Marcus Green scouting report: Long 2014 cornerback

Name: Marcus Green

School and hometown: Cedar Hill High School in Cedar Hill, Texas

Position: Cornerback

Height and weight: 6’1 and 175 pounds

Ratings: A consensus three-star prospect in the 247Sports Composite rankings, Green is the No. 47 cornerback nationally and the No. 71 player in the state of Texas.

Offers: Green held offers from Arkansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, North Texas, Ole Miss, and Texas Tech prior to committing to Oklahoma in the middle of May.

Highlights: Hudl

Scouting Report:

The first thing that stands out about Green is that he has above-average size for the cornerback position. Throw in long arms and the effective radius in which Green plays is about as wide as any cornerback out there. However, he’s also extremely thin at this point and will benefit from some extensive time in the weight room before he’s physically ready to handle outside receivers.

And that’s a talent he’s going to have to develop because he doesn’t have the overall speed or the short-area quickness to play in the nickel, where he would also have to work more in run support and defeat blockers on wide receiver screens. In both areas, there is film evidence of a willingness to do so, but the problem is that he tends to give up a lot of yards after contact because he doesn’t always square up opponents and lacks the lower-body strength to drive through them effectively.

In pass coverage, Green plays a lot of bail technique with his eyes on the quarterback, so if he ends up playing press man coverage in college, he may need some time to adjust, especially in terms of his overall strength. It may also be the case that he doesn’t spend a lot of time backpedaling, so there’s not a lot of evidence of him flipping his hips and transitioning to run with receivers. Playing that technique also means that he has his eyes on the football the whole way and doesn’t have to turn and find it in the air, another area in which he may need some time to adjust.

In a 7on7 viewing, however, Green was rarely beat deep and when he was, he flashed the recovery skills to close on opponents and make plays on the football. With his height and length, he should be able to contest jump balls in college against bigger receivers, aided by a solid 30-inch vertical.

There are some four-star physical attributes about Green that make him an intriguing prospect at the next level because it’s hard to find cornerbacks with his length who still have enough athleticism to stay at the position in college. There are some question marks that game film could perhaps answer, but it doesn’t seem like a stretch to say that Green will need some coaching and development to become the contributor his pure skill set suggests he could become.

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