HBCU NFL Draft Prospect: Ricardo Silva, FS, Hampton University

Ricardo Silva was a first team All-MEAC Conference performer for Hampton University in 2010 and the leader of the defensive secondary. He possess nice size at 6-1 210 lbs and his play in 2010 put him on the radar of NFL scouts. He put up solid numbers as a Senior leading the secondary with 74 tackles and 4 interceptions. Silva is good-looking athlete who started his college football career at Towson University for two years then transferred to Hampton and made an immediate impact when joining the team and became a two year starter. Silva is a physical and tough football player while playing the second half of his senior season with a nagging hip pointer but never missed a game. He gets good depth and range in coverage and shows enough sideline-to-sideline speed. Silva show good jumps on the football because of his instincts and makes plays around the football. He played up near the line of scrimmage more often this season and did a nice job reading his run keys and quickly closing the breakdown from the backside. During the HBCU Bowl All-Star week he did a nice job of recognizing routes and ability to redirect and cover up receivers in zone. He also showed the ability to cover receivers when staying with them in man coverage and the agility to turn and run without losing much speed. Silva needs to improve with consistently making the tackle, taking proper angles and not over pursuit when asked to break down in tight areas. He also has a little tightness in his hips and has tendency to be high in his drops. Silva does display the above-average physicality when asked to play in man coverage on the outside and during his senior season did a nice job getting into receivers and re-routing them off the line. He impressed NFL scouts at his recent pro day with low 4.5 40 times, 35 inch vertical jump and 21 bench press reps. Overall Ricardo Silva is a underrated safety prospect with good instincts and his best football is a head of him. He will increase his chances of making a roster with his play on special teams and ability to show versatility as a safety.