NFL Draft: Early Look at Tennessee Edge Rusher Curt Maggitt
Tennessee Vols edge rusher Curt Maggitt is legit. Everyone just say it with me.
After spending the 2013 season on a redshirt due to offseason surgery, Maggitt (pronounced ‘muh – JITT’) broke out in the 2014 season and looks like a future stud NFL pass rusher.
At 6-3, 250 pounds, he showed phenomenal burst off the edge and a great instinct for making plays behind the line of scrimmage. I sifted through some of Tennessee’s games on YouTube to try and figure out what kind of player this guy is, and I’ll let you do some of the same. Here’s the Tennessee bowl game from this past year against Iowa.
But, you can also check out some more brief highlights of what Maggitt is capable of as a pass rusher.
Between his moves off the edge and experience as an inside linebacker, Maggitt offers positional versatility at the next level to play either standing up or with his hand in the dirt. Coming off the edge, there aren’t many tackles that are going to be able to keep up with his quickness off the snap. Just look at that South Carolina play and you can see what kind of burst he has, especially when he gets a good read on the snap count.
Here’s the good folks at Draft Breakdown to the rescue with his cutup against Georgia.
This game tape is interesting, because it sort of highlights the struggles Tennessee had in general against the running game of Georgia, but it also gives you a really great look at all of the strengths Maggitt has as a player. He’s really tough and physical for a smaller edge player. I don’t think 6-3 250 is small, but some edge guys are going to push 260-275. Maggitt plays with really good leverage and has really solid hand strength to be able to move offensive linemen at will.
One aspect of his game that I really liked was the way he was able to re-direct and explode into the quarterback on an outside-inside rush move.
Despite just one season of big production, Maggitt is the type of guy that is going to be really interesting to watch this season because of his potential within the Tennessee defense and the way he’s such a gifted natural pass rusher. Some guys just have ‘it’ in the pass rush department, and Maggitt is so gifted he can really do it from anywhere on the field. The Vols will move him around the formation and they will get plenty of hits on the quarterback as a result.
I love the fire he plays with and could see him in the discussion as one of the top pass rushers coming out next season.