Too Deep 96 #39-#45: Undeniable Toughness
Kevin Watson is overcoming a major injury, Jack Bech is overcoming much more. And some road-grading lineman are out to prove that they are nasty enough for the NFL.
This installment of the Too Deep 96 has something for everyone.
#39 Kevin Winston Jr., Safety, Penn State
Winston began putting together an impressive scouting profile as a sophomore in 2023: quick-response run stopper, spicy tackler, speedy man-coverage defender with long arms to whip the ball away from his target.
Winston won the Chuck Bednarik Player of the Week Award in Penn State’s 2024 opener against West Virginia, with 12 total tackles and a forced fumble.
And then …
“Come next week, that Wednesday in practice, I stepped a little funny,” Winston said at the Combine. “Tweaked [my right knee]. We checked it, looked at it. No swelling. We thought it was just a tweak.
“Come Thursday, we have a walk-through. I like to do my walk-throughs with urgency and go a little faster. I like to make sure I'm getting the game right. I step a little funny again, and I still feel that sharp pain.”
Winston kept trying to practice through the injury. A game-day adrenaline surge convinced him that he could face Bowling Green the following Saturday. “From the first play, I'm hurt,” he said. “A couple plays, I finally realized that I should probably take myself out. At this point, I'm a liability to the team, playing 50%.”
Winston finally got an MRI. No hurry, Penn State training staff! His right ACL was partially torn. He underwent surgery and missed the rest of the 2024 season.
Winston is a projection because of the injury and the lost season. But the 2023 tape is very good, and Winston, a team captain and the son of a high school administrator, came across exceptionally well in his Combine media availability. (You may notice Winston’s quotes about his Penn State teammates scattered around the Too Deep 96.) Winston may be a little bit raw compared to Notre Dame’s Xavier Watts, and he is more of a box safety than a free safety, but I consider him a better prospect due to his physicality and size-speed traits.
Stat Note: Winston was charged with 0 (ZERO) broken or missed tackles by Sports Info Solutions in 2023. That is a rare feat. Per Winston: “When you hit a dude, he should feel you every time.”
#40 Tyler Booker, Guard, Alabama
Welcome to the Let’s talk about major-program guards section of the Too Deep 96.
I never know how much detail to go into when evaluating guards. Quenton Nelson may be the NFL’s most famous guard right now, and I bet you wouldn’t be interested in a detailed scouting report on him unless you are a Colts fan. If you REALLY love odes to interior linemen, you probably follow Brandon Thorn in some capacity. I could quote him when writing up guards, but frankly I only understand what he’s talking about roughly 30% of the time.
So let’s encapsulate Booker using back-to-back plays against Georgia. On one handoff to Justice Haynes near the goal line, Booker got low on defender Warren Brinson and bulldozed him out of the hole.
Booker tumbled into the end zone ahead of Haynes for an apparent touchdown, but a motion penalty nullified the play. So Jalen Milroe ran a designed sweep on the next play, with Booker “leading” him to the left boundary. But Booker is so pokey that Milroe looped around him and turned upfield before they reached the line of scrimmage.
Do you get the picture? Booker is a bad-bod barroom brawler. He’s got a nasty finish, a reputation as a high-character leader and an ass like a three-row SUV. He’ll be an NFL starter.
What’s next? Another major-program guard? Aw, geez.
#41 Kelvin Banks, Guard/Tackle, Texas
Banks earns a B+ as a run blocker but a C+ at best as a pass protector. He can drive smaller defenders off the line of scrimmage and is a quick-footed, nasty brawler when he gets out to the second level. When pass blocking, he’s athletic but needs work.
Banks has two notable technical flaws. First, he leans forward too far both when run blocking and reaching to engage an edge rusher. He ends up off balance too often; NFL defenders will see him leaning and jujitsu him to the ground.
Second, Banks gets beaten to his outside shoulder by initial quickness too often. His response is to wrap his left arm around the defender or try to hook ‘em by wedging that same arm inside the defender’s left armpit. Banks was flagged for holding just three times in college, but refs know that games would be nine hours long and end with 3-0 final scores if they called every hold at the college level.
Banks started at left tackle for three years and performed well at the Combine. So he has the tools, and he can probably be coached out of the huggy techniques that got the job done in the SEC. His NFL.com profile indicates that some teams are looking at him as a guard, where quick outside rushes are less of an issue. He will make a B+ guard but more of a C+ left tackle.
#42 Jack Bech, WR, Texas Tech
Thirty-one days after his brother was killed in the New Orleans terrorist attack, Jack Bech caught the game-winning touchdown in the Senior Bowl.
"My brother had some wings on me,” Bech said after receiving the MVP award for that all-star game. “He gave them to me, and he let that all take place."