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Barry Church - SS/LB - Toledo
Height: 6'1
Weight: 217
40 Time: 4.58
Projected: 4th-5th

Positives:

- NFL size and speed
- Very athletic
- 3 Year starter and has played all 4 years, very experienced
- Great leader, is like the MLB of the defense
- Plays with heart. His team may not always win but he will play hard the full 60 minutes
- Great motor, chases players down from the other side of the field
- Is at his best playing In-the-box
- Good instincts and can see plays developing in time to make a play
- Good recognition skills in Zone
- Great open field tackler, can deliver the big hit too
- Decent blitzer
- Makes a lot of plays in the backfield (26 career TFL)
- Sheds blocks fairly well

Negatives:

- Comes from a fairly small school and doesn't always play top competition
- Isn't fast enough or agile to stick with WR's in man coverage
- Might have to make move to WLB in the NFL
- Deep coverage skills are questionable
- Doesn't change direction quickly
- May be limited to a standout special teamer

Overview

I can see Barry Church being an outstanding special teams player early on in the NFL. With his great instincts, given time to adjust to the speed of the NFL and work on his coverage skills he can make a solid SS. If playing at LB he will need to add a few pounds to his frame in order to succeed.

SKILLS
1-poor, 2-weak, 3-above average, 4-very good, 5-elite

SPEED: 3.0
TACKLING: 4.0
COVERAGE: 2.5
BALL SKILLS: 3.0
RANGE: 2.5

BARRY CHURCH
6-2/222
Toledo Senior
40: 4.69

PROS: He has good speed and range. Shows nice closing burst on the ball. Will hit, physical, and likes contact. Wraps up and can make the stop at the point of attack. Can be effective in short zones. Shows some ability to come off the edge as a blitzer.
CONS: Not a factor in coverage, lacking the footwork and hips to match up in man coverage. Needs to improve his awareness in zone. Will miss some stops in the open field on the edge.
OVERVIEW: He plays a lot in the box in Toledo's defense. A four-year starter that was a good playmaker early in his career with 7 picks and 2 touchdown returns during his first two years. But only combined for two picks the past two years.
NFL FORECAST: Church is a run stopper that has some ability and potential to develop in coverage, but is fairly one-dimensional at this point. He has the size and ability you like as a strong safety, and while I think he can eventually develop enough coverage ability to be effective starter, it's going to take some time. And more than likely, he'll never be a great cover safety. He can definitely have a long NFL career if he can stick on special teams early in his career, and at the least I expect he'll be a solid backup strong safety. But he'll have to make significant improvements in coverage in order to be a starter.
ATL FORECAST: Church could compete as a reserve strong safety for the Falcons, sliding in behind Moore. He doesn't have the great ability to think he'll be a starter here in Atlanta, but might be a decent insurance policy in case Moore never develops. But more than likely he would just have to stick as a special teams player.
VALUE: A team looking for a run-stopping strong safety might take him late in the fourth, but are probably better off targeting him in the fifth round.