T-Frank’s Film Room: Caleb Brewer brings athleticism to Penn State
Penn State picked up a commitment from three-star Wyomissing athlete Caleb Brewer hours after the Blue-White game in April. The 6-3 285-pound lineman chose Penn State and followed former teammate, five-star offensive lineman J’ven Williams to Penn State. Some of Williams and Brewer’s strengths and weaknesses align reasonably well, coming from the same school and offensive system. Indeed their overall profiles are similar in outlook, save for one crucial detail.
We don’t know what position Brewer should play.
Notice that earlier, we called Brewer a ‘lineman’ because today on T-Frank’s Film Room, we’ll dissect his abilities to find out which side of the ball he should play at Penn State.
Strengths
Movement skills: Brewer is a rare player who falls into the “all of it” category for movement skills. Speed? Brewer is one of the fastest linemen Penn State has recruited in some time. Agility? Acceleration? Brewer shows all of those skills from the first snap you watch on film.
Possibly the best compliment to give Brewer is that he doesn’t look out of place playing tight end and running routes. While he may hold a football like a loaf of bread, he moves well enough to get some action as a receiver and not just as a decoy. However, he must stick to blocking for a future at Penn State.
Size
Like Penn State freshman Alex Birchmeier, Brewer’s weight caps out at 285 pounds until he’s done with high school wrestling. But don’t worry, the rising senior has a great frame to add more weight and play at a Big Ten level. Brewer delivers some highlight-level blocks thanks to his great combination of size and speed. There isn’t an apparent reason preventing him from playing around 310 pounds (minimum) at Penn State.
Assignment football
If you ask Caleb Brewer to do something on the football field, he completes the assignment well. One of his main jobs at tight end is to seal block linebackers inside on the second level. Brewer attacks his responsibility quickly and then moves on to find more work if no players threaten the alley the offense is creating. His great movement skills make him an ideal second-level blocker in most systems.
As a defensive lineman, his activity in the trenches is noticeable, and he holds his gap as expected.
Areas of development
Hand usage
While Brewer isn’t the same level of overall athlete as Williams, the two linemen share similar flaws. Brewer doesn’t make great use of his hands in either role for the team. He’s more of a shover than a blocker and struggles to stay attached to defenders at times.
From a defensive standpoint, Brewer essentially has one move (a low rip) to try and bully his way into the gap. He compresses the space between himself and the much smaller linemen when he does this. This negates his natural power and athleticism and prevents Brewer from being able to stack and shed linemen. With his skills, he should be in the backfield repeatedly. Instead, as a pass rusher, Brewer mostly bounces into the line of scrimmage and tries to run over linemen like a bulldozer.
Frame
While weight shouldn’t be an issue, length is. No matter where you place him on the depth chart, Brewer has shorter arms than is ideal for Penn State. As a lineman, this will cause issues with the stronger offensive lineman and negates his quickness when facing long, powerful defensive tackles. The same is true when you reverse engineer Brewer’s skills when pass-rushing. No matter how good his pass rush moves become, he will struggle to shed blockers.
Pass Protection
While we’ve tried to stick mostly to universal skills, it’s impossible to ignore that Brewer has almost no experience in pass blocking. Wyomissing almost never throws the ball, and when he does, Brewer is out in a pass pattern. He’ll have a long way to develop before he’s ready to step on the field for Penn State.
Projection at Penn State
Defensive tackle
While Brewer’s physical strengths translate to either position, arm length is less of an issue at defensive tackle. There are more ways to engage and beat offensive linemen with short arms than there are tricks to overcome short arms against talent in reverse. Also, Brewer’s athleticism and pursuit skills make more sense on the defensive line as a rotational, high-effort tackle. His quickness and speed also give him an advantage in Manny Diaz’s defensive scheme.
Left Guard
Brewer would have been a solid selection five years ago with great skills for Penn State’s offensive line. But now, the team has legitimately upped the standard thanks to offensive line coach Phil Trautwein. Can Brewer play at Penn State? Yes, he probably can. But Trautwein has done a great job of stacking talent on the line’s interior and could add more this cycle. While Brewer is a great fallback option, the team should try to find players with better length and positional experience to fill this role.
We don’t know what position Brewer should play.
Notice that earlier, we called Brewer a ‘lineman’ because today on T-Frank’s Film Room, we’ll dissect his abilities to find out which side of the ball he should play at Penn State.
Strengths
Movement skills: Brewer is a rare player who falls into the “all of it” category for movement skills. Speed? Brewer is one of the fastest linemen Penn State has recruited in some time. Agility? Acceleration? Brewer shows all of those skills from the first snap you watch on film.
Possibly the best compliment to give Brewer is that he doesn’t look out of place playing tight end and running routes. While he may hold a football like a loaf of bread, he moves well enough to get some action as a receiver and not just as a decoy. However, he must stick to blocking for a future at Penn State.
Size
Like Penn State freshman Alex Birchmeier, Brewer’s weight caps out at 285 pounds until he’s done with high school wrestling. But don’t worry, the rising senior has a great frame to add more weight and play at a Big Ten level. Brewer delivers some highlight-level blocks thanks to his great combination of size and speed. There isn’t an apparent reason preventing him from playing around 310 pounds (minimum) at Penn State.
Assignment football
If you ask Caleb Brewer to do something on the football field, he completes the assignment well. One of his main jobs at tight end is to seal block linebackers inside on the second level. Brewer attacks his responsibility quickly and then moves on to find more work if no players threaten the alley the offense is creating. His great movement skills make him an ideal second-level blocker in most systems.
As a defensive lineman, his activity in the trenches is noticeable, and he holds his gap as expected.
Areas of development
Hand usage
While Brewer isn’t the same level of overall athlete as Williams, the two linemen share similar flaws. Brewer doesn’t make great use of his hands in either role for the team. He’s more of a shover than a blocker and struggles to stay attached to defenders at times.
From a defensive standpoint, Brewer essentially has one move (a low rip) to try and bully his way into the gap. He compresses the space between himself and the much smaller linemen when he does this. This negates his natural power and athleticism and prevents Brewer from being able to stack and shed linemen. With his skills, he should be in the backfield repeatedly. Instead, as a pass rusher, Brewer mostly bounces into the line of scrimmage and tries to run over linemen like a bulldozer.
Frame
While weight shouldn’t be an issue, length is. No matter where you place him on the depth chart, Brewer has shorter arms than is ideal for Penn State. As a lineman, this will cause issues with the stronger offensive lineman and negates his quickness when facing long, powerful defensive tackles. The same is true when you reverse engineer Brewer’s skills when pass-rushing. No matter how good his pass rush moves become, he will struggle to shed blockers.
Pass Protection
While we’ve tried to stick mostly to universal skills, it’s impossible to ignore that Brewer has almost no experience in pass blocking. Wyomissing almost never throws the ball, and when he does, Brewer is out in a pass pattern. He’ll have a long way to develop before he’s ready to step on the field for Penn State.
Projection at Penn State
Defensive tackle
While Brewer’s physical strengths translate to either position, arm length is less of an issue at defensive tackle. There are more ways to engage and beat offensive linemen with short arms than there are tricks to overcome short arms against talent in reverse. Also, Brewer’s athleticism and pursuit skills make more sense on the defensive line as a rotational, high-effort tackle. His quickness and speed also give him an advantage in Manny Diaz’s defensive scheme.
Left Guard
Brewer would have been a solid selection five years ago with great skills for Penn State’s offensive line. But now, the team has legitimately upped the standard thanks to offensive line coach Phil Trautwein. Can Brewer play at Penn State? Yes, he probably can. But Trautwein has done a great job of stacking talent on the line’s interior and could add more this cycle. While Brewer is a great fallback option, the team should try to find players with better length and positional experience to fill this role.
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