STRENGTHS
Vita has the size, foot speed, and athletic talent numbers that are off the charts for a defensive lineman. He plays hard on every down and has the physical stamina that is very rare to see for a player with his size and girth. He shows on film good enough feet to be used on stunts and has the athletic talent to be used in a 1 gap or 2 gap defensive schemes at multiple positions. He has natural lower and upper body strength and because of his height and arm length can dominate the middle when he plays. Vita has the potential to be a pro bowl defensive lineman because of his size, athletic talent, and effort on every play if he becomes a student of his position.

CONCERNS
Watching the film on Vita, I just shake my head and slap myself silly at how much this kid needs to learn about playing his position. Things like Gap control, getting off blocks, raising your arms to knock down passes. He also is taking too much of a loop on stunts, not fighting through double teams with techniques instead of brute force. There is either a big problem with the line coaching on this team or Vita doesn’t take to coaching and hasn’t put in the time to study his craft. I don’t think he is even looking down the line at the center because he has a burst but doesn’t seem to use it coming off the line of scrimmage. Vita struggles to find the ball and this means he lacks knowledge of offensive line blocking schemes. Nevertheless his effort on every play is outstanding and his raw talent is off the charts and those two strengths still outweighs the fact that Vita lacks the football IQ right now to dominate at the next level.

BOTTOM LINE
In spite of the negatives I have mention the fact that Vita’s size and athletic talent are off the charts and the fact of how hard he works on every down trumps them all. The question is, is he too stubborn to learn his craft, or was the coaching at his college not demanding enough? There is film on Vita using good techniques and understand gap control and his assignment. That being said there is also way too much film on Vita thinking he is a 250lb pass rusher in a 320lb body getting pushed out of the play, stunting himself out of the play and losing control of his gap and finally not making an impact just simple by putting his hands up. Vita’s job at the next level is not to make plays; it’s to take up as many offensive linemen so that his teammates can make plays. It will be to push the pocket and shut down the run between the hash marks. It will be to dominate the middle of the field. Right now Vita is trying to make too many plays by himself and in doing this he is lessening his impact and becoming easy to block. It’s a mental thing that a lot of big defensive linemen don’t get. It’s the grunt work of the defensive line and its demanding and not many get very much credit for the impact they have but when you find one who can dominate like Vita has the potential to do, in most cases you will find a dominating defense sitting right behind them. If Vita can mature and understand how to play his position so that his teammates can dominate than Vita will become the player his talents suggest that he can be.

Drew Boylhart   FEB.2018