[David Nasternak/MGoBlog]
David and I didn’t have to travel far to scout our first game of 2016, as Corey Malone-Hatcher’s St. Joseph squad traveled to Michigan Stadium to face off against Kalamazoo Central as part of the three-day-long Battle at the Big House. St. Joseph started out slow, holding a 3-0 lead at halftime of a plodding back-and-forth contest. The second half, however, was a different story entirely, as Malone-Hatcher played a big part in St. Joseph’s 23 unanswered points; he got to the quarterback in the end zone on the second play of the half, forced intentional grounding that resulted in a safety, and the flood gates opened from there.
Malone-Hatcher finished with the kind of stat line you’d expect from a top-300 prospect: 10 tackles, four sacks, five TFLs, and one forced fumble. If you threw in QB pressures his stats would be even more impressive, as he was able to get into the backfield almost at will. It’s worth noting that he was able to accumulate those numbers while often deployed out of position at MLB; he certainly won’t be playing there in college, but he was able to tear through the middle of the line when asked to blitz.
[After THE JUMP: the highlight video and scouting report]
Video
Scouting
It’s likely that the first thing you noticed after watching the highlight reel is what stood out most in person, and that’s Malone-Hatcher’s speed. He’s quick off the ball, and not just in obvious pass-rush situations; at 1:18 Malone-Hatcher fires off at the snap and is into the backfield to wrap up the RB in a hurry. St. Joseph played Malone-Hatcher at both defensive end spots, though Kalamazoo Central’s aversion to using a tight end made it so that Malone-Hatcher was essentially a WDE whenever he was on the line (i.e. he was lined up as a 6-tech despite St. Joe’s running a 3-4). A good example of his speed against Central’s left tackle is at 00:27, and the play at 2:32 illustrates what he was doing while lined up against their right tackle for essentially the entirety of the second half.
Being fast means little if you’re blowing past guys and vacating your gap or missing your run assignment. Malone-Hatcher did a really nice job of avoiding that in this game, and he displayed a good sense of where the play was going and where he needed to be. He gets doubled and shoved down the line at 00:10, but he’s able to disengage from the defenders and string the back out to the corner, where the RB turns into Malone-Hatcher’s help. At 2:54, Malone-Hatcher demonstrates an ability to track the play even as he’s rushing the passer. The right tackle gets his arm out and dissuades Malone-Hatcher from rushing the interior. As he gets around the tackle and sees the back take the handoff, Malone-Hatcher rips back downfield and gets in on the tackle. There was a play (1:26) where he lost contain, but that was the exception, not the rule.
As mentioned above, Malone-Hatcher took a bunch of snaps at MLB. He blitzed often from that spot; he was also asked to drop into coverage as a change of pace, and Kalamazoo Central never challenged him. The few times he wasn’t blitzing or dropping into coverage and was tasked with defending the run were a mixed bag. There were a couple of times he stepped the wrong direction, and then there were plays like the one at 00:44 where he stepped to the playside before the handoff, got under a would-be blocker, and ended up in the backfield to wrap up the ball carrier. The takeaway here is that he seems to be able to diagnose plays quickly from multiple positions.
Malone-Hatcher didn’t have to use many pass-rush moves because, frankly, his speed was enough to get him near the quarterback on most plays. However, there were a few times he put a move on tackle to some success. He gets the tackle off balance and rips past him at 1:48; this was the play that resulted in an intentional grounding penalty and a safety. At 2:46, Malone-Hatcher executes a really nice swim move before executing the QB.
The quality of competition caveat is certainly something to keep in mind with this evaluation. There were also times where it seemed that Malone-Hatcher wasn’t going full speed; hard to ding him for this considering Allen Trieu reported that Malone-Hatcher missed all of fall camp and is currently only 85-90% healthy. David and I were both a bit down on him after watching the game live, but every play that I marked “rewatch” in my notes turned out positive after going over it a few times on tape. It’s not hard to see why Michigan’s been pursuing Malone-Hatcher for so long. He plays with consistently good pad level, has an on-field intelligence and spatial IQ that will benefit him at the next level, and displayed a quick burst and strength off the line. (To that last point, check out this play. Sometimes the best way to deal with a pesky tackle is to fling him out of your way.)