Why Can’t UC Linebacker Jeff Luc Flourish In The NFL?

As the 2015 NFL Draft rapidly approaches, the main focus for UC fans will be if their graduated stars from the 2014 football season get selected by a professional team during that weekend in May.

The Bearcats of course threw up a goose egg last season in the NFL Draft. Stars such as Brendon Kay, Anthony McClung, Greg Blair, and Deven Drane were left waiting in the wind as Mr. Irrelevant was taken late Saturday afternoon. That cycle broke a streak of nearly a decade where a UC player was drafted by a NFL team, from as high as 36th overall in Derek Wolfe to as low as 254th in Trevon Canfield.

It seems like eons since Travis Kelce was taken by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2013.

This time around all eyes will be on Jeff Luc to start a new streak. But he’s been getting a bad rap in his pre-draft analyses.

The knock on Luc is that he’s too small. He’s too slow. He can’t keep up in pass coverage. He’ll get exposed too easily by even a marginally quicker ball carrier.

But that glosses over the fact that Luc is among the strongest players entering the NFL Draft. He weights in at a hefty 256 lbs but that’s 256 lbs of nearly pure muscle, from his massive chest to his fingertips. And it was those hands that made him such a menace on defense for the Bearcats this past season.

Luc forced a remarkable 5 forced fumbles in 2014, which surpassed Walter Stewart’s mark he set back in 2011. Many of those strips were caused by the inside linebacker simply ripping the ball out from the grasp of the opposing ball carrier. The strength of his hands, arms, and shoulders were simply too much for the perceived optimum 3-point technique.

I liken Luc to Pittsburgh Steelers star and all-around bad ass James Harrison. Have you ever seen him run? It’s like watching a duck after he’s scarfed down too many vodka soaked pieces bread.

But if there’s one thing Harrison hangs his hat on it’s his attitude and strength, which has carried him through a prestigious NFL career that has surely secured him a spot in Canton. Just check out this clip of doing a 135-lbs shoulder press with one hand. Here’s another of him doing push ups with 304 lbs Maurice Pouncey sitting on his back.

But nobody seems to care that the then-235 lbs Harrison ran a 5.2 40-yard dash time coming out of Kent State.

Even in an era of increased focus on sideline-to-sideline speed and passing the ball all over the field, teams still want to run the ball up the middle. Just look at the Seattle Seahawks who’ve been to the last two Super Bowls, winning one of them, and built their entire offense on the foundation of pounding the ball successfully between the hash marks. Running the ball still matters offensively as does stopping it on defense.

That’s where a player like Jeff Luc can provide value to a team.

He’s just 6’1″ on a good day. He weighs 256 lbs. He’s not winning any races anytime soon. But Luc gives a defense a stopper up the middle, who can own the 18 1/2 feet between the hashes and make it a living hell for opposing running backs to try to challenge him. That’s why he should get drafted this year and why I see no reason he couldn’t have a long, successful NFL career if the cards fall his way.