Washington State Recruiting Breakdown: WR Jeffery Mead (Offered)
By Nick Nordi
Jeffery Mead, a receiver out of Union High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma is one of the taller receivers that Washington State head coach Mike Leach is targeting. At 6-6 175 pounds Mead has the ability to make a lot of catches that most other receivers can’t make. Mead is a big time player who is getting some big time looks by major programs. With the ability and skills that Mead has look for him to make some noise in college.
When watching Mead’s film the first thing I noticed was his size compared to other players on the field. Being as tall as he is he is able to go up and grab the ball at its highest point over many corners with ease. Another thing that I noticed was his hands, in a few of the clips that I saw he made catches that not many people can make including a few one handed grabs and some that were tipped and caught awkwardly.
Mead also has the ability to make and take a hit. In a clip in his film he tackled a defender who picked up a fumble and caused another fumble when he tackled him. When Mead would go over the middle he didn’t slow down or avoid taking a hit if he knew it was coming. He was able to take the contact and still was able to gain extra yards. The power that Mead had when running was shown when a player would try to tackle him. Anything other than a good tackle meant that he was going to break free and even when the defender would actually make a good tackle he still had a hard time with him.
Off the line Mead had the speed to get by a corner and break free down the field. When the defender would jam him he would in turn jam the corner and cause even more separation between the two. He was also able to cause more separation when going for the ball and used his height and jumping abilities to his advantage.
Some things I noticed that Mead struggled on is getting up the field right away. When in a congested area he spends a lot of time trying to find a new gap to go to instead of taking advantage of the ones right in front of him. A player needs to know that he needs to run North and South and not East and West but that will come with time and coaching.
For an idea of where WSU stands in its’ receiving corps look at our early receivers preview.
If we assume Mead were to commit to WSU, I see Leach using Mead’s height right away and getting him into action as soon as possible but also considering using a redshirt with him. The group is young with no seniors so that will be another thing to push towards having him redshirt.
Mead is also interested in: California, LSU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State as well as a few others.
Below you will find the link the Mead’s Hudl page.