I watched four full games doing nothing but paying attention to Minter.

I watched LSU vs. Washington, Florida, Texas A&M, and Alabama.

I don't see what there is to be excited about regarding Kevin Minter.

I saw a lot of drag-down tackles. I saw a lot of the ol' "College Jog" halfheartedly "chasing" the play from behind. I saw a lot of him getting trapped in the garbage at the Line of Scrimmage. I saw a lot of RBs making it around the edge in the run game. I saw a lot of FBs, TEs, and O-Lineman completely neutralizing Minter with simple positional blocking.

Versus Florida where he was credited with 20 tackles and had two sacks, the sacks came on back-to-back plays where the scheme by LSU's front four left Minter untouched en route to the QB. He forced a fumble in that game which is uncredited in his stat line...not sure why. That was a good play, but it was 8-10 yards downfield after the ballcarrier was spinning away from a would-be arm-tackler who was clinging to a handful of jersey.

Versus Texas A&M, I saw him make two good plays on Manziel when Minter was in a spy role...but his INT came on a pass that ricocheted off a (wide open) receiver's shoulder-pad right into Minter's hands five yards away where he was covering no one despite that particular receiver coming straight into Minter's zone.

This is not to say that I think Kevin Minter is a bad football player. He isn't. He is rarely ever off his feet...he's very stout at the point of attack. He gets stood up and walled off far more than cut or pancaked. He makes tackles. If he has a shot at the ballcarrier, most of the time he does bring him down...but he looks slow on film (and ran slow at the combine...tried to find his 10-yard split, but was unable), he gets washed out of WAY too many plays, he looks awkward in coverage (playing almost exclusively zone...VERY few instances where he was in man), and he doesn't flash as an athlete when you're watching the game...if he wasn't a short little fire-plug looking guy who always lines up dead in the middle of the defense, it would be tough to pick him out pre / post-snap.

The NFL Draft Advisory board gave Minter a 3rd round grade before he decided to come out, and I think that's about right for him as a player. He is much more like Ed Hartwell than Ray Lewis...and that's not to say that ANY Linebacker who comes out has a chance to fill Ray's shoes (especially not two months after he retired), but Minter (to me) looks like a 2-down ILB, and not even a dominant one at that.

We need someone, even if Ellerbe is retained, and if Minter is the guy, I'll get on board and hope for the best, but I'd be much more excited to see him drafted in the 3rd or 4th round than at #32. Honestly, I don't think there is an ILB worth a 1st round pick in this draft.