Orlando Franklin Scouting Report

At 6-7 and 312 pounds, Orlando Franklin has the size to be a superb guard in the NFL. As a freshman at Miami he played in 12 games and earned three starts, all of which came against Atlantic Coast Conference opponents. By his sophomore season the big offensive guard was starting a majority of the games and grading out very well. Franklin also turned into a pretty consistent performer despite his youth and inexperience.

As a junior in 2009 Franklin had his breakout campaign. He has pretty much dominated Gerald McCoy and helped the Hurricanes tally an impressive 5,199 total yards of offense. It was at the end of the 2009 campaign when Franklin made the move to left tackle. He did fine at that position against South Florida in the regular season finale and against Wisconsin in the Champs Sports Bowl, but things got bad in 2010. Franklin certainly looks like a tackle, but it became painfully clear early in his senior season that his slow movement and poor foot speed would make him a guard in the NFL.

It was so obvious to Miami that Franklin has spent less time at either tackle position and has mostly stayed in the middle of the line. That lack of versatility and mobility certainly drops Franklin's draft stock, but he is still a very good guard and should be gone by the second or third round.