John Plattenburg is a consensus three-star defensive back from Houston (Texas) Lamar High School. He has scholarship offers from UCLA, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Oregon, Arizona, Baylor, Ole Miss, Washington and Tennessee, among plenty of others.
John Plattenburg recruit scouting report: Versatile defensive back
The Texas product is one of the top defensive backs available in the 2014 class.
Tom Hauck (Student Sports Photos)
There is some disagreement between the major recruiting services about how well Plattenburg stacks up within the 2014 class. He is regarded as a four-star prospect by 247Sports, which considers him the No. 26 cornerback in the country. Scout also considers him a four-star player, and has him as the No. 21 cornerback. Rivals ranks him as a three-star prospect, 34th at his position. ESPN, which differs from the rest in considering him a safety, rates him 74th within that pool of players.
Plattenburg, who is 5’10 and weighs 179 pounds, took several visits during football season, according to his 247Sports recruiting timeline -- he made trips to Oregon, Baylor, Wisconsin and Oklahoma. You can keep u with him on Twitter right here.
Derrell Warren, West Coast Recruiting Analyst: Plattenburg isn’t the tallest defensive back recruit but carries enough versatility to where he projects favorably to multiple positions. He carries a wide shoulder base that is conducive to adding good weight, especially up top. His frame should enable him to get north of 200 pounds, depending on how his body responds to college level strength and conditioning.
The consensus four-star has the ability to play cornerback at the next level. That said, he could just as easily slide inside to safety if he indeed gains the necessary muscle.
As a corner, Plattenburg is balanced in his drop. He displays quick feet in his backpedal and shows quick hips when he has to turn and run.
Plattenburg carries good topend speed. Perhaps more importantly, he demonstrates great acceleration as he gets up to top speed quickly. His short area burst enables him to make up for any false steps in coverage.
He primarily plays in off man. Plattenburg doesn’t seem to diagnose routes as quickly as he probably should. Therefore, he can be susceptible to being beaten at the release. His straight line long speed allows him to stay stride for stride with faster receivers downfield.
Plattenburg is light on his feet. That translates well on the snaps his plays safety as he’s able to transition downhill and run the alleys. While his film doesn’t show him to have quite the instincts of a natural ballhawk, he reacts well to the ball in air out in space and his short area burst allows him to contest the pass at the catch point.
