Nick Temple Is a Bearcat

Butch Jones picked up the third commitment in the 2011 class yesterday.

Nick Temple an outside linebacker from Warren Central High School in Indianapolis, Indiana. Rivals lists him as the 30th OLB prospect in the class. Scout has him listed at safety for some reason, anyway he is the 36th ranked safety in this class. I don't think he will wind up a safety at UC though. I think that he is a linebacker through and through. He is listed at 6'0" but stands closer to 5'10" and is a solid 200 pounds. With that size it is understandable why people think he will wind up at safety. I don't for one reason, his hip flexibility, while great for a linebacker, is not good enough for a defensive back. He plays very, very fast. He reads plays and diagnoses where the ball is headed quickly, very quickly. He is just a disruptive force for an offense when he is attacking off the edge. He can get caught up in traffic at times when he is playing inside which is a concern. But he is phenomenal at shooting gaps and blowing plays up in the backfield. He reminds me a great deal of former Arkansas Razorback linebacker Sam Olajubutu who was similarly scaled coming out of high school and was an ultra productive talent who topped 100 tackles in each of his last two seasons in Fayetteville on the way to back to back 1st team All SEC honors. Temple fits a need for UC because he is an ultra athletic outside linebacker who excels at playing in space. That type of player has been missing for UC since Corey Smith graduated. All in all a very good get for UC.