Mississippi State Bulldogs linebacker Benardrick McKinney (50) tries to pump up the crowd noise against the Alabama Crimson Tide. John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

A couple of weeks ago I conducted an in-depth film study on inside linebacker prospect Stephone Anthony. We took a look at his game and broke down how he’d fit in the Green Bay Packers defense.

Today we do the same with another top inside linebacker prospect – Benardrick McKinney.

McKinney is a polarizing prospect going into the NFL Draft.

Some analysts, like NFL.com‘s Bucky Brooks, love him and see him as a sure-fire first round pick, while others, like NFL Draft Scout’s Dane Bugler, don’t believe the former Mississippi State linebacker will go any earlier than the late second round.

If you search mock drafts around the internet there isn’t a more popular choice for the Packers’ 30th overall pick than McKinney.

He seems to be a natural fit at a position that is undeniably the Packers greatest need going into this offseason.

At 6-foot-4, 245-pounds, McKinney is an intimidating presence manning the middle of the field and could be the physical run defender Green Bay has been missing at linebacker for several years now.

However, I wanted to take a closer look at McKinney’s game and really evaluate what he does well, what he struggles with, and analyze if he’d be a good fit for the Packers in the draft.

I also wanted to see if all of the hype was warranted and if his physical size and athletic ability translated well on the field.

For this study, I went back and watched several of McKinney’s games at Mississippi State, analyzing each snap.

The following is a breakdown of McKinney’s game with some clips (courtesy of draftbreakdown.com) to highlight what he brings to the field as one of the top inside linebacker prospects.