Film Room: Deondre Buford

On3 imageby:Adam Luckett08/19/19

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(Photo: © Allen Trieu | 247Sports)

Kentucky added another member to its 2020 recruiting class and this time they got John Schlarman an impressive player to work with on the offensive line. Deondre Buford is a tackle prospect out of Detroit who was wanted by a ton of schools. In the end, UK beat out Purdue, Pittsburgh, Mizzou, and Arizona. Meanwhile, LSU, Penn State, Louisville, Miami, and West Virginia all have listed offers. He is a heavily sought after tackle and Steve Clinkscale scored another crootin’ victory in the state of Michigan.

Now it is time to take you into the KSR film room to tell you what kind of player Kentucky is getting. The Wildcats still need to find out who will take over for Landon Young once he leaves Lexington and Deondre Buford might just have the skillset required to man that spot.

On tape, Deondre Buford looks like your prototypical left tackle. At 6-foot-4, he has very good positional athleticism and that shows up in his pass protection. Here in the five-step drop out of the shotgun formation, Buford does a great job staying balanced and getting his hands on the pass rusher. He uses a nice jump back move to stay square and that creates a very easy throwing window for his quarterback to launch the deep ball.

The high school senior has some major tools in pass protection.

He can also get stuff done in the run game. On a designed counter that is meant go to the right, the play is blown up by the playside defensive tackle. Despite that disruption, Deondre Buford flashes some nice down blocking ability. The left tackle quickly turns the defensive end inside and with nice leg drive, he drives him from one end of the line to the other. This is where hand placement and sled work come into actuality and this type of blocking is much needed in Kentucky’s offensive scheme.

We saw what happened when the left tackle locks in right away, but there are going to be times when the opposing defender beats you off the ball. On this run play, the defensive end beats Deondre Buford at the snap and wins the early battle. Inside hands usually wins the fight at the line of scrimmage, but some good recovery technique and power allow Buford to takeover. Improvisation is needed in isolation situations.

To wrap up the combination of what he does best in one clip, check out this camp highlight.

Final Thoughts

Deondre Buford is the third player from Michigan to join this class and the fifth recruit Steve Clinkscale has reeled to Lexington since 2018. All have been rated at least a high three-star and Kentucky is currently building a nice pipeline in The Great Lakes State. The latest addition is very substantial because it is at a position of need.

This season, Landon Young is entering his redshirt junior season and after him there are some questions about the left tackle spot. Naasir Watkins is guy that played both tackle positions last season, but we’re not sure which spot is the redshirt sophomore’s best yet. Redshirt freshman Nick Lewis and true freshman Jake Pope are both set to play the position, but each seem to be projects at this point. The chance for early playing time at left tackle could be there.

The high three-star recruit, per the 247 Sports composite, will most likely need a redshirt year because he needs to put on some weight. It appears right now he’s somewhere between 260-275 pounds and that is not going to cut it in the SEC. Other than the weight, there are some things to really be excited about.

Deondre Buford is excellent in pass protection and has all the tools you want in a left tackle. It would help if he were an inch or two taller, but he seems to have very long arms to go with good hands and feet on top of positional athleticism. His takeoff at the line of scrimmage needs some sharpening, but he has shown the power required to succeed in run blocking. He is one of the my favorite prospects in the class of 2020.

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2024-03-28