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Lost in the shuffle of Twitter-gate yesterday was the news that Darius Lemora, a defensive back out of Port Arthur, Texas, has gone crimson. First reported by Damon Sayles of ESPN, Lemora committed after a visit from LB Coach Jeff Choate. The Cougars run the same defense as his high school, and that was a big selling point. Playing in the Pac-12 against the likes of Oregon and USC doesn't hurt, either.
Lemora is roughly 6'0 and 180 pounds, and while I usually stick to Scout's measurements in order to keep things equal across the board, they ... um ... didn't have his measurements. They didn't even have him in their database until he committed. I understand that not having a player in your database isn't something that automatically means the kid is no good, and both Rivals and ESPN had him in theirs. It's concerning, but probably not something to lose sleep over.
There is no embeddable video, but he does have a hudl page, so you can watch tape of him there.
I will say this, Lemora can lay the wood. This kid hits like a ton of bricks, but he actually uses his arms to wrap up, unlike some of the players currently on our roster. He sort of reminds me of Deone Bucannon coming out of high school, and that's not a bad thing. He's a little undersized for safety, but not anything that can't be fixed once in a college conditioning program. He's rangy, and certainly makes plays when he needs to.
However, I feel like he could improve in diagnosing run plays. He makes some nice tackles down field that a more experienced player would have recognized as run earlier, and stopped the ball carrier closer to the line of scrimmage. I think that can easily be taught in the film room, as well as on the practice field, so it's not as if it's some deal breaker.
He makes a few interceptions in his video, but it's tough to get an overall sense of his coverage abilities. Most of the tape is focused on him hitting the crap out of people. I'll always take more help in the secondary, and I think the worst case scenario with Lemora is probably solid Special Teams contributor for four years. While I'm not sure he'll be as good as Bucannon, I don't think he'll be a complete waste of a roster spot, either. Plus, Texas pipeline, woo!
Lemora's other offers included North Texas, Texas State, and UTEP. LOL U MAD MIKE PRICE?
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