Justin Hilliard

Justin Hilliard

LB

Ohio State

Height

6'1"

Weight

229

Vertical	Hand	Arm	Wingspan
34 1/2"	9"	31 3/8"	76 1/8"

40-Time	Vertical	Broad Jump	3-Cone
4.81	34 1/2"	9' 8"	7.21

10-Time	20-Time	20-Shuttle	60-Shuttle
		4.39

6.1 Final Grade

Covid-19 false positive (2020) Partially torn achilles (2019) Torn Bicep (2016) Torn Bicep (2015) Undisclosed Knee (2014)

Injury History

Games Evaluated

Clemson, Alabama

Team Fit

CAR

ATL

CIN

Strengths

Justin is a technically sound tackler with a crazy high motor. He has enough size and speed to be effective and while he prefers to play in space, he is more than willing to take on and fight through lineman as well. Typically he is adequate in zone coverage in getting to his spot and followinng the eyes of the QB well. You can see he knows his role and trusts his teammates to do their role on each play. You can see in how he plays that he is passionate about the game and really enjoys tackling people.

Weaknessess

Justin has no dominante traits and has a long injury history. While he flashes enough, he is more inconsistent in how he plays. He can take terrible attack angles and basically chase the ball. He is not as mobile sideline to sideline as you would prefer for a LB. He struggles to anticiapte plays and sometimes loses the ball during the play. He is rarely asked to rush the QB as he lacks burst and power and rush moves to put pressure on the QB.

Big Picture

Hilliard seems to be a player who has a lot of potential based on when he flashes but has had a lot of his development zapped based on his long injury history. He is a rare 6th year player who only got 2 spring trainings while at OSU. He does not have a dominant trait but you can see his love and passion for the game in his perseverance of coming back from injuries and his insane motor while he plays. He loves playing ball and is an extremely sound tackler. He rarely rushes the QB with his minus athleticism. He is not the fastest sideline to sideline but can typically see plays develp and trail them well. He can lose focus and where the ball is at times, though, following the play when the ball is headed the opposite direction. His attack angles widely vary. The effort is always there and sometimes he takes great angles while other times he simply chases the ball. He thinks he plays faster than he actually is it seems. He is adequate in coverage. I wouldn't trust him much in 1v1 as he struggles to quickly change direction but he does get to his zone and seems fairly aware, although he can get caught flat footed. His injury history is lengthy but his perseverance and passion is the reason you would give a shot to a guy like this in training camp to see how he holds up.

Player Comp

Will Compton

Athleticism:

6.35

7.25

Lacks elite agility, partially to blame on long injury list. No elite athletic trait. Moves laterally well enough. Lacks great explosiveness limiting his hitting power as well. He will not chase down many people. He lacks the length and strength to take on OL effectively and efficiently. He does not close on the ball extremely well. Smartly played primarily as a coverage LB where he doesn't need his quickness and strength as much in trying to rush the passer.

Lateral Agility	Explosiveness	Playing Speed	Play Strength	Closing Quickness
6.75	6.5	6.5	6.25	5.75

4.56 Pass Rush Ability:

7.25 Big Play Ability

First-Step Quickness	Rush with Leverage	Pass Rush Moves	Timing
5	4.5	3	5.75

He was not asked to rush the passer too often but he rarely was a major factor when doing so. He typically rushed from 4-3 LB spot. Lacks length and strength to take on tackles effectively and doesn't have elite speed. He does not have many pass rush moves so tends to rely primarily on finding space to attack or stunts to remain free from defenders. When attacking blockers, he often gets too high giving up any leverage he may be able to gain. He has a lot of work he needs to do to become a servicable pass rusher at the NFL level.

Coverage:

5.75

7.25

This was his primary role at OSU. Struggled at times to get to his spot. Uses his eyes well and could recognize some routes/plays at times, especially plays in the backfield. Struggles wtih man coverage without having great quickness to keep up wtih receivers. Best in man coverage against less agile TEs. Handles zones fairly well. Can get caught flat footed or too focused on the QB and dropping his zone awareness. Serviceable in zone but won't lock down an area completley by himself.

Fluidity	Route Recognition	Man Coverage	Zone Coverage
6	6.5	4	6.5

Against The Run:

6.15

7.25

He tends to get too high and gives up leverage. He lacks great length and strength so he really can struggle to stack and shed. He tries to stay off lineman all together for the most part. He does not have great range and will not often run down a defender but will sitll chase a play downfield. He takes decent angles typically but doesn't have the speed to end the play before denders get to the ball. He is a good tackler in general. He does not hit with a ton of power but is a good, safe arm-wrapping tackler.

Play with Leverage	Stack and Shed	Range	Pursuit Angles	Tackling
5.25	5.25	5.75	7	7.5

Competitiveness:

7.42

High energy player who has shown nothing but toughness over the years. Being smaller and willing to do whatever is asked of him on the field, besides all the rehab from the injuries as well. He runs a high motor on each plays and typically doesn't stop until the whistle has blown. He simply does what is needed from him on each play and gives it his best effort each time.

Toughness	Leadership	Consistency/Motor
8	6.25	8

Intelligence:

6.25

7.25

Smart player. Knows his strengths and weaknesses and uses that to the best of his ability to on each plays assignment. Often, he follows the ball but he flashes some great play recognition ability in the pass game, particularly on screen plays. Given his size and lack of athletic ability, he does not offer a lot of positional versatility. He is best suited for what he did at OSU, which was a coverage LB.

Processing Skills:	Play Recognition	Position Versatility
7.5	6.25	5