Ask Farrell: Which top LB is more of a surprise?
Devin White was a four-star fullback coming out of Springhill (La.) North Webster, a 6-foot, 258-pound machine who had 34 offers. Devin Bush was a 5-foot-11, 224-pound four-star inside linebacker from Pembroke Pines (Fla.) Flanagan who had a strong ranking but definitely questions about his size and how it translated to major college football.
Now both White and Bush have clearly emerged as the top two linebacker prospects heading into the NFL Draft and ESPN analyst Mel Kiper, Jr., has high praise for both players.
“(Bush) is one of the top players in this draft,” Kiper said. “You could argue he’s one of the 10 best players in this draft. I’m thinking he’s that good.
“The league at the end of the day after running that tremendous 40 time that he ran at the combine when he and Devin White ran almost identical 4.43, 4.42 shows his range and his sideline-to-sideline speed. Like Deion Jones when he came out of LSU, very similar player, very similar to Devin White. If Devin White is going to be the fifth pick in the draft I don’t think Devin Bush could be far behind.”
White, who measured 6-foot, 237 pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine, was phenomenal in drills and that backed up a great career at LSU where he finished with 123 tackles this past season. Bush, who checked in at 5-foot-11, 234 pounds in Indianapolis, led Michigan with 80 tackles.
Both players had question marks coming out of high school whether it was which position would White play at LSU or would Bush’s size hold him back from making an impact for the Wolverines. Both have proven to be two of the best players in all of college football.
We ask Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell whether the success from White or Bush is more of a surprise to him after evaluating both as high school prospects?
FARRELL'S TAKE
“I would say both are surprises for different reasons. I did not see the same athleticism out of high school I see now in Bush and we questioned his length. I never saw five star talent there and am surprised he has emerged as one of the top players in the draft. White was a tougher eval because he started off as a running back and was considered the next Leonard Fournette when he was young. Then he ballooned up to 260 pounds while making the transition to linebacker and he just didn’t move well or fluidly at events. So we landed on fullback for him and it probably should have been athlete instead. He’s as big a surprise as Bush, perhaps bigger because of the positional confusion. Both have done a great job in college and are very hard workers.”
