Steve Avila 2023 NFL Draft profile: Scout report for the TCU IOL
Steve Avila, TCU
6’4”, 330 pounds; SR
Just outside the top-1000 overall recruits in 2018, Avila redshirted his first year on campus and then saw action in 11 games in year two. As a redshirt sophomore, he started all nine games in three different positions (center, right tackle, and right guard), before taking over the pivot in 2021 and then moving over to left guard last season. He was a second-team All-Big 12 selection in ‘21 and improved to second-team All-American this past season, during TCU’s miraculous run at a national championship, even though they got stomped in the title game.
+ Excellent girth throughout his frame, but surprisingly quick out of his stance for that size
+ Very consistent with taking the “right” first steps and putting himself in position to take care of his assignments in the first place
+ Excels at covering up bodies with good leverage and flexibility to sustain blocks on inside zone schemes
+ Incorporates gather steps in order to not whiff against wider alignments or D-tackles in a more passive four-point stance
+ Has so much strength in his hands that he doesn’t always need to perfectly square up defenders, but can grab and torque guys a little bit, as well as maintain blocks on challenging angles
+ Didn’t get many chances to just uproot D-tackles out of their gaps because TCU ran a lot of slower-developing zone runs, but when given the chance, you saw Avila take guys for a ride quite frequently
+ At guard, the Horned Frogs could utilize Avila as a puller more regularly, taking care of kick-outs and giving the lead-blocker and back room to work on GT power
+ Smaller bodies simply don’t find a way around his wide frame in tight quarters, and linebackers won’t create any knock-back on him, even if they have some space to accelerate into contact
+ In true one-on-one pass-pro reps, Avila looked better at guard, because he could get his hands on the rusher right away and wouldn’t give them much room to breathe anymore
+ Shows good understanding for the depth of the pocket and when to just guide rushers off track as they try to go wide around him
+ His anchor against power rushers seems nearly unbreakable
+ You see guys slant over his way or counter late and run into Avila, where it looks like they just hit a brick wall
+ Utilizes alternate hand-usage and stabs at interior rushers to keep those guys off kilter
+ When opponents take a wider path against him, he shoves them out of their rush lanes and into traffic regularly
+ Quickly shuffles in front of guys lined up towards the near-shoulder of the linemen next to him on slide protections, forcing them to work around him
+ Back when playing center, if he saw his man stunt outside either guard and there was no threat in the opposite A-gap for him, Avila made sure to widen the angle and that’s where you saw Max Duggan take advantage of those big running lanes up the middle quite a bit
+ Number 95 for Texas Tech probably still has nightmares about Avila from their ’22 meeting, because of how often he clamped him down or put him on the ground
+ Didn’t allow a single sack and just 11 total pressures across a massive 540 pass-blocking snaps, despite facing an impressive group of interior D-lineman
– Carries plenty of weight in the mid-section and isn’t the lightest on his feet
– Lacks that agility to consistently pivot his base around and fully reach-block D-linemen head-up or on the near-shoulder of one of the guys next to him
– Could do a better job of securing the pec of D-tackles closer to the play direction, for example on the backside of the inside zone, because he only has 9 and ¼-inch hands, guys are able to fight across him for the tackle if the back cuts it up that way
– Needs to start gaining more depth in protection when unoccupied at guard and doesn’t have quick lateral movement to recover if getting beat on the initial approach
– Playing center, when defenders between him and the guard slanted towards the B-gap and the protection was set up so that he could slide that way, Avila was late at times recognizing that he should peel back and help out with what may be going on the opposite side (even though it’s not technically his job)
Right off the bat, being a fixture in the lineup for three years with quality starting experience at each of the interior spots is a major plus in terms of the value he can provide for his future team. Avila is a smart and powerful run-blocker who, combined with his wide frame, is consistently able to cover up bodies. In pass-pro, his ability to work the hands in independent fashion and his strong base to hold his ground against power led to an exceptional track record. I don’t think he’s necessarily a great fit for a wide zone-based system and his small hands could create more problem-sustaining blocks at the NFL level, but this may very well be a plug-and-play starter for a decade at any of the three inside positions.
Grade: Second round
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