A Look Towards the Future: DT Nick Acree

Nick Acree
Defensive Tackle/Offensive Tackle
6’6”, 295, 5.01
Fork Union Military Academy – Fork Union, VA
Offers: Virginia Tech (committed), Florida State, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, UCLA, USC, and West Virginia. 



Rankings

Rivals.com: 4 star prospect, 18th best defensive tackle, 8 best player in the state of Virginia, and 232nd nationally. 
Scout.com: 4 star prospect, 27th best offensive tackle
ESPN.com: 3 star prospect, 75 rating, 78th best defensive tackle

ESPN.com Bio and Player Breakdown

Acree is an interesting kid. He draws your attention with his excellent size. This is a big and well built kid for his age. He has good size and for a kid who is around 300 hundred pounds he carries it well. There is no arguing that he looks the part.

As a defensive tackle he displays a good get-off. Would like to see him be more consistent in this area, but he does display the ability to get moving quickly. With his size he can get into a blocker and knock him back when he comes off the ball with good pad level. Overall, he needs to watch his pad level as he can tend to play tall. He is adequate with his hands and needs to work on bringing them and protecting himself and creating separation. He can allow blockers to get into him and with poor pad level he can be pushed off the ball despite his size.

He will flash the ability to attack half-a-man and get into the gap, but can tend to attack the whole man and at times will almost block himself. Plays with a good motor and will turn and run to the ball. Displays solid straight-line speed. Can seem a bit rigid in his overall body movement and has very adequate short-area change-of-direction skills. He is an adequate drag-down tackler. As a pass rusher he has the tools to bull rush and collapse the pocket. With his ability to get off the ball he can try and work a quick move like the swim, but needs to be careful to not get tall and expose himself and get washed.

Acree has the size, but you would like to see him be more dominant in his play. His ability to get-off the ball well could likely find him on defense initially in college as a nose tackle, but he needs to keep developing his game and get more from his raw tools. It certainly is a strong possibility that the best fit for Acree could be on offense at guard.

Justin’s Assessment

Nick Acree was the first commit of the 2010 recruiting class and he might even be the best prospect in this class.  I got a chance to see him up close at the spring game back and April and trust me; he’s not somebody I would want to line up across from.  Nick is a chiseled 295 pounds and is pretty lean and agile for his size.  Depending on what position he plays in college, he could easily bulk up some more and play at about 310-320 pounds. 

However, Acree and the Hokie fanbase did receive some bad news a few months ago when it was reported that Acree tore his ACL and was going to miss his entire senior season.   This was a bit of a blow since Nick transferred from King Williams High School to FUMA to improve his game in order to play next fall. 

I completely agree with the ESPN analysis above in that Acree needs to be more dominant at the point of attack but since he was playing out of position (pass rushing DE at King Williams High), those who see his film need to take it with a grain of salt.  Acree was by far the most intimidating prospect that showed up last winter at the Rivals All-American Camp down in San Antonio and even beat Rivals100 member Robert Crisp (NC State commit) on multiple occasions. 

For Hokie fans, get use to the name Nick Acree because you’ll be hearing it a lot for the next four years. 

FV Sports Scouting Report

Monstrous prospect with special athleticism for his size. Someone who can change the opposition's game plan. Obviously stout against the run, Acree's height is a tremendous tool in clogging the opposition's passing lanes as well. Understands the nuances of his position unlike a lot of physical marvels. Unlike D.J. Fluker, who I advocated should move to offensive tackle after his sophomore year, Acree has the initial burst, balance, and aggressiveness to stay on the defensive line. Carries himself with a presence on and off the field. As expected, needs to work on consistency and especially pad level. Gets by with his size in high school, will need to develop his techniques in the future. Should be a tremendous force at the next two levels, a program changing talent.

Articles

http://www.roanoke.com/sports/notebookplus/wb/165684