Previously: Last year's profiles. S Quinten Johnson, S Daxton Hill, CB DJ Turner II, CB Jalen Perry.

Columbus, OH – 6'0", 205
		24/7	3*, #768 overall #61 S, #38 OH
		Rivals	3*, 5.5 rating NR S, #50 OH
		ESPN	3*, 75 rating #85 S, #50 OH
		Composite	3*, #1040 overall #88 S, #48 OH
		Other Suitors	IU
		YMRMFSPA	Khaleke Hudson
Previously On MGoBlog	Hello post from your author. Future Blue Originals from Dave and Adam.
Notes	Twitter.
Film
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Joey Velazquez is Eric Bakich's favorite recruit in this class. That's because he was committed to Ohio State baseball before Michigan football stepped in with an offer of their own. Velazquez quickly flipped, taking a top-100 recruit from a rival and delivering him into Bakich's clutches. Velazquez does plan to play both sports, FWIW.

Velazquez's baseball commitment understandably made him a non-entity to football sites, which barely ranked him if they even bothered until Michigan's offer came in. Then came in the courtesy three star evals. Bizarrely, though, both sites did their due diligence here—Velazquez comes with significantly more scouting than DJ Turner II, who had a boatload of top offers.

The upshot of most of these reports is that Velazquez is a roughneck who's a tweener on most defenses and a viper in Don Brown's. Michigan was the first and only major program to offer him (sorry, Indiana). That can be a warning sign; in this particular case it may not be. Bill Greene had a couple of scouting posts on him in which he emphasized Velazquez's positional fit:

…athletic, has quick feet and might have a Big Ten ready body right now …will hit people …enough coverage skills …very comfortable playing close to the line of scrimmage and either blitzing the quarterback or helping to control the running game. …not a tall, long, blazing fast, safety.  …will need work and reps in coverage.

…recruiting ranking is based on comparing him against every safety prospect in America, but Don Brown and Jim Harbaugh are comparing him to every Viper in America, and those are two different positions entirely.

He saw Velazquez at OSU's camp, which did not result in an offer. Greene came away with the impression this was largely about fit:

…lot to like with Joey Velazquez, but I don't think he fits the Ohio State defense. Not really a safety or a linebacker, but will fit Don Brown's defense at Michigan as that hybrid defender. He's definitely got Power Five skills and a college body.

The viper's primary roles are to blitz, stand up to whatever fullback/TE blocking gets past the anchor, defeat screens, and cover the blocky/catchy types on pass plays. (Safeties get slots.) Velazquez fits this to a T.

[After THE JUMP: Evidence for that assertion!]

 Allen Trieu:

Aggressive and attacks the football … Shoots gap on blitzes well, loves contact, and will take on blockers and win with explosiveness and strength. Takes great angles to the football and is a very sure wrap-up tackler. …intangibles kid …must continue to work on technique and fluidity to be able to handle the better athletes at [TE/FB] … hybrid safety-linebacker who can play in the box

I mean you can just say "viper viper viper viper" at the end there. Greene again:

…optimal physical shape and he is a rock-solid, physical football player. …about as high an effort player as I've seen all year. …super strong and plays with a very high football IQ. … don't know if he's fast enough and I wonder about his overall athletic ability. … Velazquez fits like a glove [at viper]. …didn't see him much in coverage. His tackling ability is an A+. 

Adam after taking in a full game:

…athletic and physical …at his best when lined up on the edge, particularly when asked to blitz; he can get caught in the wash at times when playing inside. He times blitzes extremely well and drives through ballcarriers.…not asked to carry a back or receiver in man coverage in this game … solid ability to diagnose running plays, a quick burst to close on them, and the tenacity to run them down

Touch The Banner:

…solidly built hybrid player. …very physical player, which you can see when he takes on pulling linemen multiple times and puts them on the ground with a shoulder. …changes direction well to break on balls thrown underneath. … man coverage skills could use some work, and that probably won’t be a huge strength for him because he doesn’t have extremely fluid hips.

The potential hiccup here is one Adam mentions above. He was not asked to carry anyone in man coverage in that game or really any other. His coach:

We’re kind of a conservative, zone defense and it seems to me like Coach Brown is a little more in your face, man-to-man, take your chances and get after them.”

Don Brown is a "little more" in your face than a conservative zone defense like Boban Marjanovic is a little taller than humans, so Velazquez's time at Michigan will fail or succeed based on his ability to hack man coverage against TEs. The fact that he hasn't done it much, if at all, raises his bust potential.

The lone note of dissent in the chorus of guys going "viper fit!" is from Rivals's Midwest analyst, who's a little harsher than his colleagues about Velazquez's change of direction, saying "it's obviously not a good sign" that he "plays stiff." Then an unexplained assertion followed by an unusual comparison:

“If he’s going to drop down and be a true linebacker, he’s definitely going to be on the smaller side. I’m not sure he’s made for the viper role either." … “Velazquez going on to have a [Jordan] Kovacs-type of career would be the best case scenario for him.”

For the record, Jordan Kovacs would have been a kickass viper.

Aside from the coverage, Velazquez should arrive ready to plug-and-play. He did offer up some self-reported camp 40 times:

"I weighed in at 195 lbs., 6-foot, and in the forty I ran a 4.51, a 4.6 and then ran a third one. I ran a 4.64."

Those seem relatively un-exaggerated. Says something about Velazquez that he's willing to offer up all of his times instead of just the best one. Also in this vein is Velazquez's general, you know, shape. Ben VanSumeren now has a swole buddy. It's easy to believe coach quotes like this…

“He’s a rare case and a rare kid,” Wiggins said. “I’ve never had anyone who loves conditioning and practice as much as Joey does.”

…when the evidence is right there. Here are some large weightlifting numbers:

He benches at 390 pounds, squats at 570 and deadlifts at 600. It’s not just strength, either. The kid has speed, too, running a reported 4.54 40-yard dash and 6.84 60-yard dash as a high school junior.

This is good since you know his athleticism isn't going to evaporate when you chuck a bunch of pounds on him, but it also means that if Velazquez isn't making some noise relatively early he's probably not going to make a late-career surge.

Etc.: Nope.

Why Khaleke Hudson? The rankings and scouting here aren't as rapturous as they were for Hudson coming out of high school, but a jacked sub-six-foot contact maven is a jacked sub-six-foot contact maven. Hudson had fewer questions about his coverage ability since he played in the secondary in high school; Velazquez was mostly an ILB in a 3-4.

There aren't a whole lot of other comparables since Michigan has not had a hybrid space player in the lineup for long. ND's Drue Tranquill is another guy in the same mold, but he's a lot bigger. Still, this isn't far off what a strike on Velazquez looks like:

Aggressive, physical mindset made transition from safety to linebacker much easier …Beach-body build with strong base and low center of gravity …Revs up motor from the first snap to the last and rarely lets off the gas … Doesn't have the athletic traits to consistently recover from missteps …Fearless taking on climbing blockers but lacks mass to hold his ground …Slow to turn and find football and allows tight ends to separate from him out of breaks.

A shorter version of that.

Guru Reliability: High. Everyone except one guy says the same thing. Caveat is that he might be ranked lower than he "should" be because of fit issues at other programs.

Variance: Moderate. One major question is better than multiple major questions, but "can he cover" is a big one.

Ceiling:  Moderate. An athlete but not a Peppers-level guy; the change of direction is probably a real thing and a cap on his abilit.

General Excitement Level: Moderate. Velazquez's rankings sell him somewhat short because of his baseball commitment and his positional fit. Michigan got an extended look at camp, as well. Some arrows in the right direction.

Projection: Redshirt since Michigan has Hudson and Glasgow in the two deep at viper. Will get a shot as a redshirt freshman in a free-for-all that will feature up to four contenders. If he doesn't win that battle he'll be a special teams fixture and try to work his way into a passing-down rush package or two, and then try again when the spot comes open again.