GIFnalysis: Stringer fits the mold

The Texas Tech coaching staff is on the hunt for future front seven talent, and they picked up a very nice piece to that puzzle on Friday afternoon in Houston (Texas) Cypress Ranch linebacker Brayden Stringer. He's a prospect that fits very well into the mold for David Gibbs' defense, as he has great instincts and the measurements you're always pining for.

Similarly to incoming freshman and fellow Houstonian D'Vonta Hinton, Stringer has a good understanding for reading, reacting, and then acting upon his intentions with ferocity, often ending plays with thumping tackles when he finds the opportunity. So, let's take a closer look in this week's edition of GIFnalysis.

On this first play, we can see Stringer, the middle mike linebacker, first read the offensive line, seeing them block to the right at the snap. As this indicates a run play, Stringer then watches the mesh point at the handoff between the QB and tailback, shooting the gap once he knows the RB has the ball. The Cypress Ranch defender then finishes things off with a great tackle, lowering and driving through to the ground.

This will be one of Stringer's key roles as a Red Raider. In Coach Gibbs' defensive scheme, he wants to try and force as much of the run game inside as he can. It's the edge defenders' jobs to funnel everything to the interior, which when done properly, means that it's usually up to the interior linebackers and safety behind them to make solid tackles and limit yardage.

Hinton did that extremely well, and Stringer falls into the same mold, albeit as a player with a much larger frame.

On this passing play, while the quarterback is able to get the ball away out of the end zone, the Houston native certainly doesn't let up to give him a free pass. Stringer backs off into his coverage, and upon seeing the signal caller bail on pocket with a defender hot on his tail, goes in for a shot on him like a heat seeking missile. It all comes back to what Stringer does consistently in his highlights: He makes a read, makes a decision, and acts with violence. There's rarely ever hesitation. You give a good coach raw materials like that, and he can craft something very valuable down the line.

On this final run play, Stringer does a marvelous job of containing the quarterback on this designed sweep play. I believe there's a twist stunt on with the defensive end, meaning the DE shoots inside while Stringer swings outside, meaning he's responsible for edge contain on this play. Stringer rolls up, fights off the block from the left tackle, and takes a good angle with a nice finish to limit the gain to only a yard or two.

As I've said several times, he's a player that I enjoy watching on film, because he plays clean and fundamental football already with good instincts. This is the quality of player that Coach Spavital needs in his linebacking corps for the future, and I'm excited to see Stringer grow and develop down the road.