Elite Eight

Who's this happy fellow? Why, he's the newest Bronco commit, that's who.

Keeping with the recent trend of early verbals for the Broncos, O'Dea High School (Seattle, WA) linebacker Allen Mooney has decided to spend his college career at Boise State. The middle linebacker is rated as a 3-star player and the 22nd best at his position in the country. Mooney racked up 106 tackles and 3 forced fumbles last year as a junior despite missing 3 games. Mooney also was named All-League in '06 and '07. Here's what ESPN has to say about Mooney (whom they rank as a 74, if that means anything to you):

If Mooney had another two inches of height, he would be a highly sought-after inside linebacker on the recruiting trail. What he lacks in height he makes up for with great bulk and a compact durable frame more than capable of dealing with the punishment required of a D-I ILB. Has a natural nose for the football but does a good job reading his keys and diagnosing the play quickly. A reactive athlete with good initial quicks and jump to the football for his size. Excels at stuffing his middle run gaps and attacking downhill. Fills hard and fast vertically with good leverage. Difficult to turn out of the hole when he steps down fast with good momentum. Can hold his base at the point of attack; naturally strong with good explosiveness from his hips. Strong tackler who runs through ball carriers and looks for the punishing hit. Does not possess great sideline-to-sideline range but closes fast off-tackle and has good chase speed. Shows some burst tracking plays down inside-out and flashes good pop/explosion on contact. While he scrapes well off-tackle at times he gets knocked off his pursuit due to lack of hand technique. Lacks long arms and compact frame limit his extension when trying to keep blockers off his body. Occasionally gets chopped down when pursuing. Could struggle at the next level disengaging the cutoff block and lacks the lateral fluidity to slip it consistently. We would like to see him work on playing with consistent bend and leverage. Tends to wrap up high and lack of sink in his hips hinders lateral mobility, transitional and change-of-direction quickness. Overall, Mooney can stuff the inside run, blanket his middle zone in pass and provide above average range off-tackle. Tough competitor between the white lines and is definitely a kid being overlooked due to his lack of great height.

The productivity of the powerfully built (5'11", 220 lbs.) Mooney is impressive and he joins #14 ranked weakside linebacker John Michael Davis in the 2009 class. With Boise State loaded with young 'backers and with two huge verbals thus far—the future looks incredibly bright for the Boise State defense. Mooney had another offer from Army and was drawing interest from Washington and Oregon amongst others. Again, Mooney looks to be the prototypical Boise State pickup...slightly too undersized for the big programs to bite on, but talented enough to make their recruiting practices to look short-sighted. Mooney is a straight up baller and I admit, was one of the recruits I was hoping we would land. Check out Mooney's highlight tape below and tell me that seeing this kid, John Michael Davis and Byron Hout prowling midfield on the blue isn't a positively terrifying vision for WAC offenses.



Oh yeah, Boise State has 8 verbals...and it's early July....and they're good. The day of reckoning is at hand.