Laviska Shenault Jr. – University of Colorado – 6’1″ 227 lbs. – 10/5/1998 (21 years old)
- Can shake defenders at the line with moves or physicality.
- Understands where to sit against zone coverage. Will take advantage of loose coverage by sitting down quickly and then using his ability to make yards after the catch.
- Route running will require some refinement.
- Doesn’t get to his spots at times.
- Had a difficult time creating separation against tougher corners.
- Speed doesn’t flash in short and intermediate routes like it does down the field.
- Something in his running style looks awkward at times. Upright, arms kind of lock into position at his side, and doesn’t look fluid in shorter areas.
- Occasions where he doesn’t time his route to be able to body the defender to go up and fight for it. Some of his timing issues could be fixed by a more accurate and on time QB at the pro level.
Here is Shenault breaking passed the under coverage on the outside receiver to get in between him and the safety over the top. The break is okay, but well timed as he breaks out as he passes the inside coverage defender. He goes up and grabs the ball out away from his body and takes the hit. You can also see what I mean by the weird running style and lack of snap on the breaks at times. If that ball comes out on time though, it’s a pretty simple throw and catch.
- Downfield threat. His best moves are once he builds up speed. He can give a nice body fake or hard step and maintain his speed.
- Better long speed than short area burst.
- Uses his size to box out and high point the ball.
- Will grab the ball outside of his body, and as you saw in the clip above, Shenault has strong hands
- Has the occasional drop, but tends to be more concentration based than skill, as in the clip below. Starts looking at his path to the first down before bringing the ball in.
- Versatile player that worked in every role in the wildcat including taking the direct snap.
- Worked at every WR position.
- For his size and high energy on the field, he’s not much of a blocker. That can be fixed at the next level though with the right amount of dedication.
- Ability to maintain speed works as he moves through defenders. Has a mix of moves jukes, spin moves, hesitations, and doesn’t get caught from behind once he’s broken free.
Here he is taking a sweep. He uses his first few steps to find his gap. Then, he gets a nice block to free him outside. Cuts back against the first oncoming tackler and spins out of the second before being brought down.
This happened more in 2019, when he had labrum and toe surgery prior to the season, there are times where he gets caught mid juke. Defenders have time to square him up when he could’ve gained more yardage with a straight forward approach. There were times in 2019 when he was visibly slower. Another year removed from surgery for his rookie season, I’d like to think he would get back to his 2018 form that still showed up at times in 2019.
- Early on in his career, it feels like Shenault may be more of the boom or bust type until he refines some of his route running. He may be a prospect where situation and usage dictate his success more so than others.
One last clip. Should be brought down at the line of scrimmage, but shrugs off the initial defender. Jukes the second one and pulls through his arm tackle before being shoved out.
