The Texans draft watch continues with a look at Memphis defensive tackle/nose tackle Dontari Poe.
Last year at this time, most Texans fans were of the mind that Shaun Cody and Earl Mitchell were too small to handle nose tackle duty in Wade Phillips' 3-4 defense.
Wade begged to differ with that notion, saying "weve had small guys play this position, big guys play this position, and weve been successful both ways."
Moral of that story one year later? In Wade we trust.
Read: Texans defense may work without a mountain in the middle
While Cody is better known for his 'On The Nose' video series than he is blowing up A-gaps, he played well last season, as did Mitchell. It's safe to say they played even better than anyone expected. But game-changers and dominant players they are not.
Enter Dontari Poe.
Poe, who had 30 starts in his three year collegiate career, was a second-team All-Conference USA in 2011 and an honorable mention All-America pick by Pro Football Weekly, despite playing on a very bad Memphis team.
The junior redshirt out of Memphis is 6-4, 350 pounds of raw potential according to most scouting reports - with emphasis on the word raw.
While discussing Poe during a recent conference call, Mike Mayock of NFL Network said Poe might not make a tackle during his rookie season, but at the same time his physical skills remind him of Haloti Ngata. Talk about a wide-ranging assessment.
