but are track stars. I didnt just mention his speed, but his ability to be a good route runner. He's a WR. 

If I solely wanted speed I'd close my eyes and pick a WR form Ohio St. 

Isabella actually ran a 4.31 at the combine, which was the fastest time at the combine this year if im correct. 

Directly from NFL.com

https://www.nfl.com/prospects/andy-isabella?id=32194953-4156-2722-bf26-62181351a224

 

I doubt a DE ran a 4.31. 

 

I get you though, he's undraftable in your book. He's good on my book though. 

[Villain The Foe]

11 minutes ago, sec101row23 said:

Again, you’re missing the entire point.  

But great job with that mock.  

Did the video that I put up show your point? 

I know it showed my point. 

Is there a video that shows your point? 

[Villain The Foe]

24 minutes ago, RobR said:

If there is one thing the Senior Bowl does, it is the fact that they play them, and practice them where they are expected too play in the NFL. They also do a very good job of it. It's also no different and especially true for Offensive Tackles kicking inside. 

Where one is expected to be playing during that one week of festivities can change once a player is on an actual roster and their talent and ability is further evaluated in house. 

A guy like Steve Smith coming into the league at 5'9 would have instantly been considered a slot guy. Yet it was obvious that he was more than that. "Dont let the size fool you" he said. 

 

Now im not calling Isabella Steve Smith, what im saying is that offensive coaches can evaluate their talent and do what is best to take advantage of a player's ability much better than what the senior bowl could ever do. 

That doesnt mean that the folks that participate in the Senior Bowl dont do a good job within that week. 

 

 

 

[#27TheDominator]

3 minutes ago, Villain The Foe said:

There are dozens of fast guys who arent wide receivers, but are track stars. I didnt just mention his speed, but his ability to be a good route runner. He's a WR. 

If I solely wanted speed I'd close my eyes and pick a WR form Ohio St. 

Isabella actually ran a 4.31 at the combine, which was the fastest time at the combine this year if im correct. 

Directly from NFL.com

https://www.nfl.com/prospects/andy-isabella?id=32194953-4156-2722-bf26-62181351a224

 

I doubt a DE ran a 4.31. 

 

I get you though, he's undraftable in your book. He's good on my book though. 

Interesting.  The SPARQ guys have hm reported as 4.45.  They have his other numbers the same.  According to NFL.com he was tied with Parris Campbell for 3rd fastest at the combine.  A couple of DBs, Zedrick Woods and  Jamel Dean were faster.  Still, 4.31 is nothing to sneeze at.  Like I said.  I like him, but he has a 71" wingspan and under 9" hands.  He is a guy I would look and call a midget.  That knocks him out of my 3rd round, but to each their own.   

[RobR]

18 minutes ago, Villain The Foe said:

A guy like Steve Smith coming into the league at 5'9 would have instantly been considered a slot guy. Yet it was obvious that he was more than that. "Dont let the size fool you" he said. 

Here is another point where I will disagree. Steve Smith was always considered an outside receiver regardless of his size and like I posted over and over on another board about Brandin Cooks. Just because they are short is no reason not too consider them outside but they are the outliers.

The Senior Bowl routinely changes players positions based on feedback on where the scouts want to see them practice. They've been doing this forever and are always spot on. Some Offensive lineman and Defensive lineman will practice at multiple positions because it's up in the air on what position best suits them in the NFL. It speaks volumes that all Isabella worked out of was the slot.

[Villain The Foe]

6 hours ago, #27TheDominator said:

Interesting.  The SPARQ guys have hm reported as 4.45.  They have his other numbers the same.  According to NFL.com he was tied with Parris Campbell for 3rd fastest at the combine.  A couple of DBs, Zedrick Woods and  Jamel Dean were faster.  Still, 4.31 is nothing to sneeze at.  Like I said.  I like him, but he has a 71" wingspan and under 9" hands.  He is a guy I would look and call a midget.  That knocks him out of my 3rd round, but to each their own.   

As I agreed, the 3rd round could be alittle rich in terms of draft position, though I believe that folks are only basing that on his stature and not his game.

But it would be hard argue with your position in that regard. But knowing Villain, I will try my best to do so! ?

I will say this though, that 4.45 number is much different than a 4.31. That's elite speed. Robby Anderson is one of the best deep threats in the league and he ran a 4.36 40 at Temple's proday, and we all know that proday times are usually a bit faster than combine results.

With that said, Isabella was in the 97th percentile when it came to college production. Thats insane for any WR. If his height was an issue it would have shown to be in college. A 5'8 WR having arguably the best receiving season in the country, while also getting better every single season he's been in college also shows his upward trajectory in terms of production.

His stats makes him a day 1 day 2 pick, yet his height makes him a reach as a day 2 pick. But if a team like the Chiefs, Cards, Pats or Steelers were to pick im up in the 3rd round, knowing the style of offense thay they play, I can say that given his production that getting him with a 3rd round pick is getting tremendous value in return.

The only thing holding him back is this perception of height. Well, we're probably going to see a 5'10 QB be drafted 1st overall....because of his ability. And that's because a 6'1 QB who was considered too short just a season ago was drafted 1st overall, contrary to what the experts felt and he had one of the best seasons recorded for a rookie qb. Then they realized that they should have evaluated his game more than his height and dash cam footage. The same year that a 5'10 white WR became superbowl MVP on a team where slot has been the #1 receiver since Wes Welker, a 5'9 receiver who it can be argued for was the best receiver in the NFL during his entire time in NE from a production standpoint, and honesty he should be a HOF consideration. 

I remember Jets fans talkkng about how R. Anderson was too small in terms of weight and CB's will own him at the LOS. Yet, what we see in reality are those CB's respecting his speed and deep threat ability. I actually dont ever recall a game where Inwas like "Wow, Robby couldn't beat press all game". I've actually seen Anderson blow past guys for TD's who actually gave him 7 yards of cushion and still got smoked. Size doesnt matter the way it used to. 

The game is different today from the perspective that an Andy Isabella based on production and being an effort guy would actually be considered undervalued as a 3rd rounder, because it's not his game or production that is being criticized...but his height. 

[Villain The Foe]

6 hours ago, RobR said:

Here is another point where I will disagree. Steve Smith was always considered an outside receiver regardless of his size and like I posted over and over on another board about Brandin Cooks. Just because they are short is no reason not too consider them outside but they are the outliers.

The Senior Bowl routinely changes players positions based on feedback on where the scouts want to see them practice. They've been doing this forever and are always spot on. Some Offensive lineman and Defensive lineman will practice at multiple positions because it's up in the air on what position best suits them in the NFL. It speaks volumes that all Isabella worked out of was the slot.

And yet most of his production in college was on the outside. 

You can disagree, I really dont mind. But my point is that he's shown that he has that ability as well. 

What he did at the senior bowl doesnt change that fact. 

Im not calling him an exclusive outside guy, im saying that he has the ability to do so, even more so when schemed to take advantage of defenses. 

 

[genot]

11 hours ago, Villain The Foe said:

The pass rushers in this draft arent even "total packages". Is there a Khalil Mack, Lawrence Taylor, Aaron Donald in this draft? 

All of these dudes need some form of further development. They're rookies. Any of those guys could end up being all-pro's, but they're not heading into the draft as being "that guy" as a Khalil Mack, Jadaveon Clowney etc. 

Andre Dillard is "better than good" (better than Kelvin Beachum) when it comes to pass protection. He had a 94.0 grade in pass blocking, the best in college football. His weakness is run blocking mainly because he came from the Washington State, a football program that threw the ball on 1st, 2nd and 3rd down.

Better yet, let me make it even clearer. 

Washington's QB Gardner Minshew threw the ball 662 times last season and completed 70% of his passes. As a comparison:

OKLA's QB Kyler Murray threw the ball just 377 times. 
Other top QB's...Drew Lock: 437, Dwayne Haskins: 533, Will Grier: 397, Daniel Jones: 392. 

Washington State averaged 50 pass attempts a game, yet one of the best protected QB's in all of football was Gardner Minshew. 

 

If that's not a sign of a complete Tackle then I should stop making Mock Drafts right now. 

Sorry for the late response. We don't have am impact pass rusher. We have a competent LT. Dillard probably will DEVELOP into a better LT than Beachum. Doubtful in his first year. It's great if we could fill all our needs. i think the better approach is to draft for pass rush this year, in the 1st. Next year we can find Beachums replacement.

[Villain The Foe]

1 hour ago, genot said:

Sorry for the late response. We don't have am impact pass rusher. We have a competent LT. Dillard probably will DEVELOP into a better LT than Beachum. Doubtful in his first year. It's great if we could fill all our needs. i think the better approach is to draft for pass rush this year, in the 1st. Next year we can find Beachums replacement.

We should have done that before we traded up to draft a QB. 

Our oline depth is probably league worst, our starting RT ripped his knee up week 17, we have no Center, but our LT is competent. 

Im not going into the season with that Oline. 

We drafted a franchise QB for a reason. Unless we want him to end up like Andrew Luck the past few years. 

There's nothing more important. If we score points then we can make the opponent more predictable on offense. If we have a pass rusher but we cant score points because our QB is constantly getting put on his back or is hurt or a starter gets injured and we literally have no replacement, then it wont matter the pass rusher. 

Sam Darnold and the offense is more important to me than anything else. That simply will not change. 

[sec101row23]

11 hours ago, Villain The Foe said:

Did the video that I put up show your point? 

I know it showed my point. 

Is there a video that shows your point? 

So you want a video to show that transitioning to LT in the NFL is the hardest thing to do aside from playing QB?   Lol...

Again, you aren’t grasping the concept.  One of the hardest projections for NFL scouts to make is whether a guy is a legit starting LT in the NFL, this is in large part because of the offenses being played in college right now, SPECIFICALLY Mike Leach’s WSU type of offense.  

Left Tackle is harder than edge rusher to transition to, it’s just facts.   Why do you think there are so few blue chip LT’s coming out of college these days?  

[section314]

9 minutes ago, sec101row23 said:

So you want a video to show that transitioning to LT in the NFL is the hardest thing to do aside from playing QB?   Lol...

Again, you aren’t grasping the concept.  One of the hardest projections for NFL scouts to make is whether a guy is a legit starting LT in the NFL, this is in large part because of the offenses being played in college right now, SPECIFICALLY Mike Leach’s WSU offense.  

Left Tackle is harder than edge rusher to transition to, it’s just facts.   Why do you think there are so few blue chip LT’s coming out of college these days?  

I've been listening to a bunch of NFL radio the last few weeks, mostly because of the two drafts, the one at the end of the month, and the JN Mock. The overwhelming "gripe" of Gm's and scouts is how hard it is to really evaluate O Linemen these days because of the college game.

[sec101row23]

2 minutes ago, section314 said:

I've been listening to a bunch of NFL radio the last few weeks, mostly because of the two drafts, the one at the end of the month, and the JN Mock. The overwhelming "gripe" of Gm's and scouts is how hard it is to really evaluate O Linemen these days because of the college game.

Agreed.  Look at Clemson for example.  They have sent a ton of players to the NFL in the last 7 years or so.   Their recruiting classes are ranked among the top 10 every year.  They’ve had first round picks as QBs, WRs, Edge, DTs.  Why haven’t they produced NFL caliber offensive linemen?   It’s their system, it’s not conducive to the NFL.  

[#27TheDominator]

The simple answer to  a bunch of this, including outside vs. slot and the great statistics, is the MAC is not the NFL.  It is also not he SEC.  He is going to have trouble getting off the line.  he is certainly a legit prospect and belongs in an NFL camp, but we value him differently.  Also, unlike Welker who IIRC had insane shuttle times, his were good, but not crazy good.  Plenty of good WR talent comes out of the MAC - Randy Moss, Antonio Brown,Greg Jennings, Corey Davis, etc, but guys like Roger Lewis and Jordan White had better seasons there too

[section314]

3 minutes ago, sec101row23 said:

Agreed.  Look at Clemson for example.  They have sent a ton of players to the NFL in the last 7 years or so.   Their recruiting classes are ranked among the top 10 every year.  They’ve had first round picks as QBs, WRs, Edge, DTs.  Why haven’t they produced NFL caliber offensive linemen?   It’s their system, it’s not conducive to the NFL.   

Agreed. If you really want to go with the odds, Draft Oline from Wisconsin. Those guys are coached to play in the NFL.

[#27TheDominator]

8 minutes ago, sec101row23 said:

Agreed.  Look at Clemson for example.  They have sent a ton of players to the NFL in the last 7 years or so.   Their recruiting classes are ranked among the top 10 every year.  They’ve had first round picks as QBs, WRs, Edge, DTs.  Why haven’t they produced NFL caliber offensive linemen?   It’s their system, it’s not conducive to the NFL.  

That got from the Panthers that got KO'ed on film was from Clemson, wasn't he?  Taylor Hearn.

[Thai Jet]

On 4/6/2019 at 7:49 PM, Paradis said:

before I rip this in half, would you mind telling me quickly what your mock would look like w/o trades? Your first 2 picks are strong, obviously, but then takes nose dive for me. 

Agreed Both O line picks will be a big + but another safety ? In the 2nd round ? IDK. And a tiny slot receiver ? What about Crowder who we just signed?

I would think we'd get a lot more than a 2nd for trading down from #3 to #6. Look what it cost us just last year.

[sec101row23]

1 minute ago, #27TheDominator said:

That got from the Panthers that got KO'ed on film was from Clemson, wasn't he?  Taylor Hearn.

Yes.  He played at Clemson.  Dabo needed to teach him some self defense lessons...Lol

[genot]

38 minutes ago, Villain The Foe said:

We should have done that before we traded up to draft a QB. 

Our oline depth is probably league worst, our starting RT ripped his knee up week 17, we have no Center, but our LT is competent. 

Im not going into the season with that Oline. 

We drafted a franchise QB for a reason. Unless we want him to end up like Andrew Luck the past few years. 

There's nothing more important. If we score points then we can make the opponent more predictable on offense. If we have a pass rusher but we cant score points because our QB is constantly getting put on his back or is hurt or a starter gets injured and we literally have no replacement, then it wont matter the pass rusher. 

Sam Darnold and the offense is more important to me than anything else. That simply will not change. 

You say we have no center. Maybe we do. What problem did you have with the way Harrison played, when he got his chance. I'm not saying he's awesome, but he handled things very well. We have a stud LG now. Everything i've heard is Shell will be 100%, before training camp

[JustInFudge]

I hate this draft the most out of all your drafts. 

[JustInFudge]

12 hours ago, Villain The Foe said:

Cant argue with tape huh?

I've come to respect @RobR's take on the OL.  Dude is good.  Curious if he watched any Dillard?   I have not.  But I checked out your clip and was utterly unimpressed. 

The one thing that popped out to me while watching that clip you shared, is I legit dont think I've ever seen a LT get as much help over the entirety of a game as I just watched with Dillard.  He was rarely put on an island.  The LG helped on damn near every passing play that wasnt a quick hitter.  And it didnt look like Washington had any scary pass rushers, while they do have a great D.  Didnt seem to make any push in the run game, at all as well. 

[Paradis]

1 hour ago, JiF said:

I've come to respect @RobR's take on the OL.  Dude is good.  Curious if he watched any Dillard?   I have not.  But I checked out your clip and was utterly unimpressed. 

The one thing that popped out to me while watching that clip you shared, is I legit dont think I've ever seen a LT get as much help over the entirety of a game as I just watched with Dillard.  He was rarely put on an island.  The LG helped on damn near every passing play that wasnt a quick hitter.  And it didnt look like Washington had any scary pass rushers, while they do have a great D.  Didnt seem to make any push in the run game, at all as well. 

I think he's smooth, quick on his feet, and has sound fundamentals. Will be fairly dominant pass protecting LT... but  probably not going to get my nasty out of him if you want that kind of support in the run game. IE. your classic AFCN brand of football. I think his mileage will go much further on team that runs a pass heavy neo-college style offense. 

[RobR]

1 hour ago, JiF said:

I've come to respect @RobR's take on the OL.  Dude is good.  Curious if he watched any Dillard?

Thanks and no I have not watched Dillard. I figure there is about a zero chance we draft him so I didn't waste my time.

[jetsons]

For the most part I like all your picks I just have an issue with the compensation we received for them... I believe we would & should be able to get much more... very good job otherwise. ? 

[JustInFudge]

1 hour ago, Paradis said:

I think he's smooth, quick on his feet, and has sound fundamentals. Will be fairly dominant pass protecting LT... but  probably not going to get my nasty out of him if you want that kind of support in the run game. IE. your classic AFCN brand of football. I think his mileage will go much further on team that runs a pass heavy neo-college style offense. 

Right on.  Like I said, I know nothing about him.  That clip was about all I've ever watched and found it odd how much help he was getting, didnt see a whole lot there to get excited about.  I know he had a monster combine so I was expecting a little more dominance and certainly a lot more of him on an island.  And I didnt see either.  

That said, being a novice watching cut up game film, I have no clue what the call or the protection was, just found it odd to see the Guard initiate contact quite a bit.  I'll give a comparison; last year I loved Orlando Brown.   Even after the terrible reports of him being out of shape and having a poor attitude because when you watched his cut ups, he just didnt get beat. Ever.  Nobody ever got by him and he was always on an island.  Very rarely did you see any help, not even a chip from a RB or TE.  They let Brown just put up a wall.  He was rarely even pushed off his spot.   Never gave up a sack 4 years as a starter.  Rob hated him, we made a bet that he wouldnt go, 1st round and I lost.  Fast forward to the NFL, Brown was spectacular as a rookie.  Once again, not giving up any sacks and basically changing offenses midseason to accommodate Jackson. 

While scouting OL is harder than ever before, the one thing that is easy to see on film is; do they trust him with no help and does he get beat.  I dont see that in this game with Dillard.  Curious now to watch some more cut ups. 

[RobR]

36 minutes ago, JiF said:

Curious now to watch some more cut ups. 

I'll do a breakdown on him later tonight when I get some time.

[nyjbuddy]

From a measurement perspective, Isabella reminded me of Danny Woodhead.  Here is a great article of Isabella working out with Randy Moss:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001018289/article/how-speed-put-umass-wr-andy-isabella-on-fast-track-to-nfl

How speed put UMass WR Andy Isabella on fast track to NFL

TAMPA -- Anyone else could barely be heard.

The whining hum of cars barreling down SR-589 at breakneck speeds, just north of I-275 and directly beside Skyway Park, is loud enough on its own. Throw in the incessant screech of a pressure washer blasting the concrete sidewalks around the grounds, and the backdrop of noise is near deafening.

The Hall of Famer's voice booms though, and cuts through the din with the distinct West Virginia accent that could only belong to Randy Moss. He's forcefully imparting no-nonsense wisdom culled from 16 seasons as an elite pro. Andy Isabella hangs on every word.

Moss wastes none.

"I'm Randy Moss, so now the awkwardness is out of the way," he says as a matter of introduction. "Let's get to work."

It's a pleasantly warm, sun-splashed day in Tampa, the kind of January weather that compels people from the part of the country Isabella calls home to move south. One of the top wide receiver prospects in the 2019 NFL Draft, Isabella fell into Moss' tutelage when his agent sent him to The Applied Science and Performance Institute (ASPI) in Tampa, which contracts Moss for field coaching, to train for the upcoming NFL scouting combine.

Isabella doesn't notice the noise.

He never has.

Not the kind he's having to filter out at Skyway Park, as it competes with Moss' voice, and not the kind that surrounded his football career.

If it wasn't coming from people who thought he was too short, it came from those who thought he'd never get noticed playing football at UMass. If not the 40-yard dash timer at a 2014 SPARQ combine, who so refused to believe Isabella's 4.39 clocking that he made him run it three more times, then the Oklahoma State recruiter who withdrew a late scholarship opportunity less than 24 hours after extending it.

The kid who once built NFL stadiums with Legos was always certain he'd one day play in one and had a deaf ear for anyone who doubted it. Now, he's ready to make some noise of his own.

* * * * *

AS PLAYERS, the two couldn't be much more different in style.

Moss parlayed a 6-foot-4 frame, blinding speed and long arms to become one of the NFL's all-time great deep threats. At 190 pounds, Isabella stands just 5-foot-9 and wasn't blessed with any of the limb length that helped Moss play the game, in basketball parlance, above the rim. Isabella was a running back until just three years ago, and still brings a running back's quickness and instincts to the open field.

Moss doesn't avoid the subject with Isabella or his other pupil on this day, former West Florida WR Antoine Griffin, who has an even lighter frame than Isabella at just 160 pounds.

"I was a vertical speed guy," he tells them, motioning his arm straight downfield. "You guys are going to be asked to play and get open in a short area. You've got to have that down from Day 1."

He's teaching elements of the slot position, and with detailed intricacy. He wants a half-second delay off the line of scrimmage on option routes, because it gives a slot receiver a better and easier read of the defense. Most of all, he wants footwork perfection. At one point, Isabella runs a short curl route and makes a splendid catch on an errant throw, fully extending his left arm for a one-handed catch. The ball was in the air before Isabella turned his head -- his adjustment was instant -- but no praise followed, because Moss is watching feet, not hands. Turns out, the throw wasn't errant -- the route was -- and per Moss, the ball would've come straight to Isabella's chest had he made a tighter turn.

"Sloppy feet don't eat," Moss says -- a perfectly memorable jingle for a wide receiver readying for the NFL draft.

The ASPI contracted Moss for 12 sessions -- three a week over four weeks -- but Isabella's participation at last month's Reese's Senior Bowl limited him to nine of them, and only six before he traveled to Mobile, Ala., for the annual all-star game. This is one reason Moss was teaching the slot position -- not because he doubts Isabella's potential to play the X or Z outside receiver, but because he knew NFL coaches and scouts at the Senior Bowl would want to assess the receiver's slot skills first and foremost.

Truth is, there is high confidence in the NFL scouting community that Isabella can indeed play outside despite his size. Speed is the one thing he has in common with Moss' game, and it's the primary trait necessary to overcome a size deficiency at the X and Z positions. Scouts aren't comparing Isabella to slot stalwarts like Wes Welker or Danny Amendola. Instead, they're invoking names like T.Y. Hilton and Brandin Cooks, two smaller receivers whose speed makes them explosive outside threats. An area scout representing an NFC team said Isabella projects as a third-round pick, while an AFC team scout believes he'll go in Round 2.

More than once, Moss tells Isabella he'll watch the Senior Bowl on NFL Network with a critical eye, looking for him to execute some of the slot principles he's imparting in Tampa. But he sees what scouts see: potential in any receiver role.

"I don't look at height -- you look at Antonio Brown, there are smaller guys still out there doing it on the outside," Moss says. "Andy's athletic ability is tops. I can see why he put up the numbers he put up."

* * * * *

ISABELLA DUG HIS LEFT HEEL into the Lane 6 starting block with something to prove.

It was the climactic moment of the 2015 Ohio High School Athletic Association Regional Track Meet, held at Austintown Fitch High, just west of Youngstown. A few feet to his left, in Lane 4 was Denzel Ward, the favorite to win the boys 100-meter dash finals. Three years later, Ward would clock a 4.32 40-yard dash at the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine, tying him for the fastest time among cornerbacks.

He'd go on to be the No. 4 overall pick of last year's NFL draft by Isabella's hometown team, the Cleveland Browns. But this would not be Ward's day.

Isabella blew away the field with a time of 10.51 -- Ward finished third at 10.68 -- and validation was his. Being the fastest kid in Ohio had never been enough for the Ohio States of college football, where Ward honed his skills, to pay Isabella much attention.

He was used to it.

In his first season playing youth football, in the Cleveland suburb of Willoughby, his size had him on the bench until he begged his father, Tony, to ask an assistant coach with whom he was friends, to give Andy just one carry. He took that carry -- the first time he'd ever touched a ball in a competitive game -- about 70 yards for a touchdown, then did a front flip in the end zone to draw a 15-yard penalty.

An elderly neighbor, Mrs. Olson, employed Isabella to walk her dog when he was a kid, and used to scoff when Andy would tell her he would one day play in the NFL. Now deceased, she built a close friendship with Andy and used to encourage him in every other way. But the NFL? C'mon.

His college recruitment wasn't much different. Mayfield High coach Larry Pinto estimated that in his 18 years as head coach, the Wildcats produced no more than six Division I signees, and a lack of size throughout the program was a big reason for it. True to form, Isabella found himself without an FBS scholarship offer of any note just a week before national signing day in 2015. On Jan. 29, just six days before signing day, he clocked a 6.72 60-meter dash at one of Mayfield's indoor meets, the fastest high school time in the nation at that point of the indoor season.

"He is cartoon fast," said Pinto.

UMass coach Mark Whipple, the former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks coach, caught wind of the clocking, quickly evaluated some film, and called Isabella with a scholarship offer just three days later. Isabella accepted on the phone, without ever having stepped foot on the Amherst campus.

"He reminded me of a kid from (Ft. Lauderdale) St. Thomas Aquinas in 1998, named Adrian Zullo. He didn't have another offer and won a 100-meter championship and ended up being the all-time leading receiver at UMass until Tajae (Sharpe) broke it," said Whipple, who signed Zullo as part of the first signing class of his first stint as UMass head coach (1998-2003). "We needed speed badly then, and we needed it again when we heard about Andy."

The NFL needs it, too.

And because it does, Isabella's speed might finally command the football respect it deserves when the 2019 combine convenes in Indianapolis next week.

"I ran 4.43 at the combine, and he's way faster than what I was," said Isabella's position coach at UMass, five-year NFL veteran Leonard Hankerson.

Added Arizona State strength coach Joe Connolly, who was Isabella's strength coach at UMass for two years: "I wouldn't be surprised if he ran in the 4.2s, but he will absolutely run in the 4.3s. I would put my house on that."

* * * * *

IT HAD TO BE THE MAINTENANCE GUY. Or a member of the grounds crew.

Who else, Joe Connolly thought, would be shoveling 12 inches of snow off the McGuirk Alumni Stadium turf on a January Sunday? Temps had dipped below 20 degrees -- who knows how frigid the wind chill was with the high winds -- and the UMass strength coach pulled his SUV closer to the field as a short, sturdy frame began to take shape. Connolly opened his car door to let his dog, a brown Boxer named Sullivan, run onto the field and get the shoveler's attention.

"January in Amherst might as well be Alaska," Connolly said. "You barely see the ground for months, and Andy is out there digging a path to run sprints on his own. It was ridiculous."

Sullivan ran up on Isabella completing a cleared path of about 40 yards, two hours of moving snow, so he could work out on a day the rest of the Minutemen weren't even scheduled to.

"The school always plowed the field for us after snowstorms, but they hadn't done it yet and I had to get the work in," Isabella said. "And of course, as soon as I got done, the plows came out."

This is how seriously he takes the craft.

Seriously enough that he's never consumed a drop of alcohol.

Seriously enough that within hours of his training day ending at The ASPI, he sent multiple texts to Director of Sports Performance Yo Murphy asking if he could return for extra weightlifting.

Seriously enough that he once spent $1,500 of his annual $1,600 NCAA cost-of-living stipend on a pair of NormaTec recovery boots, because he'd been told they were popular among NFL players.

"I didn't have a dime to spend that whole year," he said.

Seriously enough that he turned a 200-yard hill near UMass, north of campus off Pine Street, into an outdoor incline treadmill. Former Minutemen RB Marquis Young had first shown it to Isabella, who in turn disclosed his workouts there to new strength coach Brian Phillips. The unkempt grass, to Phillips, was far too high for safe exercise.

"If you can't see what you're stepping on, you don't need to be running some random hill in Amherst," Phillips told him.

Isabella ran it anyway.

Back in Tampa, that innate doggedness surfaces in the third of Isabella's workouts with Moss.

It's supposed to be a light one, and the Hall of Fame receiver is teaching only technique after seeing two days of full-speed athleticism. Moss asks for just 30 percent effort -- little more than a jog to emphasize form -- but Isabella comes off the ball with a burst that looks more like 70 percent. After 15 minutes, Moss tells him to throttle down more.

First, down to 20 percent, then he asks for only 10.

"Just walk this, Andy," he says before the day's final drill.

* * * * *

ISABELLA WOULDNâT CHANGE MUCH about his relationship with Vinnie Davis, but if anything, he'd level the notion that it's a friendship born of pity.

When a high school freshman with a learning disability and the star of that high school's football team become inseparably close, a certain narrative takes natural root: Mr. Popularity feeling sorry for a vulnerable kid, a protective jock looking out for an easy bullying target.

To outsiders, that might be exactly how it looks. To Isabella, it's nothing like that at all.

Anytime Isabella came home from college, the two went everywhere together -- Master Pizza, Progressive Field for Cleveland Indians games, or just to hang out at the home of Andy's high school sprint coach, Preston Parker. Vinnie has drawers full of UMass gear, none more prized than his No. 23 Isabella jersey.

Davis, 20, suffers from Auditory Processing Disorder. It can limit his ability to comprehend what he hears, and in turn, limit his expression. He'll twitch on occasion, and his father, Vincent, said he was around 6 years old before he spoke clearly. He's permanently enrolled in a disability development class, according to his mother Vonda. Vinnie's parents moved from the rough Cleveland suburb of Maple Heights to Mayfield Heights largely due to the strength of Mayfield's special education program.

"There was always fighting going on in Maple Heights," Vinnie said. "I wasn't allowed to leave the house much, because something could've happened."

Indeed, Isabella has stepped between Vinnie and trouble -- more than once.

But the wide receiver doesn't think he'd be an NFL draft prospect today if it weren't for Vinnie -- and for that, he considers himself on the indebted side of their ledger.

In the winter of Isabella's freshman year at UMass, he had his bag all but packed. Not to transfer and continue his career elsewhere, but to come home and be done with football. He had no other opportunities to even walk on at another school, much less procure a new scholarship, but didn't much care. He barely got on the field as a freshman and was highly frustrated with the limited opportunity. He earned the kickoff return job beginning with a game at Notre Dame, but was buried on the depth chart as a running back. Given a look at receiver, he quickly blew the chance against Florida International when he ran a bad route and was hit in the shoulder pad with a pass he wasn't even looking for. The blunder put him back on the bench.

The following spring, he missed practice with a significant hamstring injury suffered in his first UMass track meet and saw no possibility of playing as a sophomore that fall. He didn't even care much for the UMass campus -- not since the first time he saw it, weeks after he'd signed to play football there.

That spring semester, Isabella thought, would be his last.

He'd Facetime with Vinnie regularly, but never told him he was considering giving up. Vinnie had circled Sept. 3, 2016 on the calendar and talked about it whenever Isabella called. On that day, the Minutemen would play at Florida -- the Gators' sacrificial lamb of a season-opening opponent.

"You're going to show them all that day," Isabella recalls Vinnie telling him. "You're going to have a great game and show the whole country what you can do."

If Vinnie was so sure, why was Isabella not?

"I ended up deciding I couldn't let Vinnie down, or my family down, by just quitting and coming home," Isabella said. "I didn't even really talk to my own parents about that -- Vinnie got me through it."

On Sept. 3, Isabella announced himself to college football with an explosive 95 yards receiving on three catches in the fabled Swamp. He generated more than half of UMass' total offense that day while playing only 15 snaps. He'd burst out of the gate on the way to a school-record 3,526 career yards.

Vinnie's progress since the move to Mayfield Heights has been striking.

He's workplace-independent, having had jobs -- sometimes more than one at a time -- at a grocery store, a carwash, a pizza place, even a seasonal gig at a toy store. At 18, he got a driver's license. And he has an uncanny memory -- downright encyclopedic when it comes to sports trivia - and never, ever forgets a birthday.

"I've got a sister with five kids, and I can barely keep all their birthdays straight," Vonda said. "Vinnie knows them all, and for everyone else he knows."

* * * * *

IN HIS LAST THREE SEASONS at UMass, Isabella validated Vinnie's prophetic prediction with remarkable consistency.

He amassed 1,698 yards as a senior to lead all of college football, despite 172 more being called back on penalties. His signature performance -- 15 catches, 219 yards and two scores at Georgia last November -- became the Isabella film NFL scouts most wanted to see. It set a record for receptions by a visiting player in Sanford Stadium. But scouts who dig through enough games will learn UMass' scheduling flexibility as an FBS Independent provided Isabella with much more exposure against top competition.

Along with Florida and Georgia, he competed against BYU three times, Mississippi State twice, Boston College twice, Notre Dame, Tennessee and South Carolina. That's a season's worth of games against Power Five or FBS Independent competition. The total for those games made for a fine season of its own: 71 catches for 938 yards and four touchdowns.

"He's one of the only guys (who came) to the Senior Bowl that we didn't personally scout in a game," said Senior Bowl Executive Director Jim Nagy. "But we didn't need to. We heard a lot about him from NFL people we know, and I watched about 10 plays of tape. That's all I needed to know he belonged."

Add Nagy to a growing list of people with NFL ties who believe he, indeed, belongs.

"The guy is going to be exciting," the AFC scout said. "Yeah, he's small, but he's a big play waiting to happen. The quickness is elite."

It's all noise to Isabella.

He learned years ago what the negative kind sounds like, and has found effusive praise can sound like noise, too. He wipes a little sweat from his brow, thankful to be working out in the Florida warmth, as he walks to his Chevy Cruze rental car following his second workout with Moss. The pressure washer, he's told, made it challenging to hear the Hall of Famer's instruction.

"Really?" he says. "I didn't notice it."

[Villain The Foe]

6 hours ago, sec101row23 said:

So you want a video...

Im good.

[Villain The Foe]

3 hours ago, jetsons said:

For the most part I like all your picks I just have an issue with the compensation we received for them... I believe we would & should be able to get much more... very good job otherwise. ? 

Thanks. 

[Villain The Foe]

1 hour ago, nyjbuddy said:

From a measurement perspective, Isabella reminded me of Danny Woodhead.  Here is a great article of Isabella working out with Randy Moss:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001018289/article/how-speed-put-umass-wr-andy-isabella-on-fast-track-to-nfl

How speed put UMass WR Andy Isabella on fast track to NFL

TAMPA -- Anyone else could barely be heard.

The whining hum of cars barreling down SR-589 at breakneck speeds, just north of I-275 and directly beside Skyway Park, is loud enough on its own. Throw in the incessant screech of a pressure washer blasting the concrete sidewalks around the grounds, and the backdrop of noise is near deafening.

The Hall of Famer's voice booms though, and cuts through the din with the distinct West Virginia accent that could only belong to Randy Moss. He's forcefully imparting no-nonsense wisdom culled from 16 seasons as an elite pro. Andy Isabella hangs on every word.

Moss wastes none.

"I'm Randy Moss, so now the awkwardness is out of the way," he says as a matter of introduction. "Let's get to work."

It's a pleasantly warm, sun-splashed day in Tampa, the kind of January weather that compels people from the part of the country Isabella calls home to move south. One of the top wide receiver prospects in the 2019 NFL Draft, Isabella fell into Moss' tutelage when his agent sent him to The Applied Science and Performance Institute (ASPI) in Tampa, which contracts Moss for field coaching, to train for the upcoming NFL scouting combine.

Isabella doesn't notice the noise.

He never has.

Not the kind he's having to filter out at Skyway Park, as it competes with Moss' voice, and not the kind that surrounded his football career.

If it wasn't coming from people who thought he was too short, it came from those who thought he'd never get noticed playing football at UMass. If not the 40-yard dash timer at a 2014 SPARQ combine, who so refused to believe Isabella's 4.39 clocking that he made him run it three more times, then the Oklahoma State recruiter who withdrew a late scholarship opportunity less than 24 hours after extending it.

The kid who once built NFL stadiums with Legos was always certain he'd one day play in one and had a deaf ear for anyone who doubted it. Now, he's ready to make some noise of his own.

* * * * *

AS PLAYERS, the two couldn't be much more different in style.

Moss parlayed a 6-foot-4 frame, blinding speed and long arms to become one of the NFL's all-time great deep threats. At 190 pounds, Isabella stands just 5-foot-9 and wasn't blessed with any of the limb length that helped Moss play the game, in basketball parlance, above the rim. Isabella was a running back until just three years ago, and still brings a running back's quickness and instincts to the open field.

Moss doesn't avoid the subject with Isabella or his other pupil on this day, former West Florida WR Antoine Griffin, who has an even lighter frame than Isabella at just 160 pounds.

"I was a vertical speed guy," he tells them, motioning his arm straight downfield. "You guys are going to be asked to play and get open in a short area. You've got to have that down from Day 1."

He's teaching elements of the slot position, and with detailed intricacy. He wants a half-second delay off the line of scrimmage on option routes, because it gives a slot receiver a better and easier read of the defense. Most of all, he wants footwork perfection. At one point, Isabella runs a short curl route and makes a splendid catch on an errant throw, fully extending his left arm for a one-handed catch. The ball was in the air before Isabella turned his head -- his adjustment was instant -- but no praise followed, because Moss is watching feet, not hands. Turns out, the throw wasn't errant -- the route was -- and per Moss, the ball would've come straight to Isabella's chest had he made a tighter turn.

"Sloppy feet don't eat," Moss says -- a perfectly memorable jingle for a wide receiver readying for the NFL draft.

The ASPI contracted Moss for 12 sessions -- three a week over four weeks -- but Isabella's participation at last month's Reese's Senior Bowl limited him to nine of them, and only six before he traveled to Mobile, Ala., for the annual all-star game. This is one reason Moss was teaching the slot position -- not because he doubts Isabella's potential to play the X or Z outside receiver, but because he knew NFL coaches and scouts at the Senior Bowl would want to assess the receiver's slot skills first and foremost.

Truth is, there is high confidence in the NFL scouting community that Isabella can indeed play outside despite his size. Speed is the one thing he has in common with Moss' game, and it's the primary trait necessary to overcome a size deficiency at the X and Z positions. Scouts aren't comparing Isabella to slot stalwarts like Wes Welker or Danny Amendola. Instead, they're invoking names like T.Y. Hilton and Brandin Cooks, two smaller receivers whose speed makes them explosive outside threats. An area scout representing an NFC team said Isabella projects as a third-round pick, while an AFC team scout believes he'll go in Round 2.

More than once, Moss tells Isabella he'll watch the Senior Bowl on NFL Network with a critical eye, looking for him to execute some of the slot principles he's imparting in Tampa. But he sees what scouts see: potential in any receiver role.

"I don't look at height -- you look at Antonio Brown, there are smaller guys still out there doing it on the outside," Moss says. "Andy's athletic ability is tops. I can see why he put up the numbers he put up."

* * * * *

ISABELLA DUG HIS LEFT HEEL into the Lane 6 starting block with something to prove.

It was the climactic moment of the 2015 Ohio High School Athletic Association Regional Track Meet, held at Austintown Fitch High, just west of Youngstown. A few feet to his left, in Lane 4 was Denzel Ward, the favorite to win the boys 100-meter dash finals. Three years later, Ward would clock a 4.32 40-yard dash at the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine, tying him for the fastest time among cornerbacks.

He'd go on to be the No. 4 overall pick of last year's NFL draft by Isabella's hometown team, the Cleveland Browns. But this would not be Ward's day.

Isabella blew away the field with a time of 10.51 -- Ward finished third at 10.68 -- and validation was his. Being the fastest kid in Ohio had never been enough for the Ohio States of college football, where Ward honed his skills, to pay Isabella much attention.

He was used to it.

In his first season playing youth football, in the Cleveland suburb of Willoughby, his size had him on the bench until he begged his father, Tony, to ask an assistant coach with whom he was friends, to give Andy just one carry. He took that carry -- the first time he'd ever touched a ball in a competitive game -- about 70 yards for a touchdown, then did a front flip in the end zone to draw a 15-yard penalty.

An elderly neighbor, Mrs. Olson, employed Isabella to walk her dog when he was a kid, and used to scoff when Andy would tell her he would one day play in the NFL. Now deceased, she built a close friendship with Andy and used to encourage him in every other way. But the NFL? C'mon.

His college recruitment wasn't much different. Mayfield High coach Larry Pinto estimated that in his 18 years as head coach, the Wildcats produced no more than six Division I signees, and a lack of size throughout the program was a big reason for it. True to form, Isabella found himself without an FBS scholarship offer of any note just a week before national signing day in 2015. On Jan. 29, just six days before signing day, he clocked a 6.72 60-meter dash at one of Mayfield's indoor meets, the fastest high school time in the nation at that point of the indoor season.

"He is cartoon fast," said Pinto.

UMass coach Mark Whipple, the former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks coach, caught wind of the clocking, quickly evaluated some film, and called Isabella with a scholarship offer just three days later. Isabella accepted on the phone, without ever having stepped foot on the Amherst campus.

"He reminded me of a kid from (Ft. Lauderdale) St. Thomas Aquinas in 1998, named Adrian Zullo. He didn't have another offer and won a 100-meter championship and ended up being the all-time leading receiver at UMass until Tajae (Sharpe) broke it," said Whipple, who signed Zullo as part of the first signing class of his first stint as UMass head coach (1998-2003). "We needed speed badly then, and we needed it again when we heard about Andy."

The NFL needs it, too.

And because it does, Isabella's speed might finally command the football respect it deserves when the 2019 combine convenes in Indianapolis next week.

"I ran 4.43 at the combine, and he's way faster than what I was," said Isabella's position coach at UMass, five-year NFL veteran Leonard Hankerson.

Added Arizona State strength coach Joe Connolly, who was Isabella's strength coach at UMass for two years: "I wouldn't be surprised if he ran in the 4.2s, but he will absolutely run in the 4.3s. I would put my house on that."

* * * * *

IT HAD TO BE THE MAINTENANCE GUY. Or a member of the grounds crew.

Who else, Joe Connolly thought, would be shoveling 12 inches of snow off the McGuirk Alumni Stadium turf on a January Sunday? Temps had dipped below 20 degrees -- who knows how frigid the wind chill was with the high winds -- and the UMass strength coach pulled his SUV closer to the field as a short, sturdy frame began to take shape. Connolly opened his car door to let his dog, a brown Boxer named Sullivan, run onto the field and get the shoveler's attention.

"January in Amherst might as well be Alaska," Connolly said. "You barely see the ground for months, and Andy is out there digging a path to run sprints on his own. It was ridiculous."

Sullivan ran up on Isabella completing a cleared path of about 40 yards, two hours of moving snow, so he could work out on a day the rest of the Minutemen weren't even scheduled to.

"The school always plowed the field for us after snowstorms, but they hadn't done it yet and I had to get the work in," Isabella said. "And of course, as soon as I got done, the plows came out."

This is how seriously he takes the craft.

Seriously enough that he's never consumed a drop of alcohol.

Seriously enough that within hours of his training day ending at The ASPI, he sent multiple texts to Director of Sports Performance Yo Murphy asking if he could return for extra weightlifting.

Seriously enough that he once spent $1,500 of his annual $1,600 NCAA cost-of-living stipend on a pair of NormaTec recovery boots, because he'd been told they were popular among NFL players.

"I didn't have a dime to spend that whole year," he said.

Seriously enough that he turned a 200-yard hill near UMass, north of campus off Pine Street, into an outdoor incline treadmill. Former Minutemen RB Marquis Young had first shown it to Isabella, who in turn disclosed his workouts there to new strength coach Brian Phillips. The unkempt grass, to Phillips, was far too high for safe exercise.

"If you can't see what you're stepping on, you don't need to be running some random hill in Amherst," Phillips told him.

Isabella ran it anyway.

Back in Tampa, that innate doggedness surfaces in the third of Isabella's workouts with Moss.

It's supposed to be a light one, and the Hall of Fame receiver is teaching only technique after seeing two days of full-speed athleticism. Moss asks for just 30 percent effort -- little more than a jog to emphasize form -- but Isabella comes off the ball with a burst that looks more like 70 percent. After 15 minutes, Moss tells him to throttle down more.

First, down to 20 percent, then he asks for only 10.

"Just walk this, Andy," he says before the day's final drill.

* * * * *

ISABELLA WOULDNâT CHANGE MUCH about his relationship with Vinnie Davis, but if anything, he'd level the notion that it's a friendship born of pity.

When a high school freshman with a learning disability and the star of that high school's football team become inseparably close, a certain narrative takes natural root: Mr. Popularity feeling sorry for a vulnerable kid, a protective jock looking out for an easy bullying target.

To outsiders, that might be exactly how it looks. To Isabella, it's nothing like that at all.

Anytime Isabella came home from college, the two went everywhere together -- Master Pizza, Progressive Field for Cleveland Indians games, or just to hang out at the home of Andy's high school sprint coach, Preston Parker. Vinnie has drawers full of UMass gear, none more prized than his No. 23 Isabella jersey.

Davis, 20, suffers from Auditory Processing Disorder. It can limit his ability to comprehend what he hears, and in turn, limit his expression. He'll twitch on occasion, and his father, Vincent, said he was around 6 years old before he spoke clearly. He's permanently enrolled in a disability development class, according to his mother Vonda. Vinnie's parents moved from the rough Cleveland suburb of Maple Heights to Mayfield Heights largely due to the strength of Mayfield's special education program.

"There was always fighting going on in Maple Heights," Vinnie said. "I wasn't allowed to leave the house much, because something could've happened."

Indeed, Isabella has stepped between Vinnie and trouble -- more than once.

But the wide receiver doesn't think he'd be an NFL draft prospect today if it weren't for Vinnie -- and for that, he considers himself on the indebted side of their ledger.

In the winter of Isabella's freshman year at UMass, he had his bag all but packed. Not to transfer and continue his career elsewhere, but to come home and be done with football. He had no other opportunities to even walk on at another school, much less procure a new scholarship, but didn't much care. He barely got on the field as a freshman and was highly frustrated with the limited opportunity. He earned the kickoff return job beginning with a game at Notre Dame, but was buried on the depth chart as a running back. Given a look at receiver, he quickly blew the chance against Florida International when he ran a bad route and was hit in the shoulder pad with a pass he wasn't even looking for. The blunder put him back on the bench.

The following spring, he missed practice with a significant hamstring injury suffered in his first UMass track meet and saw no possibility of playing as a sophomore that fall. He didn't even care much for the UMass campus -- not since the first time he saw it, weeks after he'd signed to play football there.

That spring semester, Isabella thought, would be his last.

He'd Facetime with Vinnie regularly, but never told him he was considering giving up. Vinnie had circled Sept. 3, 2016 on the calendar and talked about it whenever Isabella called. On that day, the Minutemen would play at Florida -- the Gators' sacrificial lamb of a season-opening opponent.

"You're going to show them all that day," Isabella recalls Vinnie telling him. "You're going to have a great game and show the whole country what you can do."

If Vinnie was so sure, why was Isabella not?

"I ended up deciding I couldn't let Vinnie down, or my family down, by just quitting and coming home," Isabella said. "I didn't even really talk to my own parents about that -- Vinnie got me through it."

On Sept. 3, Isabella announced himself to college football with an explosive 95 yards receiving on three catches in the fabled Swamp. He generated more than half of UMass' total offense that day while playing only 15 snaps. He'd burst out of the gate on the way to a school-record 3,526 career yards.

Vinnie's progress since the move to Mayfield Heights has been striking.

He's workplace-independent, having had jobs -- sometimes more than one at a time -- at a grocery store, a carwash, a pizza place, even a seasonal gig at a toy store. At 18, he got a driver's license. And he has an uncanny memory -- downright encyclopedic when it comes to sports trivia - and never, ever forgets a birthday.

"I've got a sister with five kids, and I can barely keep all their birthdays straight," Vonda said. "Vinnie knows them all, and for everyone else he knows."

* * * * *

IN HIS LAST THREE SEASONS at UMass, Isabella validated Vinnie's prophetic prediction with remarkable consistency.

He amassed 1,698 yards as a senior to lead all of college football, despite 172 more being called back on penalties. His signature performance -- 15 catches, 219 yards and two scores at Georgia last November -- became the Isabella film NFL scouts most wanted to see. It set a record for receptions by a visiting player in Sanford Stadium. But scouts who dig through enough games will learn UMass' scheduling flexibility as an FBS Independent provided Isabella with much more exposure against top competition.

Along with Florida and Georgia, he competed against BYU three times, Mississippi State twice, Boston College twice, Notre Dame, Tennessee and South Carolina. That's a season's worth of games against Power Five or FBS Independent competition. The total for those games made for a fine season of its own: 71 catches for 938 yards and four touchdowns.

"He's one of the only guys (who came) to the Senior Bowl that we didn't personally scout in a game," said Senior Bowl Executive Director Jim Nagy. "But we didn't need to. We heard a lot about him from NFL people we know, and I watched about 10 plays of tape. That's all I needed to know he belonged."

Add Nagy to a growing list of people with NFL ties who believe he, indeed, belongs.

"The guy is going to be exciting," the AFC scout said. "Yeah, he's small, but he's a big play waiting to happen. The quickness is elite."

It's all noise to Isabella.

He learned years ago what the negative kind sounds like, and has found effusive praise can sound like noise, too. He wipes a little sweat from his brow, thankful to be working out in the Florida warmth, as he walks to his Chevy Cruze rental car following his second workout with Moss. The pressure washer, he's told, made it challenging to hear the Hall of Famer's instruction.

"Really?" he says. "I didn't notice it."

Thanks for this article. Great read and it supports what I've been saying about Isabella and playing outside.

Of course he will be immediately looked at as a slot, but once in a program he'll be able to show what he's fully capable of. You're not doing that in one week at Mobile.