Pro scouting report of Alabama offensive tackle JC Latham
JC Latham is a Junior offensive tackle from the University of Alabama. He started every game over the last two seasons and played in all 14 in 2021.
What should we make of JC Latham’s as an offensive tackle? Here are my takeaways from Latham’s UA film.
Latham possesses a sound base in the passing game, playing with good initial quickness when out of stance. Latham was consistent in his set points when dropping on Vertical and Angle sets. Latham has active hands in pass pro, with good initial hand placement to latch onto defenders. He also plays with good strike-timing and independent hand usage; he shows the ability to keep his chest clean from long arms and can re-fit for leverage. In addition to independent hand usage, Latham has very good grip strength overall and impressive upper body play strength to lock and stalemate rushers. Latham has a good anchor against power and shows some patience against rushers, protecting him against spin moves. He has solid lateral movement when mirroring defenders, as well.
Latham’s best ability comes in the run game. He’s most effective on power/gap scheme runs. Latham’s competitiveness and physical toughness stand out on base blocks. He plays with a very good base. His hand placement and grip strength allow for good leverage and leg drive to dominate his 1-on-1s. Latham’s play strength becomes magnified on double teams; he has a good ability to use his pad level and play strength to displace linemen out of their gaps. He’s effective on down blocks due to his physical toughness and play strength. He’s a finisher to the whistle on blocks in the run game and someone who can set a tone for your offensive line.
In zone schemes, he was often used as a playside lineman to seal edge defenders. He has the necessary play strength and technical skills to take edge defenders out of the play. As a backside blocker, he displays good initial quickness on reach blocks. He is comfortable on the second level and displays the necessary processing, vision, and tempo to self-locate and eliminate pursuit paths of declaring defenders.
The concern with Latham in the passing game is how he is handling line games and stunts. He can be targeted in the line game due to slower processing and identifying the games being played. Latham, at times, can overset, and when defenders take advantage of stunts/twists, he can drop his eyes to defenders who crossed his face, leaving loopers free. His change of direction skills hindered him from recovering these instances, and he could also improve his processing speed versus line games.
In the run game, while he has sound processing and vision, taking angles to the second level, he struggles with his foot speed and acceleration when climbing. Smarter and quicker defenders could exploit his foot speed and acceleration to beat his angles.