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NFL Draft 2013 Scouting Report: Markus Wheaton, WR, Oregon State

Taking the top off of defenses everywhere, coming to an NFL team soon.

UCLA has a lot of fans.....
UCLA has a lot of fans.....
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

Measureables:

Height: 6'1"

Weight: 183 lbs

40 Time: 4.45

Games Watched:

OSU vs. BYU 2012

OSU vs. Arizona State 2012

OSU vs. Cal 2012

OSU vs. UCLA 2012

Positives:

Above all things when watching Wheaton is his speed. Oh man. He has great body control, when on the sidelines, or when tracking the ball, he makes great adjustments to get to it. When the ball was under thrown, and he couldn't get to it, he made sure the defender didn't catch it. When he catches a ball, he's very good in open space, and sees the entire field. While he may not have the elusiveness of a Percy Harvin where they can juke everyone out, he can just run past them in the open field. He has good hands, and can make the catch even with defenders all over him. He's willing to go make the catches in the middle of the field in traffic. He seemed open almost all the time which is partially due to his good route running. He doesn't take plays off and will run from one side of the field to the other to go help run block. Very willing to run block, and he runs up field with the receiver or running back and makes sure no one gets to them. I love him as a reverse option too. He sees the lanes and blows through them, and seems to always get positive yards whether a runner or receiver.

Negatives:

He's not a big physical receiver, but one could argue that Mike Wallace and Torrey Smith aren't either, standing at just 6'0" themselves. However, he's only 183 lbs and can get pushed around by larger defenders when blocking. He's an average blocker, but as I said before, he shows a willingness to engage. He'll never be a physical receiver (that's fine though, because that is not his job).

Stats: From the OSU website

Rushing G Att Yards Yds/Att Long TD Yds/G
2009 12 11 79 7.2 18 1 6.6
2011 12 25 190 7.6 56 0 15.8
2012 13 20 142 7.1 35 2 10.9
TOTAL 49 83 631 7.6 56 5 12.9
2010 12 27 220 8.1 31 2 18.3

Receiving G Rec Yards Yds/Rec Long TD Yds/G
2009 12 8 89 11.1 25 0 7.4
2010 12 55 675 12.3 48 4 56.3
2011 12 73 986 13.5 69 1 82.2
2012 13 91 1244 13.7 51 11 95.7
TOTAL 49 227 2994 13.2 69 16 61.1

Kick Return G No Yards Yds/Rec Long TD Yds/G
2011 12 0 0 -- 0 0 --
2009 12 0 0 -- 0 0 --
2010 12 4 81 20.3 30 0 6.8
2012 13 0 0 -- 0 0 --
TOTAL 49 4 81 20.3 30 0 1.7

Punt Return G No Yards Yds/Rec Long TD Yds/G
2009 12 0 0 -- 0 0 --
2010 12 1 52 52.0 52 0 4.3
2011 12 0 0 -- 0 0 --
2012 13 2 16 8.0 15 0 1.2
TOTAL 49 3 68 22.7 52 0 1.4

Conclusion:

Before doing this, I hadn't seen Wheaton play at all. What I came away with is that he is a very very good deep threat, and in the mold of say, Mike Wallace or Torrey Smith, where they might only run a couple routes, but they are very good at taking the top off the defense. I also want to say that Wheaton's QBs were pretty terrible from what I saw on film and he could have had 3 or 4 more TDs just in the games I watched had the QB looked his way. I like what I see a lot from him, and would give him a second round grade. However, I do not think the Titans should go for him in the draft unless we have already satisfied our safety and offensive line needs in FA.

Previous Prospect Profiles:

Sam Montgomery

Tyrann Mathieu

Phillip Thomas

Xavier Rhodes

Keenan Allen

Stepfan Taylor

Ezekiel Ansah

UPDATE: Actual height is 6'1" not 5'11"