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OVERVIEW

In 2014, selected first-team All-Pac-12, finishing with 106 tackles. Had an interception return for a touchdown in each of the two seasons he played at Arizona State. In 2013, signed with Arizona State and started nine games. In 2012, while attending Mesa Community College, selected Junior College first-team All-American. Starred in both football and baseball coming out of high school, but decided to play baseball at Butler Community College in order to follow in his brother's foot steps (brother, Patrick Norris, was drafted by Kansas City Royals out of Butler). Played shortstop but suffered shoulder injury and was forced back to football.

ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS

 Plus athlete with good speed. Scouts love his toughness and effort. Inspired effort as a tackler, racking up 177 tackles during two-year stint at Arizona State. Looks to punish. Explodes into targets and jolts his victims. Takes very good angles in space in run support. Instinctive blitzer who times snap and has a nose for the quarterback. Senses throws underneath and breaks on them early. Highly competitive on 50/50 throws and won't give an inch to receiver. Took two interceptions for scores. Good hands -- played some wide receiver in junior college and was also an explosive returner while there.

WEAKNESSES

 Small for safety position. Has box characteristics but lacking box size. Instincts as a free safety are average. Could be forced to play cornerback. Needs technique work in coverage. Must learn line-of-scrimmage skills and work on coordinating feet and hips. Allows wideouts to eat up cushion. Desire to attack leads to false steps against play-action. Fails to play with proper depth at times. Gets a little loose with technique as a tackler at times, causing him to miss.

DRAFT PROJECTION

 Round 2

SOURCES TELL US

 "I have him as the top safety in this draft so that should tell you what I think of his ability to play with his size. Just give me a good player." NFC defensive backs coach

NFL COMPARISON

 Jimmy Ward

BOTTOM LINE

 Randall is considered undersized for the safety position and some teams have him projected as a cornerback. While he has the speed and athletic traits to transition to cornerback, his cover skills and technique need quite a bit of work to be ready for the NFL level. Randall has a nose for the ball and a strong desire to make an aggressive tackle in space, so there could still be teams that give him a legitimate shot at safety, where he carries a higher draft grade.

 

 

 

CBS:

 

STRENGTHS: Above average speed for the position with transitional quickness and natural footwork. Highly aggressive and plays at full speed at all times. Never gives up on plays and has a knack for chasing down ballcarriers downfield from behind. Understands angles and sees things happening quickly. Decisive sideline angles with closing burst to make up ground. Good anticipation to jump routes, reading the quarterback and baiting throws.

 

Heady awareness and won?t fall asleep at the wheel. Adequate ballskills and knows what to do with the ball once he gains possession (six career interceptions, averaging 29.8 yards per return with two touchdowns). Plays bigger than he looks and initiates the action, seeking out contact with a violent mentality to strike through his target. Plays ticked off and sets the tempo. Unselfish team-first type with ideal training habits.

 

Played on special teams coverages at Arizona State with experience as a return man. Productive starter in only two seasons at the FBS level, creating 10 turnovers (six interceptions, four forced fumbles).

 

WEAKNESSES: Undersized and lacks ideal strength and bulk for the safety position. Willing tackler, but too often needs help to finish stops and can be taken for a ride. Too many ankle biting tackle attempts. Needs to break down better on the move and keep his feet underneath him to be more reliable in open-field opportunities. Overaggressive, leading to wasted steps and motion. Will get fooled by play fakes due to his overaggressive nature.

 

Needs to stay patient in his pedal and often bites too early, which will lead to disaster when lined up in man coverage. Still very unpolished with the technical side of the game. Needs to harness his hostility to avoid unnecessary contact and late hit penalties. Size and violent play style draw durability concerns as he was often dinged up in college.

 

--Dane Brugler

PLAYER OVERVIEW

A player with cornerback size but a free safety skill set, Randall took a winding road to Arizona State, including not playing football for two years after high school, and developed into a first team All-Pac-12 performer as a senior in Tempe. He plays with a fast and physical attitude, routinely sticking his nose in the fire, but he can be inconsistent as a box safety, struggling to work through contact.

 

Although he needs technique and discipline work in coverage, Randall has the size and body fluidity to hold his own, including the ball skills and confidence for the next level. He isn?t a day one starter at safety, but he has the traits to make an immediate impact on special teams coverages and help in nickel situations.

 

A multi-sport athlete in high school, Randall chose baseball and enrolled at Butler Community College in Kansas and spent the 2010-11 season on the baseball diamond, playing shortstop and center field. After a right shoulder injury, he decided to play football instead of rehabbing the injury, transferring to Mesa Community College in Arizona. Randall redshirted in 2011 and was an All-American defensive back in 2012, seeing snaps at cornerback, free safety and wide receiver.

 

He recorded 69 tackles, nine interceptions and five total touchdowns (two receiving, two punt returns, one interception return). He was a three-star cornerback JUCO recruit and received almost three dozen scholarship offers, choosing to stay in Arizona and play for the Sun Devils.

 

Randall missed the start of the 2013 season due to a groin injury (nine starts), finishing his junior year with 71 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, six passes defended and three interceptions. He started all 13 games as the senior boundary safety in 2014 and led the team with 106 total tackles, 12 passes defended and three interceptions, earning First Team All-Pac 12 honors.

 

Great ideas rooted in love.(R)

Last edited by Rusty
Original Post

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Originally Posted by Grave Digger:
Remember that guy Charles Woodson? Here's his replacement. I'm anticipating this guy will play that Rover/NB/OLB role that we kind of hoped Micah Hyde would fill. This guy will be all over the place attacking the ball.

hope you're right.  nfp has him ranked 85.

 

honestly, i hate the pick.  but at the time the picks happened i also hated the rodgers and mathews picks.  if i hate them at the time they turn out ok.  papa teddie knows better than me.

 

Last edited by beef

Ted at the podium:

 

*"Fortunate" to draft Randall this late

*"Very versatile player" probably line him up as a corner? (Unintelligible Texas athlete

*good athlete, former baseball player

 

I just lost a page full of notes because I hit the stupid back button: Basically a former center fielder at JUCO, one quite frankly, and he described this pick as "the way the cookies fell"

Last edited by Rusty
Originally Posted by Grave Digger:
Remember that guy Charles Woodson? Here's his replacement. I'm anticipating this guy will play that Rover/NB/OLB role that we kind of hoped Micah Hyde would fill. This guy will be all over the place attacking the ball.

Really? Let's see him in training camp before we call him the replacement of a first ballot Hall of Famer. 

Honestly I think a lot of sites didn't bother to do their homework which is why they downgraded him. They picked Landon Collins as the top S and then said there weren't any other Safetys and focusing on pass rushers, WRs and OL. I never really thought of him as a CB, more of pure cover Safety in the mold of Nick Collins so I never paid much attention because why would GB take another S? Because he's a hybrid CB/S who is more CB.
  • TT: We think very versatile. We'll probably line him up as a corner. But in Dom's system they move all over the place.
    by Tom Silverstein 11:28 PM
     
    TT: For some time we've had him pretty high up on our board. The more you go bak and look and he's a good football player. You sit around and start worrying sometimes but we looked back at it and at the end of hte day if we get a good football player it doesn't matter. If you take him higher than you have to it's OK. We think we took him at a place where it's very reasonable.
     
    TT: There wasn't much conversation when it got to be our pick. Took a few calls. A couple teams wanted to move back in at the end of the rounmd. Obviously, we didn't do anything
     
    TT: We saw what we needed to see.
     
    TT: With me, I just like to get good football players. Micah has shown that's what he is. We're hopeful Demarious can be that also.
     
    TT: He played starting safety and he would have been their best corner, but their safety play is so crucial to the defense that they had to play him inside. But they played him in the slot.
Last edited by ilcuqui

Gil Brandt:

 

Randall's 4.46 40 was the third best among safeties at the combine, and he also posted the third-best three-cone (6.83 seconds) and tied for the third-best short shuttle (4.07 seconds). Speed might not have been as important for safeties in the days when they were mostly covering tight ends, but in today's game, safeties often end up with the third or fourth receiver, so it's crucial that they have good catch-up speed. Randall isn't really that meet-'em-in-the-hole tough tackler, but we don't need that in a safety as much as we need coverage ability, and Randall is very fluid. He was burned a bit more than you'd like to see in college, but then, that can be a job hazard of his position, which involves covering a lot of ground. He also made a lot of plays.

Randall ConfCall:

 

Teams were talking to him about playing him either at corner at safety, thinks he can play either

 

Didn't think GB was going to draft him at least in R1, spent a lot of time with GB, a lot of 1:1 time with a DB coach whose name he can't remember.

 

Played a lot of 0/man coverages

 

Told he was needed at safety because ASU had enough depth at CB

 

Hurt shoulder at CC, hence why he chose football over baseball, can use center field experience to play DB

 

Spoke highly of Carl Bradford (former teammate)'s character

Last edited by Rusty
Originally Posted by CUPackFan:

       
Just not sure who plays on the outside.  Hayward and Hyde are slot CBs and Randall sounds like one too.  I guess Dom and TT have faith that Hayward can seamlessly move to the outside but who is his backup?  Goodson? 
Sink or swim for Hayward. He has to be more than a 1 trick pony. It's a contract year so I'm guessing he learns to swim pretty quickly. Randall has 4.4 speed at just a hair under 5'11", don't know why he can't play outside either...sounds like the identical measurements to Tramon.
Last edited by Grave Digger

"Inspired effort as a tackler"

"Unselfish team-first type with ideal training habits."

 

Sounds like a guy with a really good skill set and great attitude and coachability.  This guy is as good as the coaching staff can make him. 

Wish he had a little bit more size, but then he probably would have gone earlier in the round.

Last edited by antooo

McGinn had him ranked as second best safety behind Collins. His write-up from earlier this week:

2. DAMARIOUS RANDALL, Arizona State (5-11, 197, 4.41, 1-2): Played junior-college baseball for a year, hurt his shoulder and returned to football for two JC seasons. Started for Sun Devils at FS in 2013-'14. "He reminds me of Devin McCourty," one scout said. "Size is the hold-back. He's just not physical." Twelve months ago his weight was 187. "He reminds me a little bit of the guy the 49ers drafted last year (Jimmie Ward) at the bottom of the first," a second scout said. "People talk about it's a passing league and the box safety is growing out of style. He kind of fits in with the new wave of safeties who can cover receivers and are strong enough to play around the line of scrimmage. But sometimes he gambles a little too much and takes himself out of position." Finished with 177 tackles (15 for loss), six picks and 12 PBUs. Wonderlic of 18. "He's not a good tackler," a third scout said. "He doesn't break down. Just dives at people. Small-framed person. Small waist. Little bowlegged." From Pensacola, Fla.

Last edited by ilcuqui

Tendency buster as he's the first defensive back under 5-11 that Ted had drafted since Marviel Underwood.

 

Randall played safety in college but in the NFL he appears to be more of a nickel back.  Ted obviously has confidence that Heyward can play outside because that's where he likely ends up now.  Randall is a natural fit in the slot and has the skills to really, really excel there.

 

The only real worry I have about Randall is that he is small.  He weighed in at 196 at the combine but his playing weight at Arizona State was generally in the low 180's.  His height is of little concern to me, but his weight and frame could be an issue.  He's just not a very big guy.

 

It also should be noted that he returned kicks/punts in JUCO.  In 2012 he returned 19 kickoffs for a 28.2 yard average and 15 punts for a 20.8 yard average

 

 

Originally Posted by cuqui:

McGinn had him ranked as second best safety behind Collins. His write-up from earlier this week:

2. DAMARIOUS RANDALL, Arizona State (5-11, 197, 4.41, 1-2): Played junior-college baseball for a year, hurt his shoulder and returned to football for two JC seasons. Started for Sun Devils at FS in 2013-'14. "He reminds me of Devin McCourty," one scout said. "Size is the hold-back. He's just not physical." Twelve months ago his weight was 187. "He reminds me a little bit of the guy the 49ers drafted last year (Jimmie Ward) at the bottom of the first," a second scout said. "People talk about it's a passing league and the box safety is growing out of style. He kind of fits in with the new wave of safeties who can cover receivers and are strong enough to play around the line of scrimmage. But sometimes he gambles a little too much and takes himself out of position." Finished with 177 tackles (15 for loss), six picks and 12 PBUs. Wonderlic of 18. "He's not a good tackler," a third scout said. "He doesn't break down. Just dives at people. Small-framed person. Small waist. Little bowlegged." From Pensacola, Fla.

But Does he have cankles?  That's what Catts wants to know!

 

Originally Posted by Grave Digger:
Honestly I think a lot of sites didn't bother to do their homework which is why they downgraded him. They picked Landon Collins as the top S and then said there weren't any other Safetys and focusing on pass rushers, WRs and OL.

 

Mike Mayock has him as the best Safety in the draft and had him going #20 to Philly in his mock.  Mayock's take:

 

"Randall is what today's free safety is all about. He is by far the best cover safety in this draft. Randall can play man-to-man; he has cornerback-level cover skills. You give up some physicality, but his coverage ability is where the NFL is going. Remember Jimmie Ward was a first-rounder last year (to the 49ers) with a similar skill set." 

Last edited by vitaflo
Originally Posted by beef:
Originally Posted by Grave Digger:
Remember that guy Charles Woodson? Here's his replacement. I'm anticipating this guy will play that Rover/NB/OLB role that we kind of hoped Micah Hyde would fill. This guy will be all over the place attacking the ball.

hope you're right.  nfp has him ranked 85.

 

honestly, i hate the pick.  but at the time the picks happened i also hated the rodgers and mathews picks.  if i hate them at the time they turn out ok.  papa teddie knows better than me.

 


Randall was a solid top 45 player.  All sorts of talk that the Bears really liked him in the second round and if he made it past them then the Vikings would be all over him.  I had him at #39 in the ranking I posted in the official draft thread.  Solid top 45 player.  Not a reach at all IMO.  To me the only thing suprising about it is that Ted picked a DB under 5-11.  But he only missed that mark by the slightest of margins and is a plus athlete, and Ted loves athletes on defense.

Originally Posted by vitaflo:
Originally Posted by Grave Digger:
Honestly I think a lot of sites didn't bother to do their homework which is why they downgraded him. They picked Landon Collins as the top S and then said there weren't any other Safetys and focusing on pass rushers, WRs and OL.

 

Mike Mayock has him as the best Safety in the draft and had him going #20 to Philly in his mock.  Mayock's take:

 

"Randall is what today's free safety is all about. He is by far the best cover safety in this draft. Randall can play man-to-man; he has cornerback-level cover skills. You give up some physicality, but his coverage ability is where the NFL is going. Remember Jimmie Ward was a first-rounder last year (to the 49ers) with a similar skill set." 

Mayock  actually played in the league. 'Nuff said

I edited this.  Found I misread the arm length.  Short arms too.  Has decent vertical I guess.

 

While I don't consider him a reach at this point, my response when selected was "Oh, um OK."  I honestly didn't expect this pick.  Before the draft, I asked for what they thought was best CB available with grade for the pick.  I apparently got it.  

 

Whitt has his project for the year in addition to Meech.

Last edited by Green Crustacean

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