How Stanford Samuels III can overcome disappointing NFL Combine
By Kelvin Hunt
Former FSU football cornerback Stanford Samuels III declared for the NFL after his junior year. His lack of speed at the NFL Combine is something he has to overcome.
Stanford Samuels III was one of the most prized recruits of the 2017 recruiting class for Jimbo Fisher. The legacy recruit was rated as the No. 38 player overall, No. 4 cornerback and No. 6 player in Florida.
He was rated as a five-star for most of his recruiting days before being dropped to a four-star extremely late in the recruiting cycle.
As an early enrollee, it was expected he’d compete for playing time as a true freshman.
He appeared in all 13 games, amassing 27 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, a sack, five passes defended, a forced fumble and two interceptions with one coming against rival Miami.
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His sophomore season saw him start 11 of 12 contests, while battling an injury most of the year and a position change from cornerback to safety.
His production picked up nicely with 58 tackles, one tackle for loss, four passes defended and four interceptions to lead the team.
His junior season saw him start all 12 games before skipping the bowl game to prepare for the NFL draft. Samuels III had 60 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, seven passes defended and two interceptions.
Stanford Samuels III has good length, but there was a concern about his speed as he got beat several times over his career at FSU. It’s not that he got beat, it’s how and who he got beat against and that lack of speed showed up at the NFL Combine in disappointing 40 times.
Let’s look at two ways he can overcome this situation.