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This officially marks the halfway point of our positional draft rankings. We’ve already broken down the top running backs, linebackers, wide receivers, cornerbacks and most recently offensive tackles. So now it’s time to look at this massive group of edge defenders, which is a much better way to classify these prospects, rather than calling them 4-3 defensive ends or 3-4 outside linebackers. Due to how hybrid NFL fronts are these days anyway, I like to lump those together, although I will mention their best schematic fit a few times and talk about how versatile coaches can be in how they deploy these guys.
We have a consensus top-three overall prospect headlining this group, but I don’t believe EDGE2 is too far behind him, especially when you look at what the NFL typically values. After that, I kind of look at the class having three tiers, where the first one consists of four names, who I all have first-round grades on, then the three guys in the next group I think deserve top-50 consideration and after that, there’s at least another four I consider day-two prospect. However, even beyond that point, there are several intriguing players, who I think can have legitimate roles at the next level, with varying degrees of physical upside compared to pro-readiness.
Just to clarify – Northwestern’s Adetomiwa Adebawore, Auburn’s Colby Wooden and Michigan’s Mike Morris I have all labelled as “IDL”. That list will come out next week.
For now, let’s get into this edge class:
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1. Will Anderson Jr., Alabama

6’4”, 245 pounds; JR
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The number two defensive end recruit in 2020, Anderson had a phenomenal debut season with the Crimson Tide, racking up 52 total tackles, 10.5 of those for loss, seven sacks and a forced fumble, but he completely blew it out of the water as a sophomore, with 31(!) TFLs and 17.5 sacks, along with three passes batted down. He couldn’t quite live up to those insane numbers last year (17 TFLs and ten sacks), but did have a pick-six and made his presence felt, making him a first-team All-American and the SEC’s Defensive Player of the Year for back-to-back seasons.
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+ Flashed to me more and more, as I was watching offensive prospects against Alabama for the 2021 draft already, when he was just a true freshman
+ Plays with a ton of energy and urgency
+ Has a lot of power in his lower body and consistently plays with great leverage
+ If you leave tight-ends trying to seal him on the backside, Anderson will routinely ride that guy into the scrum and negate cutback lanes, if not tackle him and the ball-carrier together
+ Will gladly accelerate into pulling guards and build up the force to create knock-back at contact
+ Displays the short-area twitch and range as a tackler to take care of both options on zone-read plays
+ Wasn’t asked to do drop into coverage a whole lot, but looks comfortable peeling off and take away throws to the flats, plus he had a very impressive on-field workout at the combine, where his change-of-direction and ability to flip his hips looked better than a bunch of the legit off-ball LBs
+ Not at all somebody who’ll take plays off or take a break on the sideline to stay fresh, as he averaged 55.6 snaps per game over these last two years
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+ Has that cat-like quickness off the snap and immediately stresses the foot speed of offensive tackles in their pass sets
+ Off that, he has the flexibility to dip underneath the blocker’s reach or go through that guy if he sells out for speed and gets too tall
+ Highly advanced with his hand-usage for such a young player, creating leverage by riding them upwards or opening up the edges of the blockers’ frame by swatting them away
+ Excels at converting speed to power, while regularly lifting up the outside arms of tackles and ripping underneath it, to create a mor direct angle for himself
+ Alabama had him in some tighter alignments and even some 4i/5-techniques, where he realized when tackles slid too far outside as he widened his angle, that he could attack the wrist of their inside hand and take the direct angle towards the quarterback
+ Really understands how to finish his rushes and not just force quarterbacks to move off the spot
+ Relentless in his effort to continue to free himself from blocks and chase around quarterbacks deep into plays
+ Gladly crashes into the shoulder of a guard and opens up a lane for one of the D-tackles or linebackers to loop around
+ Had a historically great sophomore season statistically, when he led college football with 81 pressures and had four sacks in the Mississippi State game alone, when he just went bonkers – Last season the production was down a little bit, but you routinely saw offenses roll away from Anderson and try to find ways to mostly negate his impact by play-design
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– Still has some room to fill out his frame and become a more physically overwhelming player
– As good as he is at defeating the hands of blockers, he would benefit from not even letting them get on him or just dictating reps by being the one to establish first meaningful contact
– There’s definitely to diversify this pass-rush arsenal, largely relying on the burst off the ball and ability to transfer that momentum into power, along with pushing arms off himself, rather than actually setting up more detailed moves
– As great as Anderson has been for the Crimson Tide, the one skill he still needs to add is that knack for knocking the ball out of the hands of the quarterback, as he has totaled just one forced fumble through his first two seasons
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First and foremost, I don’t look at Anderson as a generational type of prospect, since that’s a term that gets overused anyway. That doesn’t mean he’s not great. He’s still top-three on the my board and should in no way make it out of the first five packs. I just don’t look at his as this crazy freak athlete. Still, the burst and quicks off the ball, the leverage he plays in the run game, how good he already is with his hands and his effort are all top-tier. To me he’s a true 3-4 outside linebacker with room to take on more duties in zone coverage and has room to become a more diverse pass-rusher. He may not become a perennial All-Pro, but he will be a strong run defender day one and should deliver double-digit sacks in more years five of his rookie contract than not. Unless you’re desperate for a quarterback, I just don’t believe there’s a way you’ll regret picking him anywhere. He can be the face and leader of your defense for the next decade.
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2. Tyree Wilson, Texas Tech

6’6”, 275 pounds; RS SR
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A top-500 overall recruit in 2018 for Texas A&M, Wilson was a small part of the rotation with the Aggies for two years (22 tackles, 4.5 for loss, three sacks), before transferring in-state to the Big 12. In his first season as a full-time starter with the Red Raiders, he recorded seven sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss (2021). This past season he was a second-team All-American, thanks to 61(!) tackles, 14 for loss, seven sacks, a fumble forced and recovered each.
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+ This guy has an insane combination of length (35 and 5/8-inch arms) and power, with the want to just blow into people in front of him
+ Largely played the 5-technique in three-man fronts for TTU, along with moving out over the tight-end or sliding inside depending on the side, which didn’t necessarily lend itself to major production
+ You routinely see him drive offensive linemen backwards near the point of attack or squeeze them into the action from the backside
+ When he’s actually lined up on the outside-shoulder of tackles and presses off with that inside arm to set the edge, it’s beautiful
+ Takes tight-end assigned with blocking him as a personal vendetta, literally pan-caking some guys who try to seal him away from the action
+ Even on combo-blocks, if he attacks the chest of the guy across from him, he manages to not open up legit lanes inside of him
+ You combine that with his explosiveness in short areas and he can crash through the reach of blockers on slants, to be disruptive and get initial contact on the back
+ The fact he only registered 38 total tackles in ’21 is laughable, considering how many stops he forced, by just riding somebody into the ball-carrier and made that guy stop his feet behind the line of scrimmage – Last year that number expectedly jumped up to 61, despite only playing ten games
+ Watching last year’s game against TCU, he was single-handedly destroying run schemes and actually knock a likely top-50 pick at guard in Steve Avila back at contact on a kick-out block, in order to get the TFL
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+ When Wilson sells out for the bull-rush, he can ride tackles or guards back into the quarterback’s lap in devastating fashion, especially from tilted alignments
+ You see him lift up large men and then show the quick burst to get around those guys before they can get those foot back on the ground – He straight-up trucked the Houston left tackle in 2021
+ However, what’s most impressive about him rushing the passer is his uncanny ability to re-gain his balance, even when caught in odd positions and seemingly about to fall to the turf
+ He can win around the corner with a downward chop and flatten better than many speed-based outside rushers
+ Plus, he’s so damn long that you constantly see him be able to swipe away the reach of blockers
+ For a 275-pound man, his ability to add a little shake and jump inside of tackles when rushing from wider alignments is pretty freaky
+ Truly has the versatility to rush basically anywhere from a zero- to a wide-nine technique – Frequently was reduced inside over guards on passing downs, where he displayed his incredible balance to somehow stay on his feet as he’s getting banged around
+ The Red Raiders also used him on some delayed stunts up the A-gap, where his closing burst to the QB really popped, Yet he will also gladly do the dirty work and launch himself into interior guys and enable somebody else to come free
+ Recorded a career-best 50 pressures on just 261 pass-rushing snaps, with a 22.3% pass-rush win rate
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– His block-recognition is very basic and you regularly see him just bang into bodies (Once I even saw him almost follow a tight-end on a drag route, since that’s who he initially put his hands on, even though that clearly wasn’t his responsibility)
– In particular, recognizing angular blocks and anchoring against them is something he needs to learn, in order to not make the job on the second level harder
– Other than slicing through one shoulder of his man or going for the straight-up bull-rush, there’s not much of a pass-rush plan to speak of
– Simply has to do a better job of attacking one half of the blocker when he isn’t tasked with some kind of slant/stunt
– And while it helps him fight off blocks, he doesn’t utilize his length pro-actively to avoid having hands land inside his chest
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I’m kind of glad that Wilson didn’t participate in the combine events, because I didn’t want to seem like a prisoner of the moment and pump him potentially the first defensive player of the board, in the way it happened with eventual top draft pick Travon Walker going to Jacksonville last year. I was much more in with him coming out of the summer, considering he was in so much more productive and I felt his impact much more regularly, despite playing a similar role as Walker did at Georgia. The violence he plays the game with combined with the alien-like physical skill-set is just crazy to watch. His ability to recognize plays, the hand-placement and how he sets up his rush-moves all need work, but you can’t teach what he brings to the table and I already saw him beat up offensive lineman I know will play for NFL teams, even if you think the Big-12 competition isn’t up-to-par. I’d have no problem with him being drafted from number five onwards. My only question is why it hasn’t totally clicked for him yet as a fifth-year senior.
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3. Myles Murphy, Clemson

6’5”, 270 pounds; JR
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The number one defensive end and a top-10 overall recruit in 2020, Murphy recorded 12 sacks, 25 tackles for loss and five forced fumbles through his first two years with the Tigers. This past season, he was basically right on par with his sophomore numbers (11 TFLs, 6.5 sacks, two passes batted down and 1 FF), but was recognized as first-team All-ACC for it, after being second-team the year prior.
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+ Such a physical, disciplined run defender, who can re-set the line of scrimmage against drive blocks from tackles
+ You see him sort of shock blockers at contact with the force in his hands, especially at the point of attack
+ Attaches to the hip of the tackle blocking away from him on like wide zone runs and flatten once he sees an opportunity to run down the ball-carrier
+ Refuses to be sealed on the backside by tight-ends, crashing hrough that C-gap and chases after the ball, or even if by alignment he can’t quite gain that inside lane, at least rides those guys down the line and at times into the lap of RBs looking to cut back
+ Happily throws his body around and creates traffic, crashing into pulling linemen, slipping blocks and starting piles, to where the ball-carrier has to stop and redirect
+ Can just jolt up tight-ends/H-backs sifting across the formation
+ Realizes when there are opportunities to work across the tackle’s face and create an angle towards the ball
+ When nobody puts a hand on Murphy early on, his short-area explosion to attack down the line and create traffic in the backfield, as offenses try to read out something and/or have a player coming across the formation, pops off the screen
+ Displays great awareness for screen passes and routinely chases down the designated target
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+ Heavily asked to read-and-react, rather than being allowed to shoot upfield, Yet even when his approach didn’t lend itself to getting home to the QB, Murphy consistently condensed the pocket off the edge and took away space to move around back there
+ When he was able to just attack from these wider, at times tilted alignments and explode off the snap, his get-off and ability to put tackles on skates when they had to overcommit to his speed was eye-opening
+ Has a nasty long-arm to punish blockers trying to give him ground and sit back on him
+ Plus, once he feels those guys lean into him, he can quickly swat their hands away and corner around, or take the inside path if he initially connects with the inside pec of the tackle
+ Displays a strong push-pull maneuver to open up a path for himself to get to the quarterback, along with the flexibility to come through cleanly – He did so when reduced inside on passing downs as well
+ Quick to crash through the inside shoulder with the rip if tackles overset him or if he feels them lose balance/the inside foot is lifted off the ground
+ Continues to work as a pass-rusher and eventually finds a way to get through – Has an impressive secondary burst when he seems to get into stalemates momentarily and then swats away the hands of the blocker
+ His closing burst when used as a looper across multiple gaps and that ability to curve his path towards the QB are pretty scary
+ On 687 pass-rushing snaps these last two years, along with the 14.5 sacks, Murphy had another 61 other pressures
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– Overall I’d like to see Murphy be more pro-active with defeating the hands of blockers initially and taking control of snaps himself, where his freakishly small 8 and ½-inch hands may come into play
– There’s definitely room for improvement in terms of bringing his hips through contact, locking out and keeping his head up, to track the ball-carrier
– Doesn’t quite have the speed to win cleanly around the corner with third and fourth step, or hit ghost moves to great effect
– Allows athletic tackles to land punches inside his chest too regularly and force stymie his rush – Notre Dame sophomore Joe Alt was able to negate him pretty well
– His high-end reps are freaky, but they’re too few and far between
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Looking at the Clemson defense as a whole, I feel like everybody’s 2021 tape was significantly better than what they put out there this past season, when they switched away from DC Brent Venables – and that’s especially true for Murphy. You still saw the talent flash and some plays that make you think he can be a top-ten pick, but you’d like to see more consistency from a three-year player. There are definitely some technical things that he needs to really work and he won’t be putting up big sack numbers with clean wins early on. Nevertheless, the explosion off the ball, the force he can unleash on blockers and how he keeps working, there’s a lot of upside. If Murphy learns how to maximize his power and then can work off that, if he takes of reps early on, he can be a problem to deal with off the edge.
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4. Lukas Van Ness, Iowa

6’5”, 265 pounds; RS SO
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Just outside the top-1000 overall recruits in 2020, Van Ness redshirted his first year at Iowa, before taking over as an instant impact player for the Hawkeyes over the following two seasons, racking up 19 sacks and 15 tackles for loss- Last season he was recognized as second-team All-Big Ten for his efforts and his name has been rising throughout the pre-draft process.
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+ Has great length and moves freakishly well for his size, with a six-pack around 275 pounds
+ This kid plays like a bulldog foaming at the move, with that antsy ankle twitch as he’s waiting for the ball to be snapped
+ Regularly lands his hands inside the chest of the tackle on run-downs and locks out, to keep them right there at the spot and not allow movement on drive blocks
+ Whilst tussling with blockers, you see him squeeze down lanes and somehow find his way to the ball
+ Once he’s taken care of his original assignment, he can then rip through or yank them to the side to get in on the action
+ There are snaps on tape, where Van Ness is lined up in the A-gap and holds a combo between the center and the guard coming in on angle right there in place, dropping the backside knee and anchoring like a 300+ pounder
+ You see him slip through when combo-blocked by the tackle and tight-end on multiple occasions
+ Constantly chases after the ball, even when it gets outside the numbers and gets involved on some tackles 10+ yards downfield
+ Was regularly lined up inside on passing downs but also at times in short-yardage, because of his explosiveness off the ball allowing him to challenge guys up the field and then the quick-twitch he has to get around them – Iowa put him in the A-gap late against Michigan whilst being down by two touchdowns for example, because of the havoc he could create penetrating into the backfield
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+ Van Ness’ natural power frequently challenges tackles in their pass-sets when he digs into the frame and makes them walk backwards
+ When he comes up out of four-point stances especially, how low he initiates contact and can roll his hips to create that momentum is pretty nuts
+ You see him run the loop at times whilst long-arming the tackle and basically circling around them, without being taken off track at all
+ Has some eye-opening reps, where he converts speed to power and puts tackles on skates if not place them on their butts on his way to the quarterback
+ Off that, by riding guys past the QB, he can open up a direct path for himself, as well as give a little stutter-step and knife inside of blockers to great effect
+ The natural force this guy presents makes him a great asset as a set-up man on different twists and games up front
+ Regularly fights off blocks late and has the secondary burst to run down scrambling quarterbacks
+ His ability to take a couple of steps, plant hard off the outside foot and falling off into the hook zones is pretty darn impressive
+ Recorded 46 total pressures across 271 pass-rush snaps as a second-year player, working against a pretty strong slate of tackles in the Big Ten
+ At the combine, he ran a 4.58 in the 40 at 272 pounds and finished second among edge defenders in the three-cone (7.02) and short-shuttle (4.32)
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– Looks like a big kid out there too often, where he ends up on the turf – Needs to play with his eyes more so
– Van Ness is a very good run-defender because of his ability to own his space, but he’s not actively reading and countering the first steps of blockers
– Has to do a better job of rushing half the man and timing up his hand-swipes for some clean wins around the edge
– His pass-rush arsenal is super narrow right now and he starts so many reps by just going all-out for the two-hand bullrush instead of setting up stuff throughout games
– Played 50+ snap in just one career game and we’ll need to see if he can bring it quite the same way with a larger workload
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For anybody familiar with how the Iowa program hands out playing time, understanding that seniors are awarded starts, the fact that Van Ness never was part of the eleven out there for the first snap isn’t an issue, since he did play the most altogether and was clearly the “dude” up front. The natural leverage he plays with and the power he can unleash on blockers is rare. Now, he’s far from a finished product, lacking any finesse or planning to his rushes, while having room to improve in terms of pro-actively responding to run concepts. If he learns to attack half the man more regularly, the production will come at the next level. I also believe he has the body to put on 20 pounds or so and become a very effective base D-end in a 3-4 system, with alignment versatility on obvious passing downs.
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5. B.J. Ojulari, LSU

6’3”, 245 pounds; JR
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A top-100 overall recruit in 2020, the brother of now-Giant outside linebacker Azeez Ojulari flashed as a true freshman, before really jumping onto the scene in year two, recording 54 tackles, 12 for loss and seven sacks. Even though B.J.’s numbers were slightly down last year (8.5 TFLs and 5.5 sacks), the SEC recognized him as first-team all-conference, in part because he also had a fumble forced and recovered each.
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+ Saw a similarly diverse usage as another comparable player profile in Jaguars first-round pick K’Lavon Chaisson did at LSU
+ Brings tremendously long arms at 34 and ¼ inches, to keep blockers away from his frame
+ Has clearly worked on his balance/sturdiness to not get blown out of his space against combos with the tight-end and just being caught in traffic
+ I like his leverage coming out of a three-point stance and you rarely see tight-ends create vertical push against him
+ Can take that one step underneath tackles who set too wide on him on outside zone and similar concepts and follow through with those lanky limbs, to flash in the B-gap
+ Tightly attaches to the hip of the tackle zone-blocking away from him whilst keeping his shoulders square to redirect if necessary, as well as potentially slipping the TE sifting across the formation
+ Packs a sudden dip of the outside shoulder to slip pullers who try to kick him out, in order to create traffic in the backfield
+ Displays the agility to shuffle with the mesh point on zone read plays and then quick burst to corral the quarterback pulling the ball
+ Realizes when facing play-action, so he can quickly swat away the hands of the tackle and dip underneath
+ Was frequently dropped out into the flats or hooks, where he displays active eyes and sees crossers coming his way, At times he also matched RBs coming out of the backfield and
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+ The most technically advanced pass-rusher in this class, with pretty much all the clubs in his bag and the mindfulness to find what fits and how to stack them moves on top of each other
+ Takes those long strides up the arc and really bend low to the ground, to give a small area to strike at for tackles
+ Packs a wicked ghost move, where he can really drop his shoulders and slip underneath the reach of tackles, at times also as a follow-up move to actually win the corner, as blockers are about to get him past the point he can flatten
+ Yet while he can threaten with his speed, he understands how to pace his rushes accordingly
+ Has some legit wiggle, combined with the length to create issues for tackles by being able to go either way
+ Last season he was able to string together stutters, jab-steps, cross-overs and more together, to keep the guy across from him guessing
+ When he uses the long-arm, barely anybody can beat his reach, plus the he’s so quick to get to his second hand-combat
+ A few times you see him stab at the inside shoulder of tackles and follow through with the outside arm to open up a path for him up the B-gap or win cleanly on up-and-unders
+ Looks more like a wide receiver when he plants off the outside foot on stunts and loops across the formation, where he’ll flash up the QB’s face in a hurry
+ Racked up 103 combined pressures over his past two seasons (701 pass-rushing snaps) with the Tigers, according to PFF
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– Lacks the frame to really set the tone and own his space at the point of attack against drive blocks in the run game, too often offering space by going around his man when facing powerful run blockers
– Away from the action, he gets too close to his blocker and loses vision of the backfield at times, allowing runners to cut all the way back and defeat contain that way
– Once blockers are able to get a tight grip on him, Ojulari doesn’t have the violent hands to knock the arms away and disengage
– Does show a promising long-arm, but is still learning how to effectively convert speed to power, lacking that thump at contact to really make an impact
– You see him get guided past the quarterback or his rush stall when he takes a more direct angle, as tackles are able to cut off his path
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Ojulari a bendy, undersized pass-rusher in his brother Azeez of, who has that lanky kind of build but has learned to play above his weight-class. The one thing I worry about – he’s a 3-4 outside linebacker only and if you make him this hybrid defender, with no defined role early on – like similar players have been treated in the past – that may hold up his development. Either way, he should be an effective designated pass-rusher right away, because of how far advanced he already is at setting up and executing a variety of moves in effective fashion. He may never be dominant at the point of attack in the run game, but he’s gotten a lot better at defending his space and can create negative plays in that regard. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Ojulari turned into the second-most productive edge rusher from this draft. And he should absolutely be a first-round pick.
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6. Nolan Smith, Georgia

6’3”, 235 pounds; SR
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The number one overall recruit in the 2019 class, ahead of even Kayvon Thibodeaux, Smith was a rotational player over his first two seasons with the Bulldogs, recording 39 tackles total and 2.5 sacks in each of them, before taking over a starting spot in ’21 for that dominant Georgia defense. He racked up 53 total tackles, eight of those for loss, 4.5 sacks, three forced fumbles and an interception. A torn pec limited Smith to just eight games this past season, yet he still recorded seven TFLs and three sacks across those, and helped set up his team for winning back-to-back national championships.
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+ Plays the game with a team-first mindset, an incredible level of toughness and the admiration of all his teammates
+ Displays great speed out of his stance, to where at times when he’s left unblocked on the backside of RPOs and quarterbacks try to throw the backside bubble alert, he can almost bat down the pass
+ Maximizes his length and transitions his weight into blocks, when trying to set the edge
+ Very good ab grabbing cloth and pulling guys off himself after fitting his hands initially
+ Can toss TEs to the outside and step right into the C-gap to wrap up ball-carriers on off-tackle runs
+ Georgia put an extra defender outside of Smith at times, where he was in like a 7-/8-alignment, yet was able to point the inside foot horizontally and slant across the tackle’s face almost cleanly, to track down the back running the other way, covering an insane amount of grass in a couple of steps
+ Doesn’t shy away from taking the direct angle and crashing into pulling guards, who have nearly 100 pounds of weight on him at times, where it can actually be those guys taking the worse of the collision
+ Such a hyper-active player overall, who tries to find ways to affect plays and being involved on 53 total tackles in 2021 across 499 snaps is indicative of that – His effort and speed in pursuit are excellent
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+ Has elite acceleration off the ball with great snap anticipation in designated passing situations
+ Packs a nice two-handed side-swipe, to defeat the hands of tackles and flatten towards the quarterback
+ Has shown he can win inside and out, at times tilting his rush on purpose, to give himself that two-way go, plus then he can hit those sudden shoulder dips to reduce the surface area for blockers
+ The same thing I mentioned with slants towards the B-gap, how much ground he covers laterally with that one step to slice inside on up-and-unders really stands out at times
+ Shows the quick change-of-direction to get back to his contain responsibility, after initially trying to find a path inside as a rusher
+ Displays that reactionary suddenness to take the B-gap when he realizes it’s open, at times when the O-line is busy with selling the run-fake
+ While the sample size was obviously a lot smaller for Smith, his 18.6% pressure-per-rush was actually the best of his career (19 on 102 pass-rush snaps) and PFF awarded him with a pass-rush win rate of 25.5%
+ Shows good patience as a zone-dropper and seems to understand where his eyes should be, and has a couple of snaps where he carries the tight-end towards the safety
+ Put up the second-fastest 40 time among edge defenders in combine history (4.39), with an insane 1.52 ten-yard split
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– His size measurables are all in the bottom-17th percentile, playing at a slender 235 pounds (especially at the core and hips), with arms below 33 inches and just nine-inch hands
– Could still do a better job of getting his base pointed towards where the ball is coming from and shifting his weight into the blocker
– Too narrow in his two-point stances and necessitates a slight step backwards when trying to get off the ball
– Lacks a little bit of that power element, to take advantage of tackles getting tall and onto their heels, by converting his speed into force
– Overall his pass-rush toolbox could still expand, heavily relying on his speed to win around the edge and not showing reliable counters off it
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This is one of the best pure football players in this entire draft. When you come to Georgia, you’re not going to blow away people with insane sack production, because you rarely are allowed to just line up wide and attack up the field. I don’t believe he’s going to be a legit alpha pass-rusher, but he’ll give you everything he has throwing his body around in traffic, he’ll make some key plays when peeled off in coverage and he’s going to be a leader for your defense vocally as well as by example. I’m interested to see if he can become more impactful when he does transition to power, because going forward and laterally, he can certainly stress tackles, but it’s that threat of being able to go through those guys that he hasn’t really shown yet.
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7. Keion White, Georgia Tech

6’4”, 280 pounds; RS SR
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Just a two-star recruit at tight-end for Old Dominion back in 2017, White spent year on the offensive side of the ball before converting to the defensive line. In his one season at D-end with the Monarchs, he put up 62 total tackles, 19 of those for loss, 3.5 sacks and ones across the board for INT, fumbles forced and recovered. He nearly lost two full seasons after that, due to COVID cancelling ODU’s year and then after transferring to Georgia Tech, he missed the first eight of 12 games in 2021 with an offseason injury. In ’22 he put up 54 tackles, 14 for loss and a career-best 7.5 sacks.
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+ Even without having seen White at full health for two years, Bruce Feldman put White at number 20 of his “Freaks List”, with 21 MPH of GPS-tracked time, along with some other impressive testing numbers
+ Would be a freakish mover for a true edge, but has the natural strength and plenty of experience lining up inside
+ With nearly 34-inch arms, he has the length and power to lock out and keep vision through blockers in the run game, plus then he has the ankle flexibility to circle around the guy in front of him, when he has a chance to get a hand on the ball-carrier
+ You see White get banged from the side by the angular man of combo blocks and somehow maintain his balance, to not get uprooted from his area
+ He has some plays against the run, where he can penetrate and just blown things up blindly, as well as completely cave in the backside when guys just try to seal him off
+ Georgia Tech would slant him across the tackle’s face and he would be able to track down the ball-carrier going away from him on wide zone at times
+ Not somebody you can expect to create movement against on kick-out or sift blocks, at best ending in stalemates and mostly he slips off those
+ You see White pull blockers off himself late and get involved on tackles frequently
+ Features some ridiculous change-of-direction, which shows up against bootlegs, reverses, etc.
+ If you leave him unblocked as the read-man on invert veer for example, with how quickly White can blow up the mesh point, there are times where neither option is able to really accelerate once they commit to having the ball
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+ When he can rush from wide alignment and has that runway off the ball, you can see the acceleration he has up the arc
+ Offers impressive flexibility in his lower half, to drop his knees and ankles, in order to corner his rushes, plus even when he starts to stumble at times, he can continue on that arc
+ It’s pretty crazy at times when White is long-arming a tackle and it seems he’s about to go past the QB, but somehow he’s able to circle back around with his feet way outside of his frame and he finds a way to get there
+ Flashes a rapid spin move to free himself off contact late, at times after bouncing around bodies
+ Delivers significant knock-back when banging into linemen who try to give him ground and you see some flashes, when he does convert speed-power-power that really pop off the screen
+ When you cut down the length White has to cover, slanting into the A-gap, he can blow through one shoulder of the guard or center and create pressure right up the QB’s face in a hurry
+ White’s skill-set can be used to set up front game, where he can crash across gaps on stunts, where he pulls bodies with him and frees the lane for a guy from the other side or the second level to loop around
+ Recorded 30 hurries and four more QB hits along with his 7.5 sacks last season across 276 pass-rushing snaps
+ The Yellowjackets peeled him off the edge as a hook or flat dropper every once in a while, even though he doesn’t seem super comfortable with it right now, just because he didn’t really do it at Old Dominion
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– At this point certainly lacks an awareness for run schemes and needs to learn countering the first steps of the O-line
– Too often you see blockers be able to get the outside foot around him and seal him on outside zone or reach-block on perimeter-oriented plays, as well as him trying to jump inside and allowing opportunities to get out to the edge
– Has to work on his hand-placement when trying to free himself of the reach of blockers and dictate rushes
– Doesn’t currently rush with a legit plan or sets up his moves accordingly, winning largely based on his natural talent and not threatening blockers laterally
– Will already turn 25 right around the end of the 2023 NFL regular season and it has yet to really click for him
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You just don’t see many 280+ pound humans move at the pace White can. The size-speed-power combination is off the charts and some flashes of that natural talent are blinding. Unfortunately, considering he’s currently projected to potentially go late in the first round to a contender, he may end up celebrating his 25th birthday as his team makes the playoffs and he’s still looked at as more of a project, who can’t be a major contributor at that stage. The ability to diagnose plays and pro-actively use his hands to take control display aren’t there yet. That doesn’t mean at all that he won’t get there one day – you just need to know what you’re investing into. The potential is right up there with anybody outside the top-three for me at least and I think he actually be best suited playing head-up or inside the tackle on early downs, where he can doesn’t have to worry about as much going on around him, in favor of just crashing into blockers and create problems.
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8. Will McDonald IV, Iowa State

6’4”, 240 pounds; RS SR
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The rest of the analysis can be found here!

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9. Felix Anudike-Uzomah, Kansas State

6’3”, 255 pounds; JR
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10. Tuli Tuipulotu, USC

6’4”, 275 pounds; JR
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Just missed the cut:

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Derick Hall, Auburn

6’3”, 250 pounds; SR
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Isaiah Foskey, Notre Dame

6’5”, 265 pounds; SR
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Nick Herbig, Wisconsin

6’2”, 235 pounds; JR
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The next few names:

K.J. Henry (Clemson), Byron Young (Tennessee), Andre Carter II (Army), Isaiah McGuire (Missouri), Nick Hampton (Appalachian State), Yaya Diaby (Louisville), Zach Harrison (Ohio State), Jose Ramirez (Eastern Michigan) & Dylan Horton (TCU)
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If you enjoyed this breakdown, please consider checking out the original piece and feel free to check out all my other video content here!
Twitter: @ halilsfbtalk Instagram: @ halilsrealfootballtalk

90MPH warnings in Cook County Chicago.

Today the trof is more negatively tilted, kicking it out earlier than April 3 74. Should that shorten today's outbreak duration compared to 1974?
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