Miles Onyegbule: Texas 2011 Recruiting Spotlight

Vitals

Name: Miles Onyegbule

Position: WR

Height: 6'4"

Weight: 206

40 Time: 4.5 seconds

High School: Arlington

Rivals Rating: 3*, 5.7

ESPN Recruiting Evaluation ($):

Onyegbule is a big, tall prospect that utilizes physicality and his size to his advantage. He is a physical receiver who may lack ideal speed and quickness, but creates mismatches downfield and in the red zone. However, as big as Onyegbule is, he has sneaky burst and open-field run skills. He is very tall and has extremely long arms-- looks like a basketball player. He possesses excellent athletic ability and is fairly nimble given his size. Is a big target in the passing game, shows the ability to make the acrobatic catch and can make adjustments while the ball is in the air. Is tough and will go after the ball in traffic and isn't afraid to go over the middle. He shows some burst after the catch despite his lack of vertical speed and if you are not careful as a DB he can go by you as he will lull you to sleep. He is at his best in one-on-one match-ups on the jump ball as well as on underneath routes where he can use his frame to shield the ball for the defender. Is very good versus press off the line in terms of getting back on top of the DB and controlling the stem to give him a two-way go. Can stab and cut versus tight coverage and give himself just enough separation to use his frame and wide catch radius. Possesses strong hands that can fight for the ball in traffic. Adjusts well to the jump ball and will make some very impressive grabs. However, Onyegbule is not yet a crisp route runner. Telegraphs his intentions, gears down and can be a guy that DB's get a clear read on when playing off of him. Rounds off cuts and builds momentum instead of using quick, sudden spurts as a route runner. He has adequate speed given his size, but he may struggle to consistently separate versus DB's that are quicker and faster. At the next level we see him as an underneath guy and redzone weapon. Good prospect with measurables and sound hands. Makes plays and knows how to use his size.

Strengths

The first thing that jumps off the screen at you with Miles is his size—he's tall and solidly built, which makes him a matchup nightmare for DBs. Onyegbule does a good job using his large frame to shield off defenders and looking the ball in.

Equally well-sized are his hands, which look more like mitts. This is a huge strength for Onyegbule as it allows him to pluck crisply-thrown balls out of the air *cough* Garrett Gilbert *cough*. Even more importantly, he makes the easy catches look easy and doesn't fight the ball on film.

Playing quarterback for Arlington, Onyegbule developed a lot in playmaking department. He's reasonably elusive for such a big player and has decent change-of-direction ability from a standstill or at low speeds. Most impressive is his short-range burst upfield, which he complements nicely with a very good stiff arm. He also has good balance, which combined with his strength makes him extremely difficult to bring down on initial contact by a single defender.

Lastly, Onyegbule's large frame portends a very good blocking receiver on screen plays and in the running game.

Weaknesses

Onyegbule is never going to get confused with Malcolm Williams in the deep-threat, straight-line speed demon department. Much like fellow Lone Star State WR Trey Metoyer, Miles' top-end speed is lackluster at the very best and he's likely not going to be beating any defensive backs deep.

Where he can improve without having to rub on a genie's lamp is horizontal acceleration. Right now he takes too long to move laterally when he wants to make a cut that's not upfield. Miles is a great candidate for the Bennie Wylie school of explosion because you can see he has the tools to be a threat to break plays to the sideline with one big move and then get upfield for huge RAC, but he's limited currently by his athleticism. Basically, he's a guy that's going to go North-South after getting the ball and pick up as much as he can without looking to ever break the huge play.

It's also possible that his year of playing QB for his high school team has stunted his growth technique-wise as a WR. I certainly have faith in new wide receiver's coach Darrell Wyatt to teach the proper skills to incoming recruits, but let's just be serious, not every recruit can play QB in high school like Michael Crabtree and somehow still have elite route-running and ball skills the second they step on campus. Route running is an area where Onyegbule will have to spend extensive time in the off-season because he's just not there yet.

Target Body Type

Miles really doesn't have much to work on body-wise as long as he continues his natural progression in the weight room. He'll play at something like 215 or possibly even 220 depending on what type of player he wants to be at the next level. I'm more interested to see if he can become more explosive as a leaper and with his horizontal burst.

Final Analysis

Onyegbule is a great candidate for a redshirt next season so he can refine his route running and continue to learn the intricacies of playing WR at the collegiate level. Plus Texas will already have plenty of returning option and Jaxon Shipley likely to get very good playing time as a true freshman. WR's that aren't highly athletic, fast, or are big time gamebreakers are frequently incorrectly labeled possession receivers. But Miles is not really what you'd call a possession receiver because he does have some shake and bake post catch and can make some plays with the ball in his hands. He won't be going Mark Clayton on you though. I'm not really sure where he'd play at UT because his skill set is somewhat non-traditional. He could probably play both the Z and the slot positions. Will be interesting to compare his career with Metoyer's to see whether UT made the right decision in not pursuing Trey in favor of Miles. Probably won't be a dominant player here but he can certainly contribute in the short passing game and in the blocking realm.

Player Comparison

I don't think I've ever had this hard of a time coming up with a player comparison. Michael Jenkins, Atlanta Falcons