6’1” – 188 lbs. – 4.60
High-school basketball player who was essentially a reserve/rotational player for his first two seasons, then started four games as a junior before becoming a full-time member of the first team as a senior. Tall defender with solid length for the boundary; arms measured 31.5” at the Combine. Played left cornerback this past season, often in press-man. Physical prospect who’s at his best when he’s able to disrupt an opponent at the line and use his length to pin them to the sideline. Has pretty good footwork at the line of scrimmage to match an opponent’s release. Can get frozen at the route stem and give up easy completions, or be beat and grab an opponent in an attempt to catch up, but generally appears to have an advanced feel for the position relative to other first-year starters. Flashes the ability to provide tighter coverage than his average athletic testing would suggest, anticipating routes on the outside and combining his instincts with solid ball-skills to disrupt lanes when he’s in-phase. Speed isn’t excellent, but is able to use his length in order to defend against passes down the sidelines. Seems to be able to get his head around and locate the ball. Good timing and length allow him to get his hands on plenty of targets. When he locates the ball, will play it aggressively and can make himself look like a receiver at times. That said, creates a little bit too much contact downfield and could be targeted on throws downfield both because of his lack of top-end speed and because teams may be able to draw penalties by targeting him. Has a good on-field temperament; likes to get physical and come up and hit ballcarriers catching screens or rushing to the outside. A little bit of a torpedo tackler, but flashes the ability to wrap as well. Too often sucked in by misdirection, giving up the outside to opposing ballcarriers; teams had success pulling him away from sweeps and tosses with inside releases. Was essentially a first-year starter in a very competitive conference last season and impressed with his route recognition, his jamming and footwork at the line when playing press coverage, and his ball skills when targeted. Those traits could get him drafted on the third day, although he’ll be hurt by athletic testing which is statistically not correlated with success at the pro level, and which could also make teams feel that his upside is limited.
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