Washington Huskies Jabez Tinae is an SI All-American Candidate

Receiver from Seattle draws national attention, hopes to carry it over as a collegian.

Kennedy Catholic High School's talented receiver Jabez Tinae has been nominated as a SI All-American candidate. 

Tinae is evidence that Washington's recruitment of the receiver position is continuing to rise. Once he catches up with the speed of major college football, Tinae will compete to be a possession receiver with the big-play ability that sets him apart from his peers. 

Tinae is a SI All-American candidate, and SI director of football recruiting John Garcia has broken down the receiver's game.

Prospect: WR Jabez Tinae

Status: SI All-American candidate

Vitals: 6-foot-1, 190 pounds

Position: Wide receiver

School: Kennedy Catholic, Burien (Wash.)

Committed to: Washington

Projected position: Inside/slot receiver

Frame: Long and lean athlete with a tapered frame. Appears to have some wire strength in shoulders and is somewhat high-cut.

Athleticism: Shows good release quickness when not forced to deal with press-man coverage. Quickness also shows up in his secondary release in the route phase of plays. He has a fair amount of long speed to threaten safeties aligned on the third level. Willing to fight at the point of attack when asked to block and with surprising strength to unsuspecting back-7 defenders.

Instincts: Tinae appears to have a good understanding of route-stemming when releasing. He is athletic enough to avoid traffic underneath and uses a mix of pressure steps, square cuts and head fakes to create separation. Can pluck with his mitts on the move, and has a large strike zone and good hands through the catch point. Solid creativity with good elusiveness and vision with the ball in his hands.

Polish: Almost exclusively aligns inside to the right of the formation and runs a route tree that consists of seams, skinny posts, corners and drags while also being used on screens and end-arounds. Has the length, release quickness and good understanding of the nuances of route-running to contribute to a college offense’s passing game fairly early in his career.

Bottom line: Tinae is a very good route-runner at this stage and does most of his damage from the slot. He stems his routes, sets up defensive backs and has good separation quickness. If he can show he can escape press-man coverage and catch in a crowd consistently at the collegiate level, he will fit as a productive slot receiver in today’s pass-happy game.