OK Preps 2015 Feature – Shane Block
Posted on: May 25, 2014
Image via kfcengr.com
Coming to you this week is another Okie. We like to shine a light on the Sooner State guys every chance we get, and a guy that definitely needs and deserves some publicity is Shane Block out of Yukon. Right now Shane goes 6’5″ 275 and seems to be filling out more and more. He’s someone that jumped out at me on tape because you notice right away how just athletic he is.
He’s got really good size, and with that athleticism, he makes things look easy and smooth on film. When he’s pulling, he locates and locks onto guys very easily and naturally. On “play-away” (a play going to the other side of the formation), he cuts off the backside very easily and can scoop the defender out without a struggle. He gets up to linebackers very quickly, and he’s always the first guy off of the line of scrimmage.
One the things he needs to work on though is his tendency to drop his hands a little bit in pass protection. He makes the mistake of trying to initiate the contact in pass pro with his face (what you do run blocking) which leads you to lunge at people. Against better competition, he’d be succeptible to a quick swim or the butt-and-tug move.
He’s a really great run blocker, very aggressive, and he’ll need to teach himself how to sit in the chair and shoot his hands. Like you’ve heard me say a hundred times, guys gotta use their hands. When you go to the 1:24 mark on his Hudl tape, you see him drive a guy five yards off the ball, but he doesn’t lock the guy out and finish him off. As a result, since he isn’t pressing the guy and trying to bury him with his arms, it allows the defender to wiggle off and toss Shane to the ground. Those with an untrained eye would call him a lunger or waist-bender, but to me he just needs to work his technique and use his hands.
He’s a natural knee bender that just doesn’t have the greatest of technique right now. A redshirt and a great teaching offensive line coach like Joe Wickline or Bill Bedenbaugh would be exactly what he needs. He’s a guy that could fly under the radar much like Tristan Hill has done out at Mustang. I know, I know, you can’t mention Mustang and Yukon in the same breath, but it’s crazy how these guys whose schools are arch rivals are very similar in build, athleticism, and oddly enough their recruitment.
Once Tristan’s uncle reached out to us, we put together a profile and got him some attention. That said, Tristan’s ability garnered him a Vanderbilt offer in the SEC before it was said and done. But he spurned them to go to Georgia Southern in the end. Hopefully we can get Shane’s name out there and in front of some people who can get an offer his way. In my opinion, he’s BCS level good and just needs a coach out there to recognize his ability. Kid can play. K is going to reach out to him soon and see what he’s hearing from schools.
2015 OK PREPS FEATURES:
26 Comments
Big kid, looks like a huge upside. I can see him in Crimson and Cream easily. Thanks for continuing to put the Oklahoma kids on the radar!
Yeah, we plan on featuring a few more here soon.
Hey, I’ve never posted, but have been reading everything on this site since the Bedlam game, and I have to say you guys are awesome! I also want to mention a small town kid who has been getting a some D1 attention, even Big XII, I have been told. His name is Chaz Carr. He plays for Class A Healdton, down in Carter County. He plays LB and RB, and is 6’2″ or 6’3″ and he played at around 205 last year, but I have been told he’s up to about 215 now. He will be a senior this season. Have any of you heard of him? If so I would be interested in reading what you think of him. If you haven’t, it would be awesome if someone checked him out! Thank you all for the great work you do here and BOOMER SOONER!!
Hey welcome aboard! Let me check him out!
Thanks JY!
thanks for the heads up.
tfb……I’m taking tfb at face value on the quality of the recruits you profile since I’m just a fan, ………question is, I understand that ou has to recruit all over the place, but are they overlooking okla talent to chase the pretty boys with the stars…..hill went elsewhere and there are probably others, but seems like getting o and d linemen to ou is a real task………another example is the recent interest in whitfield……..kid in our backyard that mstoops is just now getting around to……….any thoughts, thxs..
To be fair, Whitfield wasn’t exactly killing it with offers. It’s just a matter of evaluation. Even though recruiting is a year round activity, the staff really only spends a specific amount of the year on evaluating. I’d caution you not to assume a kid like Whitfield is being overlooked, as we don’t really know who is on the recruiting board at any given time.
With that said, I do think there are players every year that get overlooked. That’s true for any/every state. If every legitimate player was identified, then you’d never see a guy like Kahlil Mack at a place like Buffalo.
Totally a case of an uncovered gem. Definitely need to put a priority on the east side of the state.
Great stuff. I’ll have to check this kid out I can see the press box from my backyard.
Excellent JY, as always!
I have a question for you, if you get a minute;
I’ve been thinking more and more about Farniok. I remember watching his tape when he was in high school (after we offered), and thinking the obvious (he’s so tall, and it stood out big time in high school), but thinking he was so raw. I’m not surprised it’s taken him a while to get his play to a level where he can legitimately compete with D1 defenders. Anyway, where do you think Farniok stands in his development currently?
I’ve read some of TFB thoughts on him, but wondered if you think he’s still a year away from making a big impact? That’s where I am, just curious what you think. Thanks!
Derek is a guy who’s a right tackle to me. He can play left if he has to, but he could be a really good right tackle for us. Derek needs to continue to work on his technique and his hands. He needs to use the length in his arms to help him in pass pro. The light should come on for him this year.
Love the name. An offensive lineman named Block. How appropriate is that? Thanks JY. TFB Rock.
Still having issues playing embedded HUDL videos- sent two messages.
I used to because I use Linux and HUDL uses Silverlight as their media players. I don’t know what happened, maybe HUDL switched to another media player, but I can watch HUDL with no trouble.
Don’t know what OS or browser you use, but your browser and media players might need to be updated.
Thanks for the input-
Running latest version of Firefox on MacOS X Mavericks- Installed Silverlight with no change- suspect Mozilla as the issue. Better luck using Safari as my browser but it’s not completely functional there either and I don’t care for Safari anyway.
Wish I could be more help.
All I know is I went from not being able to watch HUDL at all and now it plays fine and there is no longer any work around available for Silverlight on Linux distros.(?)
Whitfield is not being overlooked, I would say there is nothing about him that garners an offer from Oklahoma or Oklahoma State. Look at the kid in the hoof, he is rail thin. And say all you want about his frame a kid that skinny is either a project who will take 3 years of development in a weight program or a kid who does not like to lift. And the reality is it could be both.
Not fast or quick enough to be a single high safety or cover a slot, or big & strong enough to take on linemen and tight ends. Classic tweener, and I would actually say Mayfield has shown to be the far superior prospect of the two.
FYI- Hale Henteges, one of OU’s top TE targets has committed to Alabama.
Go-figure-OU thumps Alabama in SB and Alabama is now up to 16 commits for 2015 and leading the nation in overall points. Where is the momentum for OU?
don’t think it extended past the last nsd……………we’ll need to make some noise this coming yr to attract some more
Seen that this morning. I think OU needs to demonstrate the strong use of a TE for at least a season before we can bring in the studs. Good thing is that we’re in good shape right now at that position.
Blake Bell has been the loyal back-up QB, the loyal starter turned back up QB, the loyal member of the program that decided to stay at OU. Seems only normal for him to become the loyal TE that brings “sexy” back to the TE spot at OU. Then a movie can be made about his time in Norman.
Great stuff. That was pretty funny when he pushed the kid clear off the screen.
Cool of you guys giving this unknown kids a shout out. Has to mean a lot to them, both personally & recruiting wise. Appreciate it
good read however, not even the best lineman on the team.
because of the size, not very heavily recruited 6’3″ 275 lb tyler stilwell. because of a concussion, (given to him by stilwell in practice) stilwell started in place of him vs. mustang, santa fe and norman. played center guard and tackle since he was a sophmore.
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1494796/tyler-stilwell-cgt#highlights/27269379