Are We Really Sleeping on Romello Height?

I find it interesting that several coaches have gone out of their way, publicly and privately, to ensure that Romello Height is mentioned in every conversation about most impactful defensive player. Sure, we’ve seen coaches do this before with young and/or inexperienced players, that usually goes poorly. Height is neither young, nor inexperienced, so I’m inclined to take what the coaches are saying more seriously with this one.

I am guilty of looking at Height as a “throw in” guy. Yeah, I’ll mention David Bailey and Lee Hunter by name every time I discuss the DLline, but I usually just lump Height in with the second-tier names after the headliners.

If we take the coaches at their word, I need to start more appropriately placing him with the headliners. I like to be accurate when discussing Texas Tech football, so I decided to see for myself.

When you look at the numbers, there are some things that jump out, especially compared to Texas Tech last season, but it’s also fair to be concerned about that sack number. The raw numbers paint part of the picture, but they don’t fully explain the hype. So I turned to the film.

I absolutely love this play. Our guy is playing left defensive end here, #9. First thing to notice is that Height pulls off a pretty elite pass rush move on the RT. If you watch closely, you can see the subtle movements of his hips and shoulders never allow the tackle to get comfortable and anchor, then he uses quick and powerful hand move (we called it swat and dip) to completely free his rush to the QB. The QB somehow gets the ball to the RB to avoid the sack, and there is a moment where this broken play looks like it might be successful, and then Height quickly reenters the frame to shut down any hope of that.

His motor stands out in almost every clip, I have seen may good pass rushers miss a sack opportunity like that and just watch the rest of the play from behind the QB, not Height. He is tenacious.

Height is the left DE again here and tasked with spying one of the best running QBs in college football last season Riley Leonard. Again, watch his movement, there is not a long list of defensive ends of Height’s size that can make the play he just made, and it looks easy. I’m pretty sure Level mentioned on a LOTT podcast that he’s been clocked at practice over 21 mph, you can see game evidence of that here. He’s a freak.

Height is the right defense end this time, and I wish I knew if his dropping into coverage was a called play or an improvisation by him. I tend to think he makes this decision on the fly, and in the age of the RPO, coaches now teach defensive ends to do this when they see quick passing game/RPO like this. You are not getting to the QB, so disrupt the passing the lanes. QB never see Height dropped in that pocket of space, and Height makes, for a defensive lineman, an incredible play. He’s smart.

After watching the film, I’m no longer putting Romello Height in the “throw-in” category. He’s tenacious. He’s explosive. He’s smart. In short, he’s basically exactly what you want in a defensive player.

With Lee Hunter and David Bailey drawing extra attention, Height is in a position to feast. If you’re looking for breakout candidates on this defense, I’d suggest buying Romello Height stock now.