Prospect Profile: Bralen Trice, EDGE, Washington

Context

Plays exclusively outside as the 7 or 9 technique.

Pass Rush

His upfield burst and ability to gain ground early provides a good summation of Trice’s game – he has some athletic ability to him, in this case explosion, but it isn’t harnessed well due to technique or processing deficiency. It means he doesn’t grade out particularly highly as a player currently but has much higher potential if he can unblock some of these issues. His get-off is normally solid but it’s turns far more threatening when in obvious passing situations like 3^rd and long or at the end of the half. The improved get-off in these situations sets up the rest of his pass rush well, but ordinarily he will not get after the Offensive Linemen as quickly as required given some of the other deficiencies in his pass rush. His pass rush plan will take advantage of poor play from Offensive Linemen, for instance he is able to take full advantage of an over-set and a compromised half-man relationship from the OL. However, he has not yet put together a pre-meditated plan to beat even a deficient Offensive Linemen, he is relentless early in games and will string together multiple counters, but it feels like he’s throwing moves out without much plan or thought. Some of the reason he has to deploy so many counters are the deficiency in his hand usage. Time and space are the enemy of Offensive Linemen and how they reduce that time and space is how they are successful, Trice often does that for them with consistently late hands when trying to engage. It leads to him barreling into blockers taking away his advantage. When he stumbles over more optimum hand timing, he does have a dangerous long arm move and can threaten the pocket with straight power to the OL’s chest. These moves show the remarkable power in his hands and the strength he could deploy to win consistently as a pass-rusher. However, Offensive Linemen with good anchors can stop him in his tracks and he doesn’t have a counter when his power moves don’t work. When he does get-off well in the situations described above he can threaten the edge and it allows him to marry his feet and hands far better. When he does get to the corner he has limited ankle flexion and therefore limited bend to get around the edge and get to the QB. When he does come free, he can hurry the QB and get hits on less mobile QBs but more mobile QBs will escape his clutches.

Vs Run

As a run defender, it’s more of the same story, huge potential but his play strength his hampered by his lacking technique. The same hand usage deficiency with timing applies when defending the run. The lack of ankle flexion also shows up as he’s unable to lock out once he does engage with the defender to gain leverage. He will win reps against lesser competition because of the sheer power in his hands but it isn’t consistent. When setting the edge, he doesn’t constrict running lanes as much as you would like because of this and while he keeps his eyes in the backfield, he struggles to disengage and tackle the runner in his gap against better competition. He does read Zone Blocking well and the quicker reaction, helps everything work better and allow him to make plays on the ball carrier.

SUMMARY
Huge potential with impressive explosive ability and power in his hands. Processing and technique deficiencies across his game will lead to early struggles at the next level.

PRODUCTION
SR: 8 Sacks, 19 QB Hits, 47 Total Tackles, 1 FF
JR: 9 Sacks, 15 QB hits, 29 total tackles
INJURY: None

RAVENS FIT
Athleticism 4
Intelligence 2
Versatility 2
Grit 3
Scheme 3