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ILB/OLB? Jonathan Brown, Illinois -- There are few better tacklers in all of college football than Jonathan Brown. Brown plays the angles extremely well in a thankless role for the Fighting Illini, often blowing up holes in the OL to allow other players to swoop in and shut down the run. Brown himself is an excellent tackler that never misses when he makes a go at a ballcarrier. However, Brown's biggest foible is that he is ridiculously slow -- he ran a 5.0 at the Combine, and with a non-elite physique (6'0", 238), that's going to drop him out of the Draft altogether, and may even compromise some team taking in UDFA. There are certain slower-than-molasses linebackers who have had success at the next level, Brandon Spikes being one of them. And Brown's instincts are great, but unlike Spikes, who at least has some degree of quickness in space, Brown just looks like he's running in sand all game compared to the better college programs he faced, and definitely will look like that at the NFL. It's a shame, because Brown is so sharp between the ears -- maybe a DC who loves him in training camp can figure out a way to make that work. Until then, he may only be a pure 3-4 ILB in the NFL, if he even makes a roster.
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