Myles Jack isn’t your typical college football star; he has made a name as a two-way playmaker for the UCLA Bruins. Not only was UCLA linebacker the leader of a talented Bruins defense, but he also was a situational running back who provided a shot in the arm when the offense was sputtering out of control.

Coming into this year, Jack was considered one of the ten best underclassmen in college football; however, a torn meniscus has put some doubt into Jack’s draft stock. Despite this, Jack decided to declare for the NFL draft on Tuesday, much to the chagrin of his head coach Jim Mora.

“Myles’ talent is without question,” Mora said. “I hope that he’s put enough out there that he can get a true evaluation, because if they can’t get a true evaluation of you, they’re not going to take you. They don’t take on speculation, not in the first round at least. Maybe in later rounds you go, ‘Hey, we’ll take a flyer on this guy.’ But there’s no such thing as an NFL GM who says, ‘Hey, we’ll take a flyer on a first-rounder.’”

If you take these comments at face value, you would think it is just a head coach who is concerned about the future of his star linebacker; however, that doesn’t take into the context of what Jack has shown on tape.

First of all, Jack isn’t your typical junior as he has had significant playing since he came to UCLA in 2013. Furthermore, NFL teams have seen Jack play in a variety of roles because of UCLA’s propensity to move Jack around. He has played as a running back, middle linebacker, strong-side linebacker, weak-side linebacker, rush defensive end and even a little bit of cornerback. Therefore, every team will have game tape of Jack playing a role that they can utilize in their scheme.

Ultimately, most of Jack’s draft stock will be determined by how well he recovers from his knee injury. If his rehab goes smoothly, his draft stock won’t take much of a hit. However, it is so early in the process that any speculation would be pure conjecture.

If you take Jack’s injury out of the equation, he is a bonafide first-round pick and arguably a Top-15 type of talent. He is a rare blend of athleticism, strength and intelligence that teams value at linebacker.

The first thing that pops out when you turn on any of Jack’s game tape is his ability in coverage.  Jack was the best coverage linebacker in college football by a long shot.  His feel for dropping into zones and his awareness of players around him was second to none. Furthermore, Jack brought the added caveat of having the athleticism, hip fluidity and foot speed to cover tight ends, running backs and some wide receivers one on one. It was so good in fact; UCLA lined him up at cornerback on some occasions with a high degree of success.

On top of his abilities in coverage, Jack has developed a physical style of play in the run game.  The best way to describe Jack taking on blocker is violent.  Jack looks to absolutely crush opposing linemen at the point of attack as he explodes through his hips and into the chest plate of blockers.  The only negative side effect to that is Jack sometimes gets so consumed with dominating the blocker that he doesn’t get his eyes on the running back, which limits his ability to ultimately make the tackle.

Mentally, Jack has all the tools you want in a defensive signal caller. He understands how to read offenses and he does a great job of reading his keys and diagnosing plays. He is a hard player to fool and he is someone you could trust to get the defense lined up on a play-by-play basis.

On the negative side, Jack isn’t the most fundamentally sound tackler as he tends to get lazy with his helmet placement and he doesn’t always drive through the ball carrier. Luckily for him, these mistakes are easily correctable and something his coaches will harp on in the NFL.

Like previously stated, all this will get thrown out of the window if Jack’s knee doesn’t return to what it previously was. Jack is a player who relies heavily on his athleticism to be the special talent that he is.

It isn’t the lack of game tape that should have people around Jack worried about his draft stock, it should be his knee.