By Trevor Enerson (yaman3), CycloneFanatic.com‘ football recruiting guru
What he is: All of the recruiting sites will say that Brackens is somewhere between 6-foot and 6-foot-1 and right around 200-pounds. I think that he is bigger than that by now, which makes him a pretty large for a safety. Rivals.com has him listed with a 4.45 40 time, which I think is probably a little fast for him but but probably isn’t out of the question either. Brackens will be graduating from North Mesquite High School in Texas this spring.
What he does: In the limited video of Jared that I have seen, it looked to me that he was a little more comfortable in a run-stopping role. He is a larger safety who hits hard. He leaves little doubt when he commits to the tackle. At the next level, if he is as big as I think right, he could fill in and become an outside linebacker. I almost think that will fit his skill set better than the safety position at this point in time.
Strengths/Weaknesses: There’s pretty limited video out there on Brackens. From what I can find, he looks to be very effective in run support. He not only hits hard, but also effectively. He gets to the ball quickly but will need to improve his instinct if he is going to stay at the safety spot. It seems that he will sometimes hesitate on his reads. As far as his coverage skills, it’s hard to say. There are a couple plays in his video where he exhibits some pretty good ball skills in making an interception on poor throws. With the limited video, I’m not going to judge his coverage skills but if he is like almost every other high school safety in the country, he will need to improve in coverage.
What’s in store: Brackens could play two positions in my opinion. It depends on where he is needed and how he develops. It would not be hard at all for him to get to 240-pounds to play outside linebacker. I could definitely see that happening. Otherwise, the staff may work hard on his speed to keep him at safety where he could be David Sims circa 2009 in terms of tackles and a bigger guy in the defensive backfield that can cover a lot of ground. Either way, I think he will redshirt as there should be an immediate need to put him on the field this year. After that, I see him playing special teams for about a year before working his way into the lineup.
He looks to me like: Adrian Bennett. Adrian is from last years class and Jared reminds me very much of him. Similar size, similar speed. Adrian moved to OLB and we will see if Jared follows suit.
