Carson Wentz was the 2010 North Dakota 3A Player of the Year in high school, but was unranked by Rivals. He committed to North Dakota State and redshirted his freshman season. He didn’t start for the Bisons until two years later as a redshirt junior completing his first full season. As a redshirt senior he broke his wrist six games into the season. He sat out the next eight, but started in the Bisons’ national championship game versus Jacksonville State. Leading them to their 5th FCS National Championship title in a row, he enters the 2016 NFL Draft as one of the top two quarterbacks in the draft.

 

Measureables

DOB	December 30, 1992	Bench (225 lbs)	DNP
Height	6’5″	Vertical Jump	30.5
Weight	237 lbs	Broad Jump	9’10”
Arms	33.25 in	20 Yard Shuttle	4.15 sec
Hands	10 in	3 Cone Drill	6.86 sec
40 Yard Dash (10 yd split)	4.77 sec (1.66 sec)	60 Yard Shuttle	DNP

 

Stats and Awards

North Dakota State (2011-2015)
2015 (7G) – 130/208, 1,651 yd, 17 TD, 4 INT, 294 rush yd, 6 TD	CoSIDA Football Academic All-American of the Year
2014 (16G) – 228/358, 3,111 yd, 25 TD, 10 INT, 642 rush yd, 6 TD	CoSIDA First Team Academic All-American
2013 (7G) – 22/30, 209 yd, 1 TD, 70 rush yd
2012 (5G) – 12/16, 144 yd, 2 TD, 22 rush yd, 1 TD
2011 – Redshirted

 

Scouting Report

Horrible level of competition. Lots of busted coverage versus powerhouse North Dakota State.

Broken wrist against South Dakota. Team won all eight game including playoff games without him.

Good follow through during throwing motion.

Will stop, plant, and hold the ball waiting to throw using mostly his arm.

Throws with high velocity and tight spiral.

Tends to sail deep passes long, and throws behind and low on in-breaking routes.

Very accurate on seam passes between the hashes.

Huge size with great mobility. Has great juke moves.

Keeps eyes downfield while scrambling.

Experience with pro-style concepts at North Dakota State.

Good percentage of bubble screens and inverted power veer. Lots of QB draws and read-option plays as well.

Throws with good anticipation on hitch/comeback routes, but some result from him waiting on routes to open up.

Will lock onto his target, not progressing through his reads.

Will force balls while being pressured.

Typically has a good sense for the pocket, stepping up to make throws.

Good pump fake that bates cornerbacks in zones.

 

Pro-Style Offense and Level of Competition

Carson Wentz ran a pro-style system in college. Routinely he was asked to step up to the line of scrimmage and read the defensive coverage to determine his read progression. In the first play, the Bisons run a curl-flat combination on the left side of the field. Reading the defense as Cover 3 with three deep defenders, Wentz locates the correct receiver between the deep left and underneath sideline zones.

In the next play, Wentz runs a three-level read up the sideline and places an accurate pass to the sideline on the run reading the progression correctly from high-to-low.

While Wentz ran a pro-style offense at North Dakota State, the level of competition at times was abysmal. Busted coverages were common. Although Wentz did a good job of taking advantage of them, it must be noted that North Dakota State won all eight games Wentz was injured for with his broken wrist, and the Bisons were a five-time consecutive national championship program with the fourth and fifth while Wentz was their quarterback.

 

Staring Down Receivers, Not Cycling Through Progressions

Wentz’s fatal flaw is that he stares down receivers waiting for them to get open This tunnel vision causes Wentz to force balls into precarious situations. Often, the level of competition he faced allowed him to do this, but he needs to improve on his progressions post-snap to be successful in the NFL.

The good news is that he has more experience than most college quarterbacks have coming into the NFL so his development should be quicker.

Wentz also struggles with forcing passes that shouldn’t be thrown. He would much rather push the defense relying on his arm strength than take a necessary sack. Again, it doesn’t happen on every pressure, but it happened enough for it to be noted as a cause for concern in this report.

 

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