As the combine progresses, it’s easy to find information about who ran the fastest 40 or had the highest vertical jump.
Just as important but less publicized is the on-field drills. NFL scouts already know who’s fast from watching tape, and while the athletic measurables can certainly open some eyes, most scouts really want to see how well players go through drills, how well they interview, and how the approach the game.
We’re looking through some of the top performers from drills at the 2022 NFL combine. This post will be updated after each of the four days, starting Thursday March 3rd.
Again, this does not consider results from athletic testing such as the 40 yard dash.
Last Updated: 3/6/2022 6:30pm
Day 1 – Top Performers in Drills
Tight Ends
All Participants: Austin Allen, Chase Allen, Daniel Bellinger, Grant Calcattera, Greg Dulcich, Jake Ferguson, Jeremiah Hall, Peyton Hendershot, Connor Heyward, Curtis Hodges, Charlie Kolar, Isaiah Likely, Trey McBride, Chig Okonkwo, Teagan Quitoriano, Cole Turner, Jelani Woods, Jalen Wydermyer
Did Not Participate: James Mitchell, Cade Otton, Jeremy Ruckert
Top Performers: Isaiah Likely, Trey McBride, Daniel Bellinger, Greg Dulcich, Jelani Woods
Disappointed me*: Teagan Quitoriano, Charlie Kolar, Cole Turner
*Note that “disappointed me” does not necessarily mean the worst of the day, just people who didn’t meet expectations in my eyes
Trey McBride and Isaiah Likely stole the show for me. The pair went back-to-back in drills, and looked incredible smooth as route runners and receivers. Isaiah Likely clearly had more burst and a fast first step out of the slot, but McBride absolutely dominated his sled block rep. Every route they ran was done at a very high level. Both of them earned nothing but gold stars during the drills.
Bellinger quietly had a good performance. After a fast showing in the 40, he looked great as a blocker and much better than I expected as a receiver. He caught everything thrown his way with easy hands and looked natural in the gauntlet drill.
Dulcich was really talked up by the NFL Network broadcast, and while I don’t think he looked like TE1, he had a good day. Like Likely, he’s very smooth as a route runner and has no issues as a receiver. His blocking still needs work, but he was far from the worst among the tight end group as a blocker. He showed a strong frame and put on a clinic in the gauntlet.
Last among top performers is Jelani Woods. He did a good job tracking the ball over his shoulder and maintaining full speed on his deep routes. He did a surprisingly good job with the sled block considering his size, and looked like a very versatile option.
For the disappointments, I’ll start with Charlie Kolar. I don’t think Kolar had a bad performance, but I viewed him as a potential top-5 tight end and he did nothing to solidify that. He never made any key mistakes, blocking well and making his catches. He didn’t show much explosion or enough finesse in his route running to separate himself.
Teagan Quitoriano was someone I was interested to see entering the day, as I had watched less film of him than most of the other prospects in this group. He had multiple drops on routine plays, and had a very basic approach to his route running.
Cole Turner meanwhile looked very stiff, and got completely embarrassed trying to push the sled. He was never thought of as a great blocker, but allowed himself to get way too upright. He was very slow on his curl route which ended in a drop, and didn’t do many other things to turn heads in a positive way.
Wide Receivers
Note: Some receivers participants in some on-field drills but not all.
All Participants: Calvin Austin III, Kevin Austin, David Bell, Slade Bolden, Treylon Burks, Dai’Jean Dixon, Jahan Dotson, Dontario Drummond, Erik Ezukanma, Ty Fryfogle, Johnny Johnson III, Velus Jones, Bo Melton, Skyy Moore, Jalen Nailor, Chris Olave, Kyle Philips, Alec Pierce, Makai Polk, Charleston Rambo, Reggie Roberson Jr., Wan’Dale Robinson, Braylon Sanders, Khalil Shakir, Jalen Tolbert, Tre Turner, Christian Watson, Garrett Wilson, Michael Woods
Did Not Participate: Romeo Doubs, Danny Gray, Josh Johnson, Drake London, John Metchie, George Pickens, Justyn Ross, Tyquan Thornton, Isaiah Weston, Devon Williams, Jameson Williams
Top Performers: Skyy Moore, Chris Olave, Jahan Dotson, Bo Melton
Disappointed me: Justyn Ross, Charleston Rambo, Tre Turner
Skyy Moore was one of the biggest winners from the combine, and it wasn’t just about his fast 40 time. Moore looked like a natural deep ball tracker, ran crisp routes, and attacked the ball. He made a great late hands catch in a slant route, and looked smooth on his go routes.
Chris Olave was the definition of a smooth athlete, with advanced route running compared to most of the class. He had clean hands and no drops throughout the day. Like Moore, he did a great job of tracking deep balls and always seemed to pace his routes perfectly.
Dotson didn’t run quite as fast as he wanted in the 40, but he showed off his great hands and body control. Despite dropping one in the gauntlet drill, the rest of his day was as clean as could be.
Bo Melton looked really good on his routes, and made a few impressive hands catches that earned gold stars from me. He exceled early on the gauntlet, slant, and post corner. His speed showed as he accelerated into his catches.
For disappointments, Justyn Ross’ decision to not run the 40 or participate in drills (despite being healthy) infuriates me. With the record-setting times put up by the receiver group, his draft stock fell dramatically without even playing. It makes me question his competitive fire and confidence in his abilities when he refuses to showcase how he matches up against other top receivers.
I liked Charleston Rambo early in his career, but man he looked really bad tonight. It may not have been entirely his fault, but he received my most negative notes of the night from any position group. His first gauntlet was so bad that I gave my only F gauntlet grade, paired with a note of “uhhhh what”. His second gauntlet drill I didn’t even bother, I just typed “??????”. He dropped so many passes and did the drill so incorrectly that the QBs stopped throwing the ball. He did fine on his out routes, but some of his other performances weren’t much better. He had a drop and bad route on a go route, and earned a “what are you doing” note on his final fade route.
Tre Turner didn’t earn any of the negative notes that Rambo did, but just had a very uninspiring day. He looked slower than I expected in his routes, didn’t seem as confident as others in his hands, and was pretty stiff on his post and slant routes.
Quarterbacks
All Participants: Jack Coan, Dustin Crum, Kaleb Eleby, Sam Howell, Cole Kelley, D’Eriq King, EJ Perry, Kenny Pickett, Brock Purdy, Desmond Ridder, Carson Strong, Skylar Thompson, Malik Willis, Bailey Zappe
Did Not Participate: Matt Corral
Top Performers: Cole Kelley, Malik Willis
Disappointed me: Carson Strong
I’ll start with this: It is hard for a QB to look great at the combine. One throw you’re throwing to a 4.35 speed receiver, then you try to adjust but instantly get hit with a 4.60 receiver. Timing is everything for a QB, and it’s hard to come by. As a result, none of the quarterbacks looked particularly great, and none looked too horrible.
Cole Kelley was one of my sleepers heading into the combine, and he delivered with fairly consistent placement and great arm strength. Since he’s not one of the big names he didn’t get as much mention, but he was as consistent as anyone.
Malik Willis showed off his massive arm, and got the eyes of scouts more than anyone. In all honesty, he didn’t look phenomenal, but he looked like Malik Willis. There were no running drills for QBs, so it was all throwing from the pocket. As you’d expect, he’d make one really poor throw but follow it up with a textbook throw. When you’re drafting based on potential though, you noticed great arm strength, a natural throwing motion, and a tight spiral every time.
Carson Strong looked just a hair worse than the other highly ranked QBs in my mind. His slant routes were very poor, he looked cautious on a few of his deep balls with some underthrows, and struggled with placement on his deep-in throws and curl routes.
Day 2 – Top Performers in Drills
Offensive Linemen
All Participants: Blaise Andries, Logan Bruss, Spencer Burford, Ja’Tyre Carter, Charles Cross, Myron Cunningham, Dawson Deaton, Austin Deculus, Kellen Diesch, William Dunkle, Ikem Ekwonu, Obinna Eze, Joshua Ezeudu, Luke Fortner, Kenyon Green, Marquis Hayes, Chasen Hines, Ed Ingram, Zion Johnson, Braxton Jones, Cam Jurgens, Darian Kinnard, Alec Lindstrom, Vederian Lowe, Abraham Lucas, Cade Mays, Marcus McKethan, Max Mitchell, Thayer Munford, Dylan Parham, Chris Paul, Trevor Penning, Nicholas Petit-Frere, Bernhard Raimann, Sean Rhyan, Tyrese Robinson, Justin Shaffer, Lecitus Smith, Tyler Smith, Cole Strange, Andrew Stueber, Luke Tenuta, Zach Thomas, Zach Tom, Cordell Volson, Matt Waletzko, Luke Wattenberg, Dohnovan West, Nick Zakelj
Did Not Participate: Ben Brown, Daniel Faalele, Luke Goedeke, Tyler Linderbaum, Dare Rosenthal, Andrew Rupcich, Jamaree Salyer, Rasheed Walker
Top Performers: Zion Johnson, Zach Tom, Spencer Burford, Ikem Ekwonu, Trevor Penning, Bernard Raimann, Ed Ingram
Disappointed me: Kenyon Green, William Dunkle, Darian Kinnard, Thayer Munford, Evan Neal, Tyrese Robinson, Andrew Stueber
There were 58 offensive linemen in attendance, and most of them went through drills. As a result, I picked quite a few top performers.
Zion Johnson was my absolute favorite of the day. He picked up right where he left off from the Senior Bowl, putting on a clinic in just about every rep. He’s got a powerful yet lean frame, but is extremely light on his feet. He maintained optimal balance, showed his strong hands, and had a great rep in the long pull with his powerful lower body.
Outside of the guys you expected to excel, Zach Tom definitely had the best day. His speed in drills was remarkable, with great performances in his down + pull block, kick slide, and showed great getoff on his redirect drills. Tom is expected to move inside at the next level, but didn’t snap the ball to begin his reps like other centers.
Spencer Burford is another guy who impressed me more than I expected. He looked great in the opening wave drill, put on a clinic of a performance in the kick slide, and showed overall fast feet throughout the drills. Again there’s a question of what position he plays at the next level, but the drills were a masterpiece.
Ikem Ekwonu is someone we knew would perform well, and he didn’t disappoint. For someone of his size and overall build, he showed very quick feet and proper balance. His punch and pass redirect was phenomenal, and you could use his short pull rep as part of a teach tape. We don’t get to see you hit any much at the combine, but Ickey looked good even without that.
Speaking of hitting, Trevor Penning also looked incredibly athletic. This is a 6’7″ 325 pound tackle from the FCS, but he looked as impressive as anyone in terms of his size-athleticism combination. He showed good knee bend for a big guy, along with great acceleration on his screen release and short pull.
Everyone knew Raimann was going to look fluid out there, and the converted tight end did just that. He had a phenomenal start in the wave drill and long pull, and looked genuinely scary in the short pull. If I was a linebacker, I wouldn’t want that guy running at me. His mirror dodge saw some good knee bend, and his body control is near the top of the class.
Last for the positives was Ed Ingram. The LSU guard showed great hip flexibility, fast feet, and kept his feet under him. His balance was ideal and he showed power on his punches.
Now for the negatives. On film, Kenyon Green shows everything you want. In drills, he was one of the worst players. Despite a fluid performance in the wave drill, he showed tighter hips than expected, and really messed up in the kick slide before slipping. His hand use didn’t even look great on his punches. All in all there weren’t in major positives, and a few negatives for Green.
William Dunkle didn’t look good, but to be fair the combine isn’t really set up for a guy like him. Dunkle is slow but a mauler, and you don’t get many chances to hit in the combine nowadays. Dunkle’s hips were very tight, he didn’t bend well, and he didn’t change directions fast in the wave or mirror dodge.
Darian Kinnard didn’t look particularly great on any drill. He’s bigger than some of the other linemen which is part of the reason, but he had a choppy performance in the wave drill, slow turns in his pulls, and didn’t seem to be playing at top speed compared to others.
Thayer Munford also seemed to be playing slow. Having run a slow 40 earlier in the day and not having an intimidating build, he needed to perform great to boost his draft stock. He wasn’t horrible by any means, but he didn’t look the part of a former All American. He didn’t cover much ground in the mirror dodge, and was slow in the long pull.
Tyrese Robinson really struggled to change direction, and didn’t cover hardly any ground in the mirror drill. He had a great kick slide, but a very slow get off in the down + pull drill, while looking surprisingly upright for a 6’3″ lineman.
Stueber looked solid at the Senior Bowl, but was very slow when changing direction, and looked really tight. Again, he’s a bigger guy and the drills weren’t really made for someone like him. But he wasn’t nearly as good as what I saw at the Senior Bowl.
Running Back
All Participants: Tyler Allgeier, Tyler Badie, Greg Bell, Kennedy Brooks, Leddie Brown, TY Chandler, Snoop Conner, James Cook, Jashaun Corbin, Tyrion Davis-Price, Jerrion Ealy, Jerome Ford, Tyler Goodson, Breece Hall, Keaontay Ingram, Zonovan Knight, Sincere McCormick, Isiah Pacheco, Dameon Pierce, Ronnie Rivers, Isaiah Spiller, Pierre Strong, Kenneth Walker III, Jaylen Warren, Rachaad White, Zamir White, Kyren Williams
Did Not Participate: Max Borghi, Trestan Ebner, Kevin Harris, Hassan Haskins, D’Vonte Price, Brian Robinson, Abram Smith, CJ Verdell, Zaquandre White
Top Performers: James Cook, Tyler Goodson, Ronnie Rivers, Pierre Strong, Kyren Williams
Disappointed me: Tyler Allgeier, Dameon Pierce, Rachaad White
At this point I’d like to remind everyone that 40 yard dash times have no impact on this list, only the on-field drills.
As a result, guys like Ronnie Rivers and Kyren Williams were able to make it.
Ronnie Rivers played a lot of football at Fresno State, and he was incredibly impressive catching the football. He showed an inept ability to accelerate into his catches which is hard to teach, and looked as natural of a receiver as any running back I’ve seen at the combine since McCaffrey. As for the three non-receiving drills, he looked excellent in each of those as well, putting on a clinic in the “Duce Staley drill”.
Kyren Williams had a very similar performance to Rivers. He looked very clean in the running back drills, accelerating into his cuts and looking as shifty as he did on tape. His hands and route running are smooth, and he showed great hands on the final wheel route.
Pierre Strong is someone I loved watching at South Dakota State, and I was very happy to see him have a good performance. He showed excellent agility in his early drills, and never dropped a pass as a receiver. His routes were crisp and he looked like one of the fastest players in the open field.
James Cook was getting heavily talked up by the NFL Network team, and while I don’t think he was the #1 RB out there tonight, he had a phenomenal showing in every drill. He’s a fluid athlete with good body control and natural hands.
Finally, Tyler Goodson is yet another smaller receiver who shined with all the receiving drills put on. He looked quick in his cuts, running a super clean agile drill and looking great on his option routes.
On the flip side, no running backs looked particularly bad in the field drills. All 3 guys I picked, I did so reluctantly.
Tyler Allgeier is someone I was excited to see coming in. The former linebacker is a powerful downhill runner, but didn’t look great in his route running. More importantly, his opening drills looked pretty stiff, with minimal separation created from his cuts.
Dameon Pierce had a couple of nice reps, especially on his quick out route, but he had multiple drops, slowed down into some of his cuts, and took a lazy approach to the wheel route. He wasn’t bad, but considering how much hype was surrounding him entering the event, he definitely disappointed a bit.
Rachaad White also had his ups and downs. He had an easy drop on his quick out route, a poor route later on, and took a slow approach into his cuts. For someone with a more upright build, his style of running wasn’t very impressive.
Day 3 – Top Performers in Drills
Defensive Line
All Participants: Nik Bonitto, Matthew Butler, Zach Carter, DJ Davidson, Jordan Davis, Neil Farrell, Jonathan Ford, Haskell Garrett, Logan Hall, Chris Hinton, Travis Jones, DeMarvin Leal, Phidarian Mathis, Marquan McCall, Otito Ogbonnia, Jayden Peevy, John Ridgeway, Eyioma Uwazurike, Devonte Wyatt, Amare Barno, Thomas Booker, Micheal Clemons, Arnold Ebiketie, Kingsley Enagbare, Jeffrey Gunter, Aidan Hutchinson, George Karlaftis, DeAngelo Malone, David Ojabo, Josh Paschal, Dominique Robinson, Myjai Sanders, Tyreke Smith, Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa, Cameron Thomas, Isaiah Thomas, Travon Walker, Sam Williams, Alex Wright
Did Not Participate: Kalia Davis, Noah Elliss, Jordan Jackson, Perrion Winfrey, Tyree Johnson, Jesse Luketa, Esezi Otomewo, LaBryan Ray, Kayvon Thibodeaux
Top Performers: Jordan Davis, Logan Hall, Devonte Wyatt, DeAngelo Malone, Travon Walker
Disappointed me: Jayden Peevy, Marquan McCall, Kingsley Enagbare, Myjai Sanders, Alex Wright
A lot of the guys who had good days in the 40 yard dash also had a good day of on-field drills, it’s always nice when that happens.
We’ll start with Jordan Davis. Even when you throw out that 40 yard dash time, he was so impressively light on his feet in drills. He had the most fluid hips of anyone I had seen close to his weight, and paired it with remarkable bend and a strong punch. He showed exactly what you wanted from the drills.
His teammate Devonte Wyatt was the same story. His tape translated directly into drills, with perfect bend and a great performance in the figure 8 drill. Despite guessing a bit on the wave drill and looking down during his footwork drill, he was insanely quick with better bend than some edge rushers.
How about his other teammate on the list, Travon Walker. With his total workout today, you could make an argument he should be in the conversation for #1. Walker was elite in the figure 8, and was surprisingly advanced in his open field coverage drills. He’s a natural mover who carries his 275 pound ridiculously well.
Logan Hall is a tweener who decided to work out with the interior guys, and it helped him look incredibly athletic. He looked exceptionally smooth and bendy in the wave drill, and changed direction well for someone of his size.
Last is DeAngelo Malone, who surprisingly didn’t run a 40. He wasn’t unanimously great throughout the drills, but got off to a great start in the wave drill with his foot quickness and balance, before looked great getting low and maintaining proper leverage in his edge drills.
On the flip side, I was probably most disappointed with the workout from Jayden Peevy. I didn’t feel great about any of his seven drills, with poor hand placement on his punches, a lack of bend, and an upright approach. His height seemed to be working against him in the drills.
Kingsley Enagbare also looked significantly more stiff than the other top edge rushers in the group, and seems to continue his fall on draft boards. He lost balance multiple times trying to turn the edge, and gained very little ground in his coverage drills with short steps.
Marquan McCall is totally different than these other guys, and part of the reason I was down on his workout is probably because his build is closer to Jordan Davis’ than anyone else. When you’re compared to Davis, the extremely tight hips and slow foot speed of McCall, a true nose tackle, is exposed. We knew these drills wouldn’t be great for him, but he didn’t bend his knees or change directions at an NFL level. Any sort of misdirection would probably take him out of the play.
Myjai Sanders was one of the most interesting stories of the draft, somehow weighing in under 230 pounds. When I saw that, I knew he had to dominate the 40 and field workouts, or it would be a major, major problem. He was the lightest edge rusher in combine history, and the lack of power was obvious when hitting the bags. Despite being light, he didn’t appear any faster than the other edge rushers which simply isn’t ok with the frame he came here with.
Finally, Alex Wright was someone I was really interested to see. The 6’7″ 270 pound 3rd year player dominated at UAB, but he struggled to change direction and looked like he had never covered in the open field before. He looked stiff in a few drills, but was partially redeemed by an impressive figure 8 drill for a player of his size.
Linebacker
All Participants: Troy Andersen, Brian Asamoah, Darrian Beavers, Terrel Bernard, Darien Butler, Chance Campbell, Leo Chenal, Damone Clark, JoJo Domann, Isaiah Graham-Mobley, Christian Harris, D’Marco Jackson, Drake Jackson, Jermaine Johnson, Devin Lloyd, Boye Mafe, Zakoby McClain, Jeremiah Moon, Chad Muma, Mike Rose, Josh Ross, Jack Sanborn, Nephi Sewell, Channing Tindall, Quay Walker, Tre Williams
Did Not Participate: Christopher Allen, Nakobe Dean, Jeremiah Gemmel, Jake Hansen, Aaron Hansford, Nate Landman, Micah McFadden, Malcolm Rodriguez, Brandon Smith, Baylon Spector
Top Performers: Damone Clark, Boye Mafe, Quay Walker, Darien Butler, Troy Andersen
Disappointed me: Zakoby McClain, Devin Lloyd, Chance Campbell, JoJo Domann, Isaiah Graham-Mobley
From the first drill to the last, Damone Clark showed great fluidity for a bigger linebacker. His body control was excellent, with quick feet that stayed under him and a very powerful frame. He shuffled his feet well and looked smooth in coverage drills.
Boye Mafe surprised me a bit with how good he already looked as a linebacker. As a Gopher fan I know he’s a big time athlete, but he was a down lineman at Minnesota. He was running these drills better than quite a few of the linebackers, helping his case for a potential first round pick as a 3-4 OLB.
Quay Walker can be forgotten about in the Georgia defense, but I preferred him over Tindall and many others on the field today. He had exceptionally quick feet, open his hips well, and bent well around the edge. He had a natural backpedal that gained ground and looked more advanced in coverage than I expected.
Darien Butler disappointed me with his height (5’10”), but man I love him on the field. Butler has a receiver’s ability to accelerate into his turns, and is as good in the coverage drills as you’ll find. He had very quick feet in the wave drill and is an easy bender.
Troy Andersen got some attention with his 40 time, but he continued it right away with a perfect wave drill to start off drills for the linebackers. Every drill was done with good body control, quick feet, and and a powerful first step.
For the negatives, I was hoping for a more athletic performance out of Zakoby McClain, who is one of the smaller linebackers in the class. He consistently allowed his feet to get ahead of him, and hit the turf multiple times. He showed good bend around the edge, but didn’t look as natural in space as expected.
Devin Lloyd was my #1 linebacker, and probably still will be. That being said, he didn’t dominate the drills like many other top prospects did. He certainly wasn’t bad, but didn’t do anything to turn heads with some short steps and slower-than-tape coverage drills.
For Chance Campbell, I was hoping he would prove my scouting report wrong. He put up great athletic testing numbers earlier in the day, but I just didn’t see him play athletically on tape. He again didn’t look in drills like a guy with a massive vertical and broad jump. He moved slow side to side, clicked his heels, and didn’t do anything to catch your eye in coverage drills.
JoJo Domann is a similar story to Zakoby McClain. Having played all over the field for Nebraska, I was expecting he’d look good in the coverage-heavy drills. He fell multiple times, and didn’t have the explosive first step you’d want to see. While his ball skills were pretty good, that’s pretty low down the list of attributes for linebackers.
Last, Isaiah Graham-Mobley is a thumper linebacker doing drills that don’t involve hitting. He looked really tight in the hips early, didn’t bend too well, and had some brick hands in coverage.
Day 4 – Top Performers in Drills
Cornerback
All Participants: Jalyn Armour-Davis, Kalon Barnes, Montaric Brown, Coby Bryant, Decobie Durant, Kaiir Elam, Martin Emerson, Akayleb Evans, Damarcus Fields, Cordale Flott, Sauce Gardner, Kyler Gordon, Vincent Gray, Jack Jones, Derion Kendrick, Chase Lucas, Damarri Mathis, Zyon McCollum, Roger McCreary, Trent McDuffie, Chris Steele, Alontae Taylor, Cam Taylor-Britt, Isaac Taylor-Stuart, Josh Thompson, Jermaine Waller, Jaylen Watson, Sam Webb, Damarion Williams, Joshua Williams, Tariq Woolen, Mykael Wright
Did Not Participate: Andrew Booth, Tariq Castro-Fields, Mario Goodrich, Joshua Jobe, Marcus Jones, Derek Stingley Jr.
Top Performers: Coby Bryant, Jack Jones, Derion Kendrick, Roger McCreary, Trent McDuffie, Damarion Williams
Disappointed me: Tariq Woolen, Sam Webb, Akayleb Evans, Jaylen Watson
I felt like I got quite a bit out of these corner drills. It was pretty easy to see the difference it hip fluidity, foot speed, and body control. And best of all, some of the biggest names competed and performed well.
Coby Bryant is a fun one to start with. I thought he outperformed his teammate Sauce in the drills. Coby showed a very smooth back pedal, some of the best ball skills in the class, and incredible quick turns in the box and wave drills. He looked noticeably quick than some of the other true outside corners.
Derion Kendrick is another true outside corner that I liked. He tracked the ball like a wide receiver on the deep coverage drills, and showed great flexibility for his size on just about every drill.
McCreary is someone who has every trait other than length, and length doesn’t matter in drills. As a result, he was pretty dominant. His feet were as quick as anyone, but they weren’t getting ahead of him. He showed great body control and bend, while looking like a natural closing it out in the gauntlet drill.
Shifting to the smaller guys, we’ll start with McDuffie who’s got some positional versatility. I didn’t think McDuffie was quite as dominant as some other guys, but he was incredibly smooth and didn’t make any mistakes on the day. He was very solid on his 90 degree break, with a quick acceleration and strong ankles.
For the smaller slot guys, Jack Jones of Arizona State looked phenomenal. He had a strong, clean plant on his pedals, tracked the ball well, and ran the box drill as fast as anyone on the day. His gauntlet also impressed, hauling in receptions despite some bad passes.
Last is Damarion Williams, someone I wasn’t quite as high on entering the day. The Houston Cougar stayed low and maintained his balance, being quick in his cuts. He looked like a natural on the 90 degree break and had a great showing in the “W” drill as well.
For the disappointments, we need to start with Tariq Woolen. I was never as high as others for a variety of reasons, but he looked really tight and upright in drills. Yes he’s raw, but he struggled to stay low in his breaks, wasn’t very quick in the hips and didn’t even have a great approach to the ball.
Sam Webb was probably the least impressive of this solid group of corners. The small schooler looked noticeably slower than others, while also being constantly upright in his backpedal. He took a very slow approach to the gauntlet as well.
Jaylen Watson is a bigger corner, and wasn’t horrible for his size. But his backpedal looked really slow and easy for fast receivers to eat up space against him. He also looked very high and tight, while being lackadaisical on the gauntlet.
Last is Akayleb Evans who is also a high cut corner who struggled to stay low and accelerate on his turns. His body control wasn’t as good as most of the other corners, being off balance multiple times. He uses a very narrow base an could be easily thrown off by shifty receivers.
Safety
All Participants: Tycen Anderson, Markquese Bell, Dane Belton, Percy Butler, Lewis Cine, Nick Cross, Kyle Hamilton, Dax Hill, Kerby Joseph, Quentin Lake, Verone McKinley III, Smoke Monday, Leon O’Neal, Jalen Pitre, Juanyeh Thomas, Delarrin Turner-Yell, JT Woods
Did Not Participate: Bubba Bolden, Jaquan Brisker, Qwynnterrio Cole, Bryan Cook, Yusuf Corker, Kolby Harvell-Peel
Top Performers: Lewis Cine, Nick Cross, Kyle Hamilton, Jalen Pitre
Disappointed me: Juanyeh Thomas, Smoke Monday
Let me start by saying the safety class was probably the most impressive group in drills. They ran the same set of drills as the corners, and performed nearly just as well in the drills which are supposed to be dominated by corners. It was hard to pick top performers and disappointments.
Lewis Cine had a good day on the field. He needed to prove he was more than a hitter, and he did that. He has work to do catching the ball, but showed some corner-caliber hips and was very quick in the open field.
Nick Cross was probably my favorite safety on the day, even though he didn’t get much attention. He has a rock solid build, and had some incredibly quick hips which will help him excel in the slot. He was very smooth in the 90 degree break, showed some excellent body control on the wave, and had a fluid backpedal.
Kyle Hamilton was one of the biggest names to actually go through drills, and he looked great. He was bigger than any other safety on the field, but looked just as (if not more) fluid with his feet and hips. He changed directions incredibly well for a 220 pounder, and had some clean ball skills.
Jalen Pitre was also a highly rated player on my board who did what he needed to do. He had a great backpedal drill, showed quick feet on the 45 degree react, and is able to put his foot down and accelerate instantly.
For the negatives, I’ll start with Smoke Monday. Smoke looked slower than the other safeties out there. He had a slow backpedal and was regularly off balance. His hips looked really slow in the box drill, and he was too upright on multiple occasions.
Juanyeh Thomas was very similar. He was also off balance a few times, but I also saw some major acceleration issues on his backpedal. He messed up a couple drills which was also a red flag.
