Salt Lake City (Utah) Highland High School’s Bryan Mone is an elite defensive tackle prospect in the class of 2014. He has earned the interest of several major-conference schools and holds scholarship offers from Michigan, Stanford, Ole Miss, UCLA, Utah, BYU and Oregon State, among others.
Bryan Mone recruit scouting report: Excellent defensive tackle
Mone is a consensus four-star prospect, a top-100 player in the overall rankings and a top-five player at his position. Rivals rates him the lowest of the major services, placing him at No. 185 overall and 11th at DT. Scout, ESPN and 247Sports rank him no lower than sixth at his position. ESPN has him at No. 75 overall, while 247Sports has him at No. 51, which is the highest ranking of the bunch.
Mone earned an invite to the 2014 Under Armour All-America Game for his stellar play. As a junior in 2012, he recorded 70 tackles, including 10 for a loss. You can follow him on Twitter here.
Bud Elliott, National Recruiting Analyst: The first thing I look at when evaluating defensive tackle recruits is size. Does the player have the bulk to hold the point of attack? Mone certainly does at 325 pounds. When he plays low, he is able to overwhelm blockers with his power.
I also like that Mone is able to move laterally pretty well, using his powerful hands to shed blockers and work his way down the line in pursuit. I’m not sure how much he will offer as a pass rusher, but he may be able to push the pocket.
Mone’s highlight tape does not show a lot of him stacking and splitting double teams -- something that he will be doing a lot at the next level. There is a lot of technique that goes into that, and it’s something that young defensive tackles often take a while to get.
I do not see Mone as one of the few game-changing defensive tackles that come along every other year or so, but he is in that next tier, and is certainly one of the best in the country. I also think Mone could be one of the best offensive guards in the 2014 class if he were to play on that side of the football.
