2016 NFL Draft Profile: Illinois WR Geronimo Allison

With the 2016 NFL Draft this week, an Illinois play maker is hoping to hear his name called by an NFL team on the stage in Chicago.  Enter Geronimo Allison, a 6’3" receiver from Tampa, Florida, who showed the Big Ten how much of an asset he can be to a team.

Measurables:

Height/Weight: 6 foot 3 inches, 196 pounds

Projected NFL position: Wide Receiver

College Stats:

2014: 41 Receptions, 598 Yards, 5 Touchdowns, 14.6 YPC

2015: 65 Receptions, 882 Yards, 3 Touchdowns, 13.6 YPC

Combine Results:

4.67 40-yard dash

33-inch vertical leap

127-inch broad jump

7.4 cone drill

4.28 shuttle (20 yd)

11.54 shuttle (60 yd)

Illinois Pro Day Results:

4.58 40-yard dash

7.1 3 Cone Drill

33 1/2" Vertical

Strengths:

Allison, a JUCO transfer, has put in massive amounts of work to become a better athlete throughout his career.  At Iowa Western, he led the Midwest Football Conference in catches, yards, and touchdowns in 2013.  An All-Big Ten Honorable Mention in 2015 by both the coaches and media show that he has a great deal of potential.  His great hands and great field awareness allows G-MO to make acrobatic catches and keep his feet in bounds when playing near the sideline.  He is not afraid to fight after the catch and has shown great ability as a leader throughout his entire college career.

Weaknesses:

Allison's touchdowns were very low in 2015, at three, but that is really more indicative of the system that was in place, not of his talents.  Allison is not the quickest wide out, making underneath routes difficult (see the Ohio State game).  Like the entire receiving corps in 2015, Allison had a high drop rate at 11% and was at times due to some bad separation in his routes.

Even though he has the ability to make marvelous catches, Allison tends to favor the sideline a bit too much.  He'll need to find ways to get more action in the middle of the field and find a way to shake defensive backs for short 4-5 receptions to be a serviceable, every down receiver in the NFL.

Projected Round and Final Analysis:

NFL.com: Round 7 to priority free agent

NFLDraftScout: Round 7 to free agent

CBSSports: Round 7 to free agent

Allison may not be the most prolific receiver, and he may not be the best known, but in my opinion, one team will get a very capable receiver late in the draft or in free agency (ARE YOU LISTENING TED THOMPSON??)  If he is able to work on having better hands, able to make more plays away from the sidelines, and work on his separation, Geronimo Allison has the ability to continue his career in the NFL.