SI All-American Candidate Ishmael Ibraheem Highlights and Evaluation

Ishmael Ibraheem is a cornerback prospect from Justin F. Kimball High School in Dallas, Texas. Ibraheem is an SI All-American candidate.

Prospect: CB Ishmael Ibraheem

Projected Position: Cornerback

Status: SI All-American candidate 

Vitals: 6-foot-1, 175 pounds 

School: Dallas (Texas) Justin F. Kimball 

Committed to: Texas

Frame: High-cut frame with long limbs. Has good overall definition. Tight and narrow chest and midsection with athletic and fairly slender lower half. 

Athleticism: Tall and long defensive back with good straight-line speed and linear athleticism. Can drive downhill quickly from stationary positions. Carries man on perimeter well and stays attached to inside hip/shoulder between man and ball. Uses natural length to disrupt catch points from various angles. 

Instincts: More comfortable in off-coverage to read and react, than classic press man. Relies heavily on bail technique and flashes some catch-man technique as a squat defender. Plays with good eyes and awareness in zone concepts. Will attempt to midpoint versus flood concepts in passing game. Very willing to come from perimeter to play the run, and can collide with above-average thump for a secondary player when playing from depth. 

Polish: Lines up both in the boundary and to the field with heavy off-coverage alignments and zone concepts. Rarely presses with any jam to disrupt. Can be undisciplined some in trail position. Must continue working on getting his around to play ball. 

Bottom Line: With his tall and long frame, Ibraheem has excellent length for a corner prospect. However, he prefers to sit and squat on the perimeter in off-coverage, where he can use his instincts, awareness and reaction quickness. He must acquire more reps in press-man coverage, work on his off-hand jam and continue developing his ball skills and wrap-tackling ability. Yet, his size and awareness could allow him to play well as a field corner in a defense with heavy cover-3, cover-4 and cover-6 concepts for its backend.