Sharpton impresses Tony Sparano

Count Miami Dolphins/South team coach Tony Sparano among those impressed with Miami Hurricanes inside linebacker Darryl Sharpton.

Sharpton may be undersized at a shade below 6 foot and 229 pounds, but he's a playmaker who fits the Dolphins' motto of finding guys that are tough, smart and disciplined. He does not, however, fit their size template for the position. 

"He's had a really good week, he really has," Sparano said here Thursday night at the Senior Bowl. "I’ve been really impressed with him. He flies all over the place, plays with a lot of energy, makes tackles. I think he shows great range in there. Pretty physical guy. Liked him in the pass rush stuff. Did a good job that way. Very well coached. Randy [Shannon] has done a tremendous job with him."

That's the second time this week that Sparano has gone out of his way to praise Shannon and his coaching staff. The Dolphins, like many teams, draft programs almost as much as individual players, so that's more than hometown loyalty talking. 

As for Sharpton, he made a good point to Shandel Richardson over on his UM blog, telling him to look at the Colts linebacker corps, who are mostly in his height range. Sharpton also told Shandel he plans to get into the 242-pound range by the Combine a month from now. 

"The week’s gone good for me," Sharpton told me. "I felt like I displayed my power this week and displayed my strengths. I felt like I had some good practices and I represented properly."

Easing his adjustment, he said, was the fact there was a "lot of carryover form the college level" for him. 

"It’s just different terminologies," he said. "What we call our base front [at UM], they call something different. It’s just like translating from one language to another. I think I’m fluent in both languages now."

The installation of the Dolphins' Senior Bowl 4-3 -- which is mandatory because it's an all-star game -- started on Sunday, and it didn't take Sharpton long to get the hang of it. 

"Once they explained it, I found a way just to acclimate myself with it and I was able to be effective in this new defense," he said. "I’ve met with some teams that run a 3-4. They tell me where I’d fit in and explain that scheme to me. 

"At the end of the day, football is football.  A linebacker needs to come downhill and be physical. No matter what type of defense you run, physically you’re going to have to execute a lot of the same stuff. I know how I’d fit into the 3-4."

As for where Sharpton might go in the draft, Todd McShay of ESPN pegged him as a third-rounder "at best," but added that Sharpton "improved his stock" this week. 

"I'd like to see him get a little bit bigger," McShay said on a national conference call Thursday. "But he gets through traffic and he always seems to be around the ball. Every drill I watched, he was always the first one to react, the first one to sniff it out. I was impressed with how instinctive he is and how quickly he can play the game."

McShay, like Sparano, praised Sharpton's pass-rush ability, and said, "even through he's a little bit raw, he's very instinctive and understands how to get off blocks. He shows a good closing burst."

For a team looking for help at both inside and outside linebacker, spending a third- or fourth-round pick on a playmaker like Sharpton seems to make sense. Agreed? Or do you have real concerns about his lack of overwhelming size? 


(omar kelly - sun-sentinel.com)