Recruiting 2013: Jalyn Powell

I have a lot of catching up to do, including reports on 2013 commits.  I'll get to them in the order they committed.  Safety Jalyn Powell was the first commit, so I'll start with him.

Powell is considered a 3-star recruit by all the recruiting services except ESPN, which has him at 4 stars.  His only other significant offer was from West Virginia, but this likely is a reflection of his early commitment.  He is listed as a safety recruit and he has good size (6' 1" and 185 lbs) for that position.  As for his athleticism, there is a little uncertainty.  Only ESPN has a time for him in the 40-meter run, listing him at 4.82.  That would pretty slow for a safety.  His highlight video, however, suggests he's much faster than that.

The quality of the video is pretty shoddy, but there are some moments where he makes some Forrest Gump kind of plays, where he looks like the fastest guy on the field, by far.  That tells me that he's way faster than 4.82 in the 40.  You can also see that he is a solid tackler.  He finds the ball well, delivers some solid hits, and even sheds blockers pretty well.  These things make me think that Powell could end up as a linebacker, eventually.  He would need to gain about 25 pounds, but he should have plenty of time to do that.  Otherwise, you don't get to see him do much in the secondary, so we can't really see what kind of instincts he has for that position.

Upshot: Powell has the potential to play several positions.  He has the athleticism to be a safety or a receiver.  He also shows the instincts and ability to play linebacker - man, he could be a really athletic linebacker (perhaps even more athletic than Denicos Allen).  Whatever he ends up playing, Powell looks like an excellent pickup for MSU.