Recruiting on the South Plains | CB Michael Coley Player Profile

Irving athlete Michael Coley was the only signing day surprise to the Texas Tech 2014 recruiting class. I failed Coley by not having a profile done by the time that National Signing Day Arrived, so I'm making it up to him today. Let's get to it.

PLAYER	DETAILS
Michael Coley	POSITION: Cornerback HEIGHT: 6'2" WEIGHT: 185 FORTY: 4.60 HIGH SCHOOL: Irving (Irving, TX) VIDEO: Clip 1 RECRUITING SERVICES: Rivals 5.4 | Scout | ESPN N/R | 24/7 Sports 79 CUMULATIVE RANKING: 0.8115 VTM PROFILE DATE: March 2, 2014

THE PLAYER SPEAKS | Nothing that I could find from Coley, but here's defensive coordinator Matt Wallerstedt on Coley at the recruiting review (via WreckEm 247)

Wallerstedt: "This kid is Justis Nelson plus 20 pounds is what he is. We didn’t know if we could take him, it was kind of getting full there at the end. He was a receiver last year, we had to evaluate his senior progress. They flipped him over to corner, they played him both ways. He was a starter on the basketball team there at Irving High, which should tell you all a lot. Very athletic, tall, rangy corner that could play the field or play the boundary. We think big things of this kid. 3.75 GPA, came on campus and when I saw him in person before Christmas break I called coach Kingsbury and said we have got to find a way to get this guy. Character wise, all the way he’s a 10 and you guys will be excited about Michael Coley."

SCOUTING REPORT | Coley was primarily a receiver his senior year, but the defensive Texas Tech coaches believe that they have a bigger version of Justis Nelson and made room for him at the last minute. Coley caught 43 passes for 611 yards and 4 touchdowns, while recording 33 tackles, 3 tackles for loss and 1 interception.

It seems as if the coaches were looking for a type of athlete and both Coley and Nelson fit this profile. Texas Tech hasn't had many cornerbacks that are over 6'0" and this is something that both Nelson and Coley offer. It's clear that this is a type of player that the coaches feel like can really play. As noted above, Coley doesn't have the type of speed that you might expect from a cornerback, but height can make a significant difference and we saw that with Nelson. Nelson isn't blessed as being a burner defensively, but he sure as heck is fast enough to stick with his man and make a play with his height.

Coley has a pretty good idea of what he's doing from a technique standpoint. He knows how to turn his hips and use the field as a defender. He doesn't move his hips all that quickly, but I think it's fine. And Coley isn't the sort of athlete that's pretty well built. And we also tend to have this perception that an athlete tht runs a legitimate 4.65 in the 40-yard dash is too slow to play and that's just not accurate. The problem is that most likely all of the other 40 times aren't all that accurate so things tend to get a bit out of whack

Michael, welcome to Texas Tech and Git Your Guns Up!

The 2014 Class | I won't beat all of you down by re-publishing the tables, but you can find the entire 2014 class here.