Sleeper DE has intangibles
Sleeper defensive end Devon Rosa (6-4, 220, 4.9) from Woodland Hills (Calif.) Taft is one to keep an eye this fall. He has a lot of things that you can't coach and if he puts together a good senior season you could see a bull run by D-I colleges for his services.
Rosa projects as a defensive end on the D-I level, but he will see some action on the offensive side his senior season as a blocking tight end.
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Taft head coach Todd Kerstetter has a good idea why his defensive end will be recruited.
"Devon has long arms and when he puts his arms up, he's tough to throw over," Kerstetter said. "When D-I coaches meet him they tell me that I'm right about his long arms and you can't coach that."
"Devon is mostly hearing from WAC and Mountain West schools, with a handful of Pac 10," Kerstetter said. "They want to see more consistency out of him."
"Devon will make some freakish plays, but he not enough of them," Kerstetter said. "They want to see more of that type of play out of him before offering."
"I'm pretty sure he's going to get an offer this fall," Kerstetter said. "He has the grades and he has a huge amount of potential."
According to Kerstetter the schools that are actively recruiting Rosa are Oregon State, Washington State, Boise State, Fresno State, Nevada and San Diego State.
As a junior, Rosa was a second-team all-conference selection. Not bad when you consider that the twins from Lake Balboa (Calif.) Birmingham, Malik Jackson who signed with USC and Marquis Jackson who committed to Fresno State, were in the same league and garnered first-team honors.
The scouting report on Rosa is he has a quick first-step and brings pretty good pressure to the quarterback. He's not vulnerable to the run. You won't have to take him out on running downs like with some good pass rushers you can mow the specialist over in the running game, but he'll hold his own.