Joseph Paul
Height: 6'5
Weight: 325 lbs
Position: Offensive Tackle
Brainiac’s Average Grade: Football 3.9 / 5.0

As noted in the Courtney Garnett note from earlier, Joseph Paul, Courtney’s teammate will be visiting Oklahoma with Courtney on January 17th.

Huge guy. Listed at 6’5 and 315 lbs but I’ll bet he goes 325 lbs. Very heavy handed. A bit of a waist bender. A right tackle to me who will be a road grading, Phil Loadholt type of a player. Has quick feet and can handle speed rushers as well. He seems immune to a bull rush because he anchors so effectively. Has a lot of mass in the lower body while being very strong in the upper body. Already benching over 400 lbs but like Dwayne Orso, he’s still a baby. No telling where he ends up in terms of size or strength when it’s all said and done. He’s one of those monsters that LSU runs out every year that makes you wonder where they find them. He plays very hard and has a great deal of nasty in him. Frequently rag dolls opponents, and does it with ease. He’s not the natural athlete that someone like Pruitt is, but will be a highly effective college player. I’m confident he can be an all-conference player if he puts in the work and is in the right system. He seems to have progressed a lot between his jr and sr years. Looks much smoother and more comfortable his sr year. Make me optimistic about his development.

Grade: 3.8

Joseph Paul is a mammoth of a kid with an NFL type frame. He played RT as a junior but looks like he could be most comfortable sliding inside to capitalize on his strengths. He has very good feet when it comes to getting to the second level. His violent hands and long reach will get any line scout excited. My primary issue with Paul is that he appears to lack the natural knee bend which raises concerns about how he he’d handle a good pass rusher that can turn the corner. However, as a guard he would be able to slide in and with his violent, almost boxer-like hands, he could easily hold his ground against any three tech. Still at RT he shows an amazing ability to block down on the defensive ends. If he were to slide in, that quality tells me what I need to know about his ability to block down on a slower, albeit stronger nose tackle.  Overall, I see an all-conference type OLineman.

Grade: 3.9

21 Comments

  • dahldennsull says:

    Problem is, we need tackles not anymore guards, especially with more looking like they are coming in for 2015. If he can’t play RT, I don’t see anyway we can take him.

    • OklaSooner says:

      I somewhat agree but again how can you not take a kid with his size, frame, upside, and create that “IN” with his HS ?

    • Sonny Schovanec says:

      Did you see who offered this kid? Texas, The Noles, Florida just too name a few. With quality Olineman far a few between knocking on OU’s doors you snap this kid up. You just don’t find kids that have frames like Paul does growing on trees.

      • Sonny Schovanec says:

        I know in a “perfect” world there are prototypical athletic characteristics that define who you would want inside versus at tackle but in reality you can move Olineman around too fit your needs. Bronson played inside and outside. You see a kid like Paul who is 6’5″, has a h3ll of a punch, and is nasty you take him.

        • Super K says:

          Exactly!

        • Gregor says:

          Plus, with the historical attrition rate for our linemen how can we assume that we will have all of these guys in two, three, four years? Unfortunately, we usually don’t know which ones will wash out or have career ending injuries(usually in the season they were named to pre-season AA or all-conference teams).

          I would over recruit the offensive line every year. If we have a period of abnormally healthy, nasty linemen, then good for us. Just so long as we have options to throw in the game.

        • JY says:

          Absolutely.

    • Super K says:

      I don’t think Ace is saying he can’t play tackle…I think he just has concerns and says he might be better suited inside. JY feels confident he can play tackle. But we posted both opinions because people differ and that’s ok. My personal feeling is he can definitely play tackle. I agree he is a RT and not an LT but he’s a tackle nonetheless.

    • dahldennsull says:

      Guys I definitely see all your points, but I’m not looking at guard attrition, or his skill alone, I’m looking at us closing this class with enough scholarship numbers. We have very few left and some of those ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO go to tackles. I agree it would be nice to take kids with great talent, but when we are crunching numbers towards the end of the class, I don’t think we can risk leaving out a HS tackle somewhere. Obviously I can’t see behind the curtain and am sure the coaches have a handle on this, but will feel a lot better to see it finish out balanced.

  • CyberSooner says:

    I say take the kid. With that size and and an attitude, with a year with Schmitty and Bedenbaugh, I think playing RT wouldn’t be a problem. One thing Bedenbaugh has done is bring back a little attitude to the O- line and it sounds like this kid would fit right in.

  • Leroy Jenkins says:

    So I’m guessing Sims is out of the picture if we take Paul? And I agree with “Okla Sooner,” this would be great to get an “in” to his high school. And to NOLA, lots of great talent there.

    • Billy Jackson says:

      That’s a good question. I thought Simms to be an interior lineman, but I believe we are full at guard. Still, if Simms were to take a visit and decide to commit, I’ve got to believe the coaches would make room for him. He’s too good a prospect to not accept.

  • Indy_sooner says:

    Great write up! Now send in the Mixon to close the deal.

  • Dr. Doobie says:

    Being reported Mr. Paul committed to the good guys via twitter… Any truth to this. I trust this site way before I do the other one I tend to visit.

  • James D-Space says:

    Just read that Paul committed.

  • Super Keith says:

    I think it’s fair to say this commit was a direct result of the Sugar Bowl win. OU only offered this kid a few weeks ago, and now he’s a Sooner. The Sugar Bowl win was almost as good as a national title win, in terms of PR/recruiting. I guess we should thank Alabama for being so good for so many years.

  • Kamiar Mehrabian says:

    The kid’s offer list is impressive. Apparently he was underwhelming at other camps, though. Many of his offers from schools such as FSU, UF, and A&M don’t exist anymore. He should be fine with Bedenbaugh, Schmitty and the rest of the OU staff. If anything, OU knows how to coach dudes up!

  • Sooner Ray says:

    Don’t think you can have too many linemen even if they need a lot of work.