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Film Evaluation: Penn State commit Alex Birchmeier

The Penn State Nittany Lions are still finishing up the Class for 2022, but head coach James Franklin and offensive line coach Phil Trautwein are also hard at work in the Class of 2023.

On Thursday, the team secured a commitment from Virginia offensive lineman Alex Birchmeier, a four-star prospect and Rivals100 member who currently ranks No. 61 in the nation.

The 6-foot-5, 275-pound lineman earned offers from 30 other schools, including Ohio State, Oklahoma and Notre Dame, to name a few. While he’s still young, it’s clear that Trautwein is working his magic as a recruiter, reeling in one of his most high-profile commitments in Birchmeier.

What makes him so appealing to so many Power Five schools? Let’s break it down.

Related: Commitment Impact - Rivals100 OL Alex Birchmeier

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Strengths

Build: Build is about more than just how tall you are and how much you weigh. Body proportion and composition are incredibly important when looking for an offensive lineman. Birchmeier is a phenomenal-looking athlete with great lower-body mass and very little wasted weight. Despite his 6-5 frame, he carries most of his mass in his lower half and seems to have very good mobility, meaning he’s carrying the weight naturally.

Movement Skills: Birchmeier not only looks the part, but he moves like it too. He’s a textbook pulling guard as a sophomore with great snap out of his stance and an efficient line to his blocking assignment. Not only does that convey speed but also technique. His work to the second level on combo blocks is also very good.

Tenacity & Finish: The highs are high for Birchmeier. At his best, he shows great confidence as a blocker, especially for a sophomore, and will lay into defenders when given the chance. With time and development as a football player, the sky’s the limit for his run-blocking skills.

Areas of Development

Balance: Despite the fact that he’s a prototype for the offensive line, Birchmeier still has some growing to do as a pass protector. He’s a natural run-blocker and is on his toes a lot, even in pass pro. Learning to sit back into his stance and anchor against defensive tackles will unlock his length and lower-body power on a more consistent basis.

Hand Usage: Birchmeier is still in the early stages of his growth as a football player so it’s natural to have some technical deficiencies. He doesn’t always make the most out of his length by latching on to defenders wide instead of getting his hands inside into their pads and making solid, controllable contact.

Impact Consistency: Part of this ties into hand usage, but one area that could stand to be more consistent is his drive at the point of contact. Either as a puller or as a down blocker, Birchmeier either wins decisively or doesn’t move defenders. As he matures, he’ll need to learn to play with more consistent leverage and hand placement to help widen gaps and blow open holes.

Projection

Center: The beauty about being 6-5 is that you are a fit at just about any position on the offensive line. The downside is that you’re not a perfect fit for any of them. With his size, movement skills, and ability to pull, Birchmeier would make a great athletic center with the power to move tackles off of the ball. No matter where he lands, Birchmeier has the projectable physical and personality traits to be a great offensive lineman. There are very few questions about how his physical abilities will translate to college.

Tackle: As he is now, Birchmeier isn’t quite long enough to be an ideal project at tackle. That being said, juniors in high school can still grow. If he does, his quickness and straight-line speed would make him a candidate to play on the outside. However, he’d have to show the ability on the high school level to protect the perimeter first. Birchmeier is a great prospect and you always want to try your best linemen out at tackle if you can.

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