Sedrick Van Pran scouting report: Exploring the Georgia interior offensive lineman’s strengths and weaknesses

Despite being the top center recruit in the country for 2020, Sedrick Van Pran had to bide his time in his first season as he sat behind Trey Hill and only saw limited playing time as a backup in four games. However, in his second year, he proved his worth by starting in all 15 games for the eventual national champions and taking the highest percentage of snaps among all Bulldog players (90%).

Despite not achieving a three-peat, Van Pran continued to lead the unit and guided his team to another title last season. He was recognized for his outstanding performance with second-team All-SEC honors. Van Pran’s impressive improvement throughout the season earned him a spot on the first-team all-conference, starting in all 13 games, even though UGA’s only loss came in the SEC championship.

Scouting Report: Sedrick Van Pran

Offensive Line Run Blocking:

• Pretty quick from snap to step, to where he gets his hands on head-up 2-technique over guards before they can properly get out of their stance on inside zone or blocking down to the backside
• Swiftly erases the space towards three-techniques when asked to back-block on them as they pull that guard
• Whether he bucket-steps or opens those hips to get flip down the line on different variations of zone-blocking, this guy gets moving horizontally and he delivers some thump when he does initiate contact
• Defensive linemen slanting into the play-side A-gap blocking inside zone get put on the ground a few times by Van Pran
• Makes sure to connect with the near-shoulder of his guards and unite their force on vertical combos (duo)
• While his arms are only 31.5 inches, Van Pran’s 78.5-inch wingspan is slightly above average and he’s able to direct defenders when it looks like there seems to be some separation created
• Fully capable of coming off the ball with low pads and digging D-tackles out of their gap in short-yardage situations
• Can get on his horse and wrap-around the guard for powerful lead-blocks on the play-side linebacker

Pass Blocking:

• Brings some heavy hands and maintains a wide base to take control of interior pass-rushers
• Finds ways to re-gain leverage by lifting rushers and getting his elbow in tight
• Maximizes his arm length well to pick up rushers that becomes his responsibility slightly delayed on slide-protections
• Excels at using his near-arm on slide protections to feel if the next-closest rusher bubbles over towards the A-gap whilst keeping his eyes on the second level for delayed pressure
• Shows good patience to square up blitzers and lock them up
• There are some impressive moments of shoving the first man over towards his teammate and catch the secondary looper or cross-blitzer easily
• Really sells play-action by coming hard down the line, forcing linebackers to scrape along
• He’s allowed just one sack and QB hit each on 1418 pass-blocking snaps over the past three years, with pressure rates between 2.1% and 2.7% in those

Areas for Improvement:

• Certainly gets pretty top-heavy in the run game and could lose his balance against crafty D-linemen who can use that against him
• Looks a little bit lot at times when linebackers hit backside or just in general the picture changes post-snap and his initial assignment isn’t “in place”
• Has some body-control issues trying to secure moving targets in the defensive backfield
• Certainly more comfortable in a phonebooth, where he can battle them in confined space as a pass-protector than if he has to set a little wider and possibly redirect vs. sudden counters
• Doesn’t have the reactionary athleticism to still get the job done if he’s late with transitioning on twists or different games

Despite being in the sixth percentile for arm length at the combine, I was surprised to see Van Pran’s ability to extend his reach and effectively guide defenders. He possesses a gritty style of run-blocking and can move defenders both horizontally and vertically. Additionally, he has the capability to be used for shorter pulls.

In terms of pass-protection, he is not one to lunge and is able to quickly gain control over rushers and linebackers attempting to break through. However, he may struggle if asked to perform longer pulls or operate in open spaces. Overall, I believe he would excel as a guard or center for a team with a heavy gap-scheme offense and could start right away.

Rating: Early third round