Anthony Rabasa & The Daily Double

Defensive end and soon-to-be linebacker Anthony Rabasa is ND’s second verbal commitment of the day, as first reported by his hometown Miami Herald.

A lightning-fast first step makes Rabasa a sack master in Florida’s largest classification, some of the best competition in the country. Because he isn’t able to physically overpower linemen, an early understanding of hand placement is a sort of silver lining for the glaring weakness that Rabasa can’t do anything to improve: height. His listed 6-3 frame dictates a move to outside linebacker in ND’s 3-4 defense. Catching a speedster from behind at the 4:36 mark of his junior highlights is reason to believe Rabasa can adjust to linebacker duties:



ND now prefers longer arms even of its outside backers, and it’s hard to tell if Rabasa's frame can hold much more weight. His game will take a similar transition to that of fellow commit Clay Burton, also a pass-rushing specialist but without Rabasa’s unreal explosiveness. Although Rabasa is unproven in moving laterally and reading running lanes and backs, speed alone makes him the favorite to succeed Darius Fleming as the starting CAT backer in 2012.