Five Play Prospect: Florida WR Jaquavion Fraziars Scouting Report

What are the Gators getting in wide receiver signee Jaquavion Fraziars?

As we continue our Five Play Prospect series at GatorMaven, it's time to take a look at one of Anthony Richardson's future targets at wide receiver.

Another local product, Jaquavion Fraziars.

The 6-3 1/2, 194 lb. receiver from Dunnellon High School, just an hour south of Gainesville, provides Florida with intriguing intangibles. While he isn't the fastest athlete on the field, his 4.64 40 yard dash at his size will get by just fine, and his 78" wingspan only furthers his case to be a boundary weapon in the Gators' offense.

Let's get to the tape.

Film Room

Vertical stem routes

I hate to start this report by mentioning an area in which Fraziars could use improvement, but that's the truth when it comes to certain aspects of his route running.

However, when he's leveraging the vertical stem to separate and make plays, Fraziars is a legitimate threat.

There are several other plays below (that will be labeled) where Fraziars wins on the stem, but they apply to different parts of his skill-set. Rather, on the comeback route above, Fraziars threatens deep and opens up the cornerback's hips - by simply closing the coverage cushion before even breaking outside, Fraziars had won the rep. 

He finished with a quick hip sink and chopped his feet efficiently to break outside and work his way into the comeback, creating separation and making a nice play.

While Fraziars needs to sharpen his breaking routes at the next level rather than rounding them, his floor in Florida's offense is playing boundary receiver and playing vertically. His length certainly makes him a fit there.

Length and catch radius

One of the most dynamic aspects of Fraziars' game is natural to him: His length. 

His catch radius is large, given his height and wingspan. If you throw him a jump ball with a defender in coverage, chances are Fraziars is going to bring it in. He pairs this length with strong hands, body control, and awareness to adjust in the air, to come down with the ball in his possession.

Plays like the one above are regular within Fraziars' film. On this particular play, what's impressive is Fraziars rolling with the quarterback and making this catch in such confined space. Originally, Fraziars runs a post, but through contact and the QB roll-out, Fraziars turns his route into a deep whip route, and makes a big-time, leaping catch in the back right corner of the endzone without even slowing down to make his jump.

As previously mentioned, if nothing else works at least the Gators have obtained a threat at the boundary in Fraziars. He can climb the ladder in order to go up and beat cornerbacks with his physical intangibles.

YAC ability

In Monday's scouting report on Richardson, I alluded to the comparisons to Cam Newton that he has drawn. While it's tough, and probably unfair, to compare a quarterback fresh out of high school to a Heisman Trophy winner and No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, the two share plenty traits that make the comparison understandable.

So we're going to try to keep this comparison thing rolling. When I watch Fraziars, I see another first round pick in his game - New England Patriots receiver N'Keal Harry.

Screen

Coming out of Arizona State last year, Harry (who stood at 6-2 1/2, 228 lbs., with a 78 1/4" wingspan and ran a 4.53 40 yard dash) consistently flashed yards-after-the-catch ability on tape, which was crazy given his size. Fraziars does a lot of the same.

Given Fraziars' lighter frame in comparison to Harry, his contact balance is a bit less polished. But given some time with Florida strength and conditioning coach Nick Savage, Fraziars could realistically put on 10-15 lbs. during his time at Florida, not lose any speed and agility, and boost that balance.

But even now, he's still pretty good at keeping balanced and breaking tackles to extend plays. Short routes like screens and slants present Fraziars with the best opportunities to break free for YAC.

Slant

Fraziars displays awareness for the congestion around him, with the cornerback draping his back at the catch point and the free safety enclosing on the hashes. 

After he makes a quick concentration catch, Fraziars immediately plants and turns back outside to beat the safety's initial tackle angle. That extends the play a good 15 or so yards, rather than if he followed the rest of the slant pattern to the middle of the field to split the safeties.

Blocking

A cherry on top of Fraziars' game? He's a willing blocker, and has the length to win at initial contact with a quick extension. From there, Fraziars can get to chopping his legs and drive defenders at his will.

Final Thoughts

In Jaquavion Fraizars, the Gators are getting a vertical receiving threat with legitimate yards after catch ability and a willingness to block. That floor will give him plenty of opportunities within Dan Mullen's offense.

Where Fraziars can stand to improve is his route running and footwork. On occasion, Fraziars would suffer from a false step at the line of scrimmage, which immediately affects the ability to separate into a route when you consider the time a quarterback has to get the ball out. Fraziars will also have to work on sharpening his route breaks off of the vertical stem.

However, the intangibles Fraziars provides makes him an ideal candidate to play the boundary and win one-on-ones, best projecting him to play X-WR in Mullen's scheme. Given some added development, Fraziars can round out his game to become an all-around threat, but Florida should also like what he brings to the table right out of the gate.