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Positives: Has a squat, but thick and wide frame with good chest and shoulder development, muscular arms, big thighs and thick calves with excellent arm length and large, powerful hands … Active and aggressive anchoring in the middle of the field, showing good efficiency in one-gap alignments, as he is a hard charger who might lack quickness, but will battle until the whistle … Has the strength and hand punch to defeat double-team activity … Not sudden off the ball, but consistently gets a jump on the offensive lineman with his short-area burst … Needs to do it more regularly, but when he plays at a low pad level, he is rarely knocked off balance … Fights and wins vs. combo blocks when he keeps his hands active … Will lose sight of the ball at times when engaged, but shows good urgency getting to it when he sees the play develop (struggles to locate outside running plays, but is much more effective working in-line) … Knows how to use his strength to control his gap and, when he generates quickness with his hands, he can shed and make the play … Very strong when he sinks his weight and anchors, as he easily combats multiple blockers … Showed improved arm and hand technique to shed blocks during his senior year … Delivers good force behind his hits, but needs to show better knee bend to get leverage … More comfortable as a bull rusher, as he has the functional short-area burst to penetrate (but lacks feet to seal the deal) … As a senior, he had much better technique when it came to replacing his hands and fighting to keep offensive linemen off his body (will get his legs taken out from under him when he does not keep his hands active) … Has adequate explosion, but works hard through trash to make tackles vs. the running play behind the line of scrimmage.
OFFENSE … Has good short-area quickness, especially in his pass set … Stays low coming out of his stance to deliver effective cut blocks … Plays with a wide leg base, positioning firmly to sustain blocks in one-on-one situations … Locates the target and extends his arms to gain leverage on the trap … Displays the power to anchor vs. the pass rush … Uses his hands to grab and control … Has the foot agility needed to shuffle and slide to protect vs. counter moves … Has the intelligence and football instincts to quickly grasp the playbook … Keeps his leg base wide, showing a quick rise off the snap with hands properly extended to sustain blocks … Shows fluid lateral agility to mirror the defender's moves in pass protection.
Negatives … Needs to stay lower in his pads, as he can dominate and split double teams when he sinks his weight and fires low off the snap, but when he gets too tall and erect, he loses anchor and can be washed out of the play … Strictly a bull rusher, as he lacks suddenness or timed speed to generate long pursuit to haul down the quarterback … Does not demonstrate an array of pass-rush moves (will generally club or rip, but lacks spin and swim moves) … Best when parking at the line of scrimmage and waiting for the action to come to him, as he lacks the loose hips to get back into the action when he gets too aggressive and outruns the play … Has excellent power, but he needs to develop a better nutritional program and improve his stamina, as he will run out of gas and disappear late in games … .Not the type that will chase down ballcarriers on the outside (does not have the speed), where he is slower reacting to the ball (does not seem to see outside runs as well as he does when working in-line) … .Must be more consistent bending his knees and using his hands to get leverage.
OFFENSE … More of a push-and-shove type that lacks the explosive initial burst needed to sustain … More comfortable blocking in-line than in space … Good trap blocker, but needs to show more aggression to put defenders down … Sometimes fails to extend his arms or keep his hands inside, which causes him to latch on, rather than get a strong push off the defender in his pass block … Catches the defender with his hands instead of delivering the crunching jolt.
Compares To: PAT WILLIAMS-Minnesota … Anyone that remembers when Williams entered the league knows he was as raw as sushi. He developed into a Pro Bowl talent. Rubin might not have the same success, but he is a physical, stay-at-home battler who is best when occupying multiple blockers. Because of his anchor and long arms, he is also rated as an offensive guard, as some team might feel they could see him develop into a pro player at that position.
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