6’2 230 LBS Hometown: Palm Harbor, Florida Projected Rd: 5th

Grade: 6.47

6.47 = Rookie impact/Middling starter (6.00-6.49)

Strengths Straight-line speed

Can go sideline to sideline

Can shoot/fill gaps and get through traffic

Man coverage

Awareness/eye discipline in zone

Closing speed

High motor Weaknesses Inconsistent in his read & reaction

Undisciplined tackler

Doesn’t have a great feel in zone, especially deep zone

Bites on too many play fakes

Overview

Justin Strnad is a 5th year senior hailing from Tampa, Florida. He has a lot of experience, appearing in 8 games as a RS Freshman, 13 games as a RS Sophomore and starting 13 games as a RS Junior. This past season he missed 6 games due to a season ending bicep injury.

Wake Forest ran a 3-4 defense this past season and Strnad played as an inside linebacker. Wake Forest previously deployed a 4-3 defense though, and Strnad was the middle linebacker in that scheme.

Strnad is definitely a good athlete. While his short area quickness and flexibility isn’t the greatest, he has impressive straight line speed, which makes his rather poor 40 time surprising.

His athleticism shows in his coverage ability, though his coverage abilities as a whole are not yet great. He has closing speed and times his breaks onto the ball well in zone, but his overall feel in zone is lacking. Often doesn’t get the right depth or will give too much room over the top or underneath.

In man to man Strnad was solid. He lined up in the nickle to cover receivers often and was usually sticky in coverage. He also showed the ability to play the ball and knows how to get his hands in there and break it up.

Against the run Srnad is up and down. His read and react is hit and miss. Often he will bite on RPO’s or over-commit to a gap without letting the play process first. He does excel and shooting gaps and plugging lanes when he does hit the right gap though, and if he can clean up his tackling should be good playing the run at the next level with some development.

While his tackling is poor, he is a physical hitter. He is not afraid to lay the wood and tries to make the big hit whenever he can which may be one of the causes of his tackling struggles.

Overall, Strnad has the potential to be a starter in the NFL. If he is to be projected as a mid to late-rounder, he would be a great value for any LB needy team with his blend of athleticism, and ability to play the run and pass.

Game By Game Breakdown

Vs. North Carolina (2019)

Stats: 6 Solo, 9 Assists, 15 Total Tackles, 1.0 TFL, 1.0 Sacks, 1 Def

Game Notes: (0:18) Covering the middle in zone, notices receiver go over the middle and closes in too make the tackle well short of the first on 3rd down. (0:52) Perfect play on the run, stayed patient and shot into the lane once he saw running back about to cut upfield. (1:00) Gets coverage pressure, pure effort play on inside blitz. (1:28) Bad angle, over committed to the outside and created the opening for the running back. (3:08) Looks decently fluid in his hips and footwork in zone here. Opened up his hips quickly. (3:25) Bit on RPO. (3:33) Another great play vs the run, diagnoses it and then fills gap to get in on tackle for no gain. (3:52) Aggressive hit. (4:51) Read/react was perfect here, shot correct inside gap but missed the tackle that would of been a run stuff on 4th and 1. (7:02) Double teamed at the second level and blown way back. (7:40) Showed some acceleration and explosion on sack, staying back on a spy and then shooting towards the QB once he could. (8:21) Another aggressive hit, good job of making QB pay for deciding to tuck it and run. (9:20) Shot wrong gap. (9:39) Could of made a play on the ball had he went deeper into the outside zone sooner. There were no receivers on other side of the field so there was no reason for him to process from the middle first. (10:07) Man to man coverage in slot versus receiver, made nice break onto ball for the deflection. (10:28) Great rep in zone coverage. Read the QBs eyes and saw he was going to go to the receiver in his zone and closed in on him in a blur. Would of go a deflection INT most likely had the ball not been batted at the line.

Overview: Playing inside linebacker in 3-4. Him and other ILB would switch on who manned the middle in dime sets. Has good size and can hit. While he bit on a couple of play fakes and had one or two missed assignments, he was mostly solid against the run. Shows the ability to shoot and fill gaps. Was tasked with covering receivers in the slot a few times and looked great in man on two of those plays. In zone was okay. He is athletic so he has potential there but needs to get better from a technical standpoint (just based on this game) and get better with his depth recognition. Overall a solid game for Strynad which showed he has potential in all aspects of the linebacker position.

Grade: A-

Vs. Utah St. (2019)

Stats: 9 Solo, 3 Assists, 12 Total Tackles, 0 TFL, 0 Sacks, 1 INT, 1 Def

Game Notes: RB tape so this will mostly just be evaluating his play against the run of course. (1:55) Let tight end box him out allowing Love to cut inside past him. (2:22) Strong at the point of attack. (3:08) Shoots to the outside instead of trying to hold the edge, stay put and process where the run was going. (3:41) Sideline to sideline speed on display here coming from the complete opposite side of the field and making the tackle short of the first on 3rd despite the runner already in 2nd gear going upfield. (5:10) + Closing speed when breaking to receiver in zone. (5:52) Game sealing (not winning) interception. Was due to a bad throw but still.

Overview: Another decent game, though not up to par with his game against North Carolina which was the following week. Had a couple of plays where his read/react was poor. Showed sideline to sideline speed and closing speed in zone. Still does not look the most comfortable in zone despite not being exposed or abused. Awareness and eye discipline is there just needs to get a better feel in zone.

Grade: C+

Vs. Florida State (2018)

Stats: 7 Solo Tackles, 5 Assists, 12 Total Tackles, 1.0 TFL, 1 FF

Game Notes: Going back to his RS Junior year. (1:08) Gave way too much cushion to receiver going over the middle into his zone and then also misses tackle. (1:18) Shot the right gap but was then pancaked. (1:50) Good tackle in space. (2:07) Explosive on blitz. (3:11) Shot gap and over committed, should of stayed patient. (3:38) Straight line speed & motor on full display here as he chases down receiver and knocks the ball out right before he gets into the endzone. Amazing play. (3:54) + Read & react and finished with the tackle. (4:22) Another nice play against the run, read it well and shot in for the tackle. (6:05) Over committed on inside gap. (7:00) Usually I say he needs to be more patient, here he was too patient. Had time to process so should of pursued the ball carrier earlier. (7:36) Gave up catch in zone, example of him not having a very good feel in zone, and rather poor depth perception.

Overview: Looks like they played in a 4-3 this year. Was the worst game of his I evaluated but he still made some great plays and flashed his potential as a prospect. Speed is of course there and allowed him to make one of he best plays I have seen him make. Too many times he overcommitted in this one. In zone he looked worse than he did his senior year.

Grade: C