2nd Round | Pick 57, Rams select: T Rob Havenstein

[blue4]

I would have been ecstatic if this was the 3rd round. Feels like a reach now, but certainly a position of need.

 

[Username]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000461678/article/buzzworthy-and-buzzkill-players-from-day-2-at-the-senior-bowl

Laken Tomlinson, G, Duke; Rob Havenstein, OT, Wisconsin
Tomlinson and Havenstein have really impressed scouts with their technical skills and awareness this week. Each player has shined in drills, despite facing some of the toughest run stoppers and pass rushers in the country. Part of their success can be attributed to their solid understanding of their respective games, which allows them to minimize their weaknesses by using clever tricks at the point of attack. Tomlinson, in particular, has been terrific working in tight quarters, utilizing a short set and quick punch to stone rushers in their tracks in one-on-one drills. In addition, he has shown the ability to anchor against power and protect the middle of the pocket to keep rushers out of the quarterback's face.

Havenstein has shown exceptional savvy and awareness neutralizing rushers off the edge. He does a great job of protecting his inside, yet displays the quickness and length to force rushers to take a wide angle around the corner. With Havenstein exhibiting sound technique and poise at right tackle, the former Badger has certainly helped his cause at the Senior Bowl.

 

[RamWoodie]

Mark my words..this guy will be like a bigger version of Doug France. Old School Ram fans remember Doug France!

 

[Memphis Ram]

Rams selected Wisconsin T Rob Havenstein with the No. 57 overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft.

Havenstein (6'7/321) made 42 starts for the Badgers, clearing lanes for Melvin Gordon as a stalwart right tackle. He was voted first-team All American by college football's coaches in 2014. Havenstein showed limited athleticism in Indy (5.47 forty, 28 1/2" vertical), but has plus arm length (33 3/4") and is a Greg Cosell favorite for his drive-blocking ability. There has been concern that Havenstein managed 16 bench reps at the Combine, although recent Wisconsin alums Travis Frederick (21), Rick Wagner (20), and Peter Konz (18) also "struggled" on the bench, and Havenstein improved to 20 reps at his Pro Day. He projects as a potential long-term answer at right tackle. May 1 - 9:14 PM

Wisconsin T Rob Havenstein "is the type of player who could be found as late as Day 3 and end up developing into one of the best offensive linemen in the draft," writes Gordon McGuinness of Pro Football Focus.

"He needs to work on his pass protection, tying for just 60th in this draft class with a pass-blocking efficiency rating of 96.3 percent last season, but he already looks very good as a run-blocker," McGuinness wrote. "He impresses at the second level, and when he got there against linebackers in 2014, it was game over, swallowing them up and finishing his blocks well. He shows quick feet, which helps when he is asked to pull, and he did a good job setting up cutback blocks on zone runs." Havenstein was frequently the lead convoy behind which Melvin Gordon found open field in 2014, but he's a scheme-specific prospect only desirable to run-heavy teams. A scout speaking to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently compared Havenstein to Jon Runyan. Another scout likened him to Tony Pashos.

http://www.rotoworld.com/recent/cfb/133562/rob-havenstein

 

[ZigZagRam]

Man I see his weight listed at 321 but the dude looked closer to 340 in some of his pictures.

Freakin' mountain.

Not a player I've seen much of but the scouting reports make me wonder. If he turns out though you've got two freaking titans mauling on the outside.

 

[Username]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8yCKnYsDiE


http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...-us-what-were-hearing-about-top-nfl-prospects
The scoop: "Heavy run teams should like him. You know he'll be well-coached coming out of Wisconsin, and he does not mind being physical." -- NFL scout on Wisconsin RT Rob Havenstein

The skinny: Havenstein, a massive right tackle at 6-foot-8 and 333 pounds, has started 41 consecutive games for the Badgers. He reported to Wisconsin at 380 pounds and has steadily whittled his weight down. He's in the same mold as Phil Loadholt and Aaron Gibson, but not really comparable to those two players. He's very long and has some quickness to him, more than you would expect.

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sp...cle_013502d3-a82c-5033-b35d-2ed4f5c74435.html
Posted: Thursday, April 30, 2015 1:00 am

By Greg Swatek gswatek@newspost.com | 0 comments

• 
• Posted on Apr 30, 2015
  
  by Greg Swatek
  

MOUNT AIRY — Rob Havenstein seems ready to step into the NFL.

Sure, he’s nearly 6 feet, 8 inches tall and weighs right around 320 pounds. On appearances alone, it wouldn’t be hard to peg the Linganore High graduate as an offensive lineman. Although, that hasn’t been his job description for as long as one might think.

And, yes, he played right tackle for the University of Wisconsin, a blue-chip stock for producing NFL-ready lineman. Of the 40 former Wisconsin players who made an NFL roster last season, eight were offensive lineman and all of them made at least three starts for their teams.

But there’s another good reason Havenstein is ready for the demanding world of professional football.

He’s always been extremely comfortable in his own skin, a far more affable giant than an imposing one.

Havenstein is smart, well-spoken and dependable. He doesn’t waste time worrying about all of the things outside of his control. He works hard, does what is asked of him and goes to bed each night with a relatively clear conscience.

“I have always been one to (take on) what’s right in front of me,” he said last weekend in the kitchen of his childhood home in Mount Airy.

He doesn’t worry about the future or sweat the details. If there is a better way of doing something, Havenstein is all ears. If he can go about improving something, he will go about doing so.

Over the years, Havenstein has been put up by his coaches as an example to follow. It’s no accident he was named a team captain at Linganore, Wisconsin and the prestigious college Senior Bowl in January.

He will genuinely give each task before him his best shot and doesn’t let any criticisms, either real or perceived, eat away at him.

For example, at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis, Havenstein performed 16 repetitions of 225 pounds in the bench press, the fewest of the 37 offensive linemen that participated in the drill.

But, sitting on the kitchen counter, to the left of the sink, in his parents’ kitchen, he easily shrugged it off as a bad moment, a small fraction of an otherwise fine combine for him.

“Three-fourths of (the combine), nobody ever sees or hears about,” he said.

Yes, he would have liked to put up a few more reps in the bench press. In fact, he did three weeks later at Wisconsin’s March 11 on-campus pro day, completing 20 reps at 225.

“I’ve got nothing to hide behind,” he said. “Anything anyone wants to know about, as long as they have a right to know it, I’ll tell them.”

Havenstein’s go-with-the-flow mentality will serve him well this weekend when, surrounded by family and friends in his living room, he’ll wait for his name to come across the television screen.

The NFL draft is a total guessing game, even for team executives making the picks, and Havenstein doesn’t pretend to have an idea of when he’ll be picked, if he is picked at all.

He’s worked out privately for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Indianapolis Colts, Cincinnati Bengals and Jacksonville Jaguars. But not one of those teams gave him a stronger indication than the others.

So, he’ll just have to wait and hope. Most of the draft forecasts project Havenstein to be taken anywhere between the third and seventh rounds. If he’s taken in the third round, he’ll know his fate Friday. If it’s later than that, he’ll find out Saturday when rounds four through seven take place.

Sports Illustrated recently ranked the 300 best draft prospects, and Havenstein was 112th. The magazine praised him for his size, mentality and quickness and chided him for playing a little stiff.

If he is selected, Havenstein would be the fourth player from Frederick County to be drafted, joining Frederick’s Chuck Foreman (Minnesota Vikings) and Thomas Johnson’s Bob Maddux (Cincinnati Bengals), both taken in 1973, and Walkersville’s Tony Fiammetta, who was chosen in the fourth round of the 2009 draft by the Carolina Panthers.

“This is my goal. This is my dream, to be out there playing in the NFL,” Havenstein said. “It’s something I want to do. I knew there was going to be a process I hadn’t gone through before. It was going to be new.”

Growing up around sports

The Havenstein family roots are firmly planted in Big 10 country.

Rob’s father, Gary, himself a large man at 6-foot-6, grew up in Detroit. Rob’s mother, Cheryl, a tall woman at 6-1, was raised near Lansing, Michigan.

The sporting loyalties were always divided in Cheryl’s family. Her brother, Ron, had a boat, half of which was painted in the maize and blue of the University of Michigan and the other half in the green and white of Michigan State.

When Rob went to Wisconsin, the entire family converted, and Uncle Ron’s boat was changed to the red and white of the Badgers. Cheryl and Ron missed just one game, home or away, in Rob’s five years in Madison.

In the mid-1970s, Gary had graduated from Western Michigan and was teaching high school math when he was handed a pink slip. The automobile industry was starting to shrink and the populous was moving away. That trickled down to the school systems.

But Gary wasn’t bemoaning his fate. “I was not making any money (in teaching). There was no (job) security,” he said.

He went back to Western Michigan for grad school and met Cheryl, who was four years behind him. Cheryl’s roommate was a friend of Gary’s and suggested that they meet. Gary said, “Sure.”

They fell in love and moved to Maryland after Gary accepted a job in the IT department of Tektronix, which manufactures electronics equipment for testing and measuring.

Together, they raised three children, Holly and twin brothers Jeff and Rob, who all grew up as honor-roll students and earned Division I scholarships to play sports. The odds of three kids in the same generation of one family playing Division I sports are only slightly better than hitting the lottery.

Gary and Cheryl just shake their heads after putting three kids through college without spending a dime of their own money.

“From my point of view, they all had opportunities normal kids don’t have,” Gary said.

The Havensteins let their children play sports at an early age, mainly to keep them out of trouble, Gary said.

Gary had played baseball and basketball before doing some coaching. Cheryl had run track and was a cheerleader.

Rob, like his siblings, was a basketball player for most of his childhood. He also played soccer until he was in eighth grade and lacrosse.

But, quite remarkably, as he prepares to enter the NFL, he never played football until he arrived at Linganore High in 2006. He wasn’t allowed.

Gary always felt there were too many rules and regulations for someone like Rob, 6-foot-5 by the time he entered high school, in youth football.

“They were punishing him for being big,” Gary said.

But once he got to high school, all the size restrictions were off.

Rob spent one season on Linganore’s freshman football team before moving up to varsity as a sophomore. Coach Rick Conner plugged him in at left tackle, and Havenstein never missed another start.

By his senior season, Havenstein was a heavily recruited team captain for a team that finished 14-0, won the Class 3A state championship and was nationally ranked by USA Today.

The Weighty Issues

Until recently, Havenstein’s weight had always been a bit of an enduring mystery.

“Any time we had to weigh in (in high school), I’d walk up to the scale and go 330. They’d be like ‘Cool,’” he said. “I never knew what I actually weighed. The scale at the gym or the local health club only went up to a certain weight. It always told me 340. So, that’s what I thought I was.”

It was a major surprise when he arrived at Wisconsin in the summer of 2010 and stepped on a scale that had winced under the weight of many offensive linemen. The number Havenstein now read was closer to 380.

“I was like, ‘Whoa,’” he said.

Seeing this, Bob Bostad, the former offensive line coach at Wisconsin who is now with the Tennessee Titans, approached strength coach Brian Bott and said, “We need to knock 40 to 45 pounds off this kid.”

Bott’s response was, “Why?”

On the practice field, Havenstein showed no signs of being too slow or drastically overweight.

“For a 380-pound kid, he moved exceptionally well. He moved like a 260-pound kid,” said Bott, who has since left the Badgers and now runs his own strength and conditioning company, Sports AdvantEDGE, in Verona, Wisconsin.

Havenstein, who was benefitting from all of those hours on a basketball court said, “It’s going to sound weird, but, being as big as I was, I was in good shape for 380. I could always make it through a workout. I wasn’t slacking.”

But he started to make better choices with what he ate. Late-night snacks, a staple during his high school days, were now out.

“There was a lot of Taco Bell back in high school,” he said. “Late night, playing video games, I was crushing chips, not making good choices.”

Instead, he was now regularly performing a gauntlet of conditioning drills. The weight gradually game off.

On New Year’s Day, Havenstein played his final game at Wisconsin around 335 pounds. At the NFL Combine in mid-February, he checked in at 321. He’s been down as low as 319.

“It wasn’t that hard,” he said. “It was mainly just making better choices about what I ate.”

Havenstein spent his first season at Wisconsin futilely trying to block a defensive end by the name of J.J. Watt, now with the Houston Texans and widely considered to be the best defensive player in the NFL.

Havenstein was a redshirt freshman on the scout team and an afterthought on the depth chart behind the likes of Gabe Carimi, Peter Konz, Kevin Zeitler, Rick Wagner, Ryan Groy and Travis Frederick, who all now play in the NFL.

When he appeared in his first game as a sophomore, his job was to help keep quarterback Russell Wilson, who went on to lead the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl victory, upright.

And on Jan. 1 of this year, after appearing in a school record-tying 54 games, including 42 starts, Havenstein hoisted Barry Alvarez, the legendary Wisconsin football coach and athletic director, onto his shoulder after a 34-31 overtime win over Auburn in the Outback Bowl, won on a 25-yard field goal by kicker Rafael Gaglianone.

“I can’t think of another game we won on a last-second field goal like that,” he said.

Hours after the game, Havenstein signed with the sports agency Athletes First. After a year-and-a-half-long vetting process, he now had an agent, Joe Panos, a former Wisconsin lineman who captained the Badgers’ 1994 Rose Bowl championship team and went on to play for the Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills. (Note: The Havensteins don’t make any major decisions in life without doing their homework or being fully prepared).

Havenstein then flew to a training facility in Irvine, California, roughly 40 miles south of Los Angeles, to begin preparing for the Senior Bowl and combine with the rest of the Athletes First signees, a small class of 13.

Havenstein said “you basically have to sleep smiling” throughout the NFL drafting process because someone is always watching you.

“You always have to be on,” he said.

Before a host of NFL coaches, scouts and front-office types at the Senior Bowl, held the final week of January in Mobile, Alabama, Havenstein raised his draft stock with a great week.

In Mobile, he was reunited with his former line coach, Bostad, since the Tennessee Titans’ coaching staff was in charge of the North team. Havenstein, not surprisingly, was named a team captain.

A little more than two weeks later, Havenstein once again found himself at the epicenter of the NFL Draft season in Indianapolis at the combine.

Up at 5:30 most mornings and often not getting to bed until after midnight, he overcame his little hiccup in the bench press to post respectable numbers for his position in the 40-yard dash (5.46 seconds), vertical jump (28 ½ inches) and the broad jump (eight feet).

He met with executives of 10 different teams for 15 minutes each, including a run of nine sessions in a row one day.

The long hair and patchy beard he sported for three years at Wisconsin were long gone. Havenstein, as usual, was prepared. He tried to present himself in the best possible light.

He was officially ready for the next chapter of his life.

The Future

The Havensteins are a successful and largely settled bunch.

Gary, now 62 and fresh off knee-replacement surgery, is trying to retire. Cheryl still enjoys her longtime job as a reading teacher at Walkersville Elementary School.

Older sister Holly, after playing basketball and graduating from Colgate University, now works for Lighthouse Wealth Management in New Market. Twin brother Jeff, older by 22 minutes and a graduate of Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia, where he played basketball, is a financial analyst for Morgan Stanley in Baltimore.

The last big domino to fall into place is Rob’s. In the unlikely event he is not drafted this weekend, he’ll almost certainly sign with one of the 32 NFL teams as a free agent.

He’s spent the past week at home with his family. During the day, he’d head over to his old stomping grounds to train in the weight room and on the field at Linganore High.

“Rob is the prototypical Wisconsin lineman,” said Bott, his former strength coach. “He’s tough. He’s a hard worker. He enjoys the process of training. He’s going to make some team very happy, whenever he is picked.”

 

[RamBill]

Jim Thomas ‏@jthom1

Average athletically, but a scrapper and a mauler.

Josh Norris ‏@JoshNorris

Well, the #Rams intentions are clear. Run the ball.

Pete Prisco ‏@PriscoCBS

Havenstein is a total mauler in the run game. He's an A for the #Rams. Gurley will be happy.

RosterWatch ‏@RosterWatch

Snead drafted for need by taking Havenstein. Everyone does it. Some do it less. what a reach. #Rams

Ian Wharton ‏@NFLFilmStudy

Another old school tackle goes early. Havenstein is a good run blocker, and may end up as an average tackle. Just not my type at OT

Ron Clements ‏@Ron_Clements

Rob Havenstein does what #Wisconsin offensive linemen do - maul defensive linemen. #Rams got a solid guy for the O-line

Michael Silver ‏@MikeSilver

'We got ourselves a road-grader' -- Jeff Fisher, in Rams war room, after potential trade-down scenario fell through...

Pro Football Focus ‏@PFF

New Rams Offensive Tackle Rob Havenstein had the 13th highest run blocking grade of all draft eligible OTs in 2014

Nathan Jahnke ‏@PFF_NateJahnke

Rob Havenstein allowed just 1 sack; tied for 7th best among Power 5 Draft Eligible OTs


Matt Brown ‏@MattBrownCFB

The Rams drafting Havenstein to block for Gurley might be the best part of the draft so far.

Ian Kenyon ‏@IanKenyonNFL

Havenstein is a stud. He's massive. He's strong. He pushes people around.


Bob McGinn ‏@BobMcGinn

Rob Havenstein in D2 to Rams a real stunner. Some teams expressed major medical concerns (knee, feet) with the #Badgers' enormous RT.

 

[rdlkgliders]

Look nobody really knows how this will work out but I know this we can certainly use some fundamental straight up football players with smarts. This kid is that and I am optimistic it will work. The 3 C's are still on the board an chances are we get to add one to our OL reconstruction

 

[Username]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM6R-iXtzsM



View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lYh_aJqSQY



View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDm4oJSNa84



View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK51hqlE8uw


MORE FILM ---> https://www.youtube.com/user/bigtcollegefootball

 

[FRO]

This reminds me of the Lance Kendricks/Austin Pettis picks. Fits needs, may be solid players, but I feel we reached.

 

[jrry32]

Havenstein is a solid player. Has some athletic limitations and stiffness but he'll run block for you and has enough length and bounce in his feet to stay on the outside. But also could play OG for you. IMO, he's very comparable to Alex Boone.

 

[Mister Sin]

Just read the dude had zero holding calls last year

 

[MarkMyWords]

There goes Cann.....

 

[rdlkgliders]

@El Juggernauto And gave up only 1 sack Tim

 

[Prime Time]

No relation to Joe Klopfenstein I hope.

 

[Sum1]

Just read the dude had zero holding calls last year

That is telling to me. Being an effective college player without needing to hold shows me he has legit ability.

 

[…..]

Theres a few basic rules that are pretty dependable in the NFL draft...

1) Go with players from the SEC and Big Ten....players who play big boy football in big boy conferences are usually more ready for prime time.

2) And go with Wisconsin Linemen. Especially if they are 1st team All American as Haventstein is.

 

[rdlkgliders]

2 of 3 left Clemmings, Collins, still there Cann

 

[rdlkgliders]

Here I will help make this quote legit:

1) Go with players from the PAC 10, SEC and Big Ten....players who play big boy football in big boy conferences are usually more ready for prime time.

 

[Username]

Just read the dude had zero holding calls last year

@El Juggernauto And gave up only 1 sack Tim

Has he missed a start either? I'm not seeing anything, but I'm on my phone. Looks like he's been relatively healthy

 

[DR RAM]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000461678/article/buzzworthy-and-buzzkill-players-from-day-2-at-the-senior-bowl

Laken Tomlinson, G, Duke; Rob Havenstein, OT, Wisconsin
Tomlinson and Havenstein have really impressed scouts with their technical skills and awareness this week. Each player has shined in drills, despite facing some of the toughest run stoppers and pass rushers in the country. Part of their success can be attributed to their solid understanding of their respective games, which allows them to minimize their weaknesses by using clever tricks at the point of attack. Tomlinson, in particular, has been terrific working in tight quarters, utilizing a short set and quick punch to stone rushers in their tracks in one-on-one drills. In addition, he has shown the ability to anchor against power and protect the middle of the pocket to keep rushers out of the quarterback's face.

Havenstein has shown exceptional savvy and awareness neutralizing rushers off the edge. He does a great job of protecting his inside, yet displays the quickness and length to force rushers to take a wide angle around the corner. With Havenstein exhibiting sound technique and poise at right tackle, the former Badger has certainly helped his cause at the Senior Bowl.

That is what I saw. He anchored against all the big DT's too.