Laremy Tunsil makes case for No. 1 pick after Myles Garrett matchup

Two of the best players in the SEC went toe-to-toe last Saturday, but did Laremy Tunsil really dominate Myles Garrett? Here’s evidence he did.

The only top-25 matchup last week featured Texas A&M and Ole Miss, both of the teams are in the top half of the SEC and featured talented players on both sides of the ball. However, the most intriguing battle was between A&M defensive end Myles Garrett and Ole Miss offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil.

I believe that Garrett is the best defensive end in the country, and maybe even the best defensive player too, so this was a big assignment for Tunsil who was coming off a seven-game suspension.

Tunsil, a junior, is the early consensus top offensive lineman for the 2016 NFL Draft, and this outing should only help him in his case to be the No. 1 overall selection.

After watching the tape several times, Laremy Tunsil was able to shut down Myles Garrett for most of the game. He did a fabulous job using his footwork to avert Garrett’s rushes, and I thought he showed a lot of power to go along with his technique.

If all that’s true, how did Tunsil dominate if Garrett still finished with six tackles, two two tackles for a loss, and one interception?

I have a few examples to show why I think Tunsil was better and that he wasn’t responsible for most of the plays that Garrett was able to make.

Here, Garrett uses his hands and leverage to get around the edge. Tunsil obviously knows he’s beat, so he holds, which is a better alternative than taking allowing your quarterback to get drilled in the back on a sack. This was one of the few plays that Garrett won against Tunsil.

This next play was an incredible athletic effort by Garrett; he rushes up field, jumps high enough to deflect the pass, and then is able to rebound and intercept the pass. This is a play that the best edge players in the NFL would be envious of, because this is incredibly rare for a player to pull this off.

Garrett come right off the edge and seemingly blows past Tunsil, but that’s by design. Ole Miss is trying to set up a screen pass to LaQuon Treadwell, so Tunsil’s assignment is to go out and block for the wideout, not the quarterback. This is a great play by Garrett, but the blame shouldn’t be placed on Tunsil.

Finally, this is what it looked like most of the night. Garrett gets a decent push, and there’s lots of hand fighting, but ultimately Tunsil stones him. A&M was still able to generate pressure up the middle, but Garrett was well blocked.

I think those 3 plays adequately illustrate how the game played out between the two stud players. Garrett found some success and was not easy to block, but most of his biggest plays did not come against Tunsil.

Give a lot of credit to the Ole Miss coaching staff, they put their offense in situations to succeed while A&M’s offensive coaching staff failed to. Chad Kelly never held the ball longer 5 seconds and was consistently throwing quick, high percentage throws–something that thwarted Garrett’s pass rush ability.

One of Myles Garrett’s few flaws is that he’s almost always trying to get up field, which I think is more of a byproduct of John Chavis’ system than anything. Ole Miss was able to take him out of running plays with a pulling lineman more than once.

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Ultimately, it was a great first game back for the potential No. 1 pick in the 2016 NFL Draft and certainly the No. 1 offensive tackle who won his matchup against the player who may be the No. 1 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.