Player: SirVocea Dennis
School: Pitt
Measurables:
- Height: 6’0.5” (NFL Combine)
- Weight: 226 (NFL Combine)
- 40: 4.63 (Pro Day)
- 10 Yard Split: ?
- Bench: 19 (NFL Combine)
- Vertical Jump: 41.5” (Pro Day)
- Broad Jump: 10’5” (Pro Day)
- 3 Cone: DNP
- 20 Yard Shuttle: DNP
Graded Position Specific Traits:
- Run Support: 5.75/10
- Tackling: 5.5/10
- Field Vision: 6/10
- Man Coverage: 5/10
- Zone Coverage: 7/10
- Blitzing: 6/10
- Block Shedding: 4.75/10
- Range: 4.75/10
Prospect Grade: 44.75/80; 55.9%- Role player and good backup with potential to be a three down player
Projected Draft Day: Round 5-6
Player Comparison: Shades of Deone Bucannon
Player Summary:
Dennis is a really difficult prospect to get a read on. I think Dennis’ speed based on his tape is worrisome; however, despite the speed his skillset seems perfectly molded to be a 3rd down backer. He was blitzed a lot by Pitt, and the results were a mixed bag. Dennis is a gap shooter, he’s very rarely, if ever, going to stack and shed a blocker. His goal is to beat you to the spot or try to dip around you. If a blocker is able to get hands on Dennis the play is pretty much over for him, his block shedding is rough. Offensive lineman will overpower Dennis. If Dennis can find a gap or hole of some kind, or even comes off the edge he can be disruptive as a blitzer. If the line doesn’t open up, the odds of Dennis making a play is low. It’s a pretty obvious statement because if any LB can be kept clean then they excel, but I think it’s especially true for Dennis.
Dennis is also pretty good in coverage. In the short film study I did I don’t remember seeing Dennis in man coverage at all, so I couldn’t give him anything more than an average grade. I thought Dennis was really good in zone though. I thought he had pretty good spatial awareness, and understood his drops as good as any of the linebackers I’ve scouted this year so far. He has pretty quick, fluid hips. Pitt also did this odd thing where they would drop Dennis deep, like safety deep. It looked like they asked him to drop into the deep third of Cover 3. It wasn’t a common thing, but I can’t say I’ve ever seen anything like that.
Dennis against Tennessee was honestly kind of hard to watch; however, against UNC the tape looked much better. I see Dennis as a special teamer and 3rd down backer to start his career. I don’t really know what his ceiling is. Right now, I would say his ceiling is being a three down backer at some point in his career. I think that ceiling is raised based on the scheme he gets drafted into. Blitz heavy schemes(Pittsburgh, NY Giants, Baltimore) are teams where I think Dennis’ skillset could flourish.