Justin Houston Scouting Report

Few players propelled themselves up NFL Draft boards as fast as Houston did last season at Georgia. The outside OLB/DE showed signs of things to come with seven sacks in 2009, but nothing could have predicted this. Houston was third on the team as a junior in solo tackles (38) and total tackles (67), but he was without question the dominant force on UGA's defense. He finished with a ridiculous 18.5 tackles for loss to go along with 10 sacks and an almost unheard of 44 quarterback hurries. Houston also had two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, and an interception.

Houston has good size at 6'3'' and 258 pounds. He looks like a defensive end, and that's exactly what he might play at the next level in a 4-3 scheme. In a 3-4 defense he can set up at rush linebacker. Houston has been clocked as fast as 4.64 in the 40-yard dash, but he will want to improve on that at the combine if he wants to establish himself as a sure-thing first-rounder. Prior to this season he looked like a third-rounder at best. Now that he has turned in a career-changing performance in 2010 and left early for the 2011 NFL Draft, Houston may have garnered himself a first-round selection.