Washington State Football Recruiting Breakdown: 2014 Commit DT Marcus Griffin
By Nick Nordi
Washington State commit Marcus Griffin is just the second player to commit to play for the Cougars and first in-state commit in 2014, and he is everything that head coach Mike Leach is looking for. The 6-3, 286 pound three-star recruit out of Bellevue High School in Bellevue, Washington is a big commit for the Cougars in multiple ways.
When watching Griffin’s film I noticed a lot of good things and very few bad things about him. With taller players a lot of times you see them standing up allowing the offense to get up under them and not allow them to do anything. That’s not the case with Griffin, he stays low and keeps his feet moving not allowing the offense to get under him and push him around.
I noticed that Griffin keeps his head low, his feet chopping, keeping his head on a swivel, and always moving and reloading his hands to get better position on the offensive lineman. The strength that Griffin has in his upper body is clearly visible in his film as you are able to see him get by the offensive line and split the double or triple team that he has across from him. Griffin is a big player and is someone who can clog up the middle of the defense and not allow the running back to find a hole.
When getting past the offense Griffin doesn’t get too far upfield and doesn’t let the ball carrier get on the other side of him without at least getting a hand on him. When the ball carrier goes out to the flat Griffin doesn’t give up and tracks him down and tries to make the tackle. With the speed and agility that he has he makes it easy to get up the field and track down and make a play even if it is not ran at him. It also makes it easy for him to get after the quarterback and at least cause pressure if not getting a sack.
Some things I noticed during the tape is that Griffin needs to work on is staying low on the tackle and staying low during the whole play. When the running back would run at him, Griffin would often tackle him up high and allow a few extra yards and in a few cases would need some extra help bringing him down. After Griffin gets by the offensive line he sometimes would stand up making it easier for him to get knocked off balance.
Washington State has a very young defensive line with 8 of the 11 defensive lineman being a sophomore or younger going into this next season. I see Griffin redshirting his first year and getting bigger and learning the WSU defense.
Besides Washington State Griffin had offers from Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado State.
Below you will find Griffin’s Hudl page as well as his junior year highlight tape