Christian Gonzales
Oregon
Grade: Top-10
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
During his high school career, Christian Gonzalez was a versatile player, showcasing his skills in various positions such as cornerback, wildcat quarterback, wide receiver, and punter. His impressive performances earned him first team All-District honors in his junior and senior years. On defense, he recorded a total of 49 tackles, 20 passes defended, and 3 interceptions, while on offense, he caught 65 passes for 959 yards and scored 17 touchdowns, including three return touchdowns. He was heavily recruited and received over 40 scholarship offers, eventually committing to Colorado. After two seasons with the Buffs, Gonzalez transferred to Oregon with his former defensive backs coach, Demetrice Martin. He played one season with the Ducks before he declared for the 2023 NFL Draft.
Gonzalez is a standout on the field with his height, agility, and ability to excel in man-to-man coverage. He has excellent acceleration that allows him to match vertical routes and press receivers along the sideline, as well as fluid turns and route instincts that keep him within arm's length of receivers without interfering. With his long wingspan and leaping ability, he's an excellent interceptor and averaged 29.5 yards per interception return in college. Additionally, he's a solid chop-down tackler who played on special teams as a jammer on punt returns. Off the field, he has a low-key personality and is known as a lunch-pail worker who puts his head down and works hard to please his coaches. With 30 starts in the past three seasons and missing only one game due to bowl opt-out.
Gonzalez has a lean build with a narrow torso and has the potential to gain strength. While he demonstrates patience in press coverage, he could improve his technique in this area by refining the timing and force of his jam. In off coverage, he could benefit from more disciplined eyes to help with his spacing. There are times when he becomes lax in his footwork in zone coverage, which can affect his response time. He is still developing his ability to turn his head and locate the ball downfield. In the most recent season, he showed improvement in run defense, but could still demonstrate more aggressiveness. Given his lack of finishing strength, the quality of his tackling technique is especially important.
As a man-to-man corner, Gonzalez is the best cornerback in this draft class and likely set with All-Pro potential. He is one of those players you put on an island and shift coverage to the opposite side of the field with full confidence in his ability to lock down his opponent. He should be a top defensive player drafted within the first 10 picks.
Devon Witherspoon
Illinois
Grade: 1st Rd
Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
During his childhood in Pensacola, Devon Witherspoon concentrated mainly on basketball, but later on, he joined his high school football team as a junior and became a starting cornerback, recording 11 interceptions in 2017 and 2018, earning him accolades such as first-team All-Area and Defensive Player of the Year in Pensacola. Devon also excelled in track and field, finishing as a runner-up in the 4x100 relay (41.37) during his senior year. Because of his late start and academic challenges, he was not highly recruited and was expected to play for Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College, but after receiving good SAT scores, he was eligible to play NCAA Division I football, which he did by signing with Illinois, a Power 5 program. Devon had 30 pass deflections and 5 interceptions in his four-year career, and although he was invited to the 2023 Senior Bowl, he withdrew from the event.
Witherspoon is an impressive athlete who plays with tenacity and has excellent skills in press-man coverage. He shows outstanding route anticipation and coverage awareness, which helps him know where his help is on the field. With his natural ability to locate and make plays on the football, he has had 30 career passes defended, including 17 in his senior season. Additionally, he has decent length to contest throws and takes high-speed angles in run support and coverage to limit big plays. Witherspoon is a highly aggressive tackler who is not afraid to boom and he coaches up his teammates. Also has experience as a punt gunner.
However, Witherspoon does have some weaknesses. He is lean-muscled and lacks ideal bulk, which may impact his ability to consistently carry 185 pounds, a weight that NFL teams want to see. His aggressive play style at the top of routes and at the catch point often results in early contact or flags, as he had 11 penalties combined over his junior and senior seasons. Furthermore, he has average recovery speed when he loses a step and occasionally loses his footing when transitioning with routes. His Cover 2 and zone spacing is still developing, and he missed three games because of injury between his sophomore and junior seasons.
Unfortunately, he was also unable to work out at the combine in March 2023 due to a left hamstring injury. Even so, Witherspoon has shown traits that will make him a first-round pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. The physical nature of his play will lead to flags, but his upside is too good to pass on.
Joey Porter Jr.
Penn State
Grade: 2nd
Joe Hermitt | jhermitt@pennlive.com
Joey Porter Jr. was born into a family with a strong NFL background, as his father, Joey Porter Sr., played linebacker for 13 seasons and many of his cousins have also had opportunities in the NFL. Porter Jr. attended North Allegheny High School, where he played as a defensive back and receiver. As a senior captain, he helped lead North Allegheny to a conference championship and received First-Team All-State honors. Porter Jr. was highly sought after as a four-star recruit, ultimately choosing to commit to Penn State over other top schools. He decided to forgo his senior year and entered the 2023 NFL Draft, choosing to skip the 2022 bowl game.
Porter Jr. has a tall and slim build that is particularly suited for press-man duties. His long arms enable him to redirect receivers off the line of scrimmage and even push them out of bounds. He is able to disrupt timing by using a two-hand jam at the start of a route. Additionally, he is both patient and coordinated in his movements and is able to pick up speed quickly. His zone coverage skills have improved, and he is able to cover receivers downfield using his physicality and body length. He is also skilled at swatting the ball away and doesn't need to be in the perfect position to do so. He is able to move quickly and tackle ball carriers, thanks to his large tackling radius. He holds the school record for pass breakups in a single game and was a key player on punt-return coverage for all four seasons.
When attempting to keep up with receivers, Porter tends to use his arms excessively and often commits penalties. His coverage technique is too upright and tight, which causes him to have awkward transitions and lose balance. Instead of redirecting them, he tends to push receivers at the top of routes, leading to easy completions on slant routes. Although he uses his long arms to press receivers, he isn't very forceful with his hands. He isn't a natural hands-catcher and struggled to intercept passes in 2022, often dropping them. He isn't consistent in containing the run and sometimes loses leverage on the outside. His tackling technique is erratic and he lets his emotions get the best of him. He was only used as an outside cornerback in college and did not lead Penn State in passes defended or interceptions during any of his four seasons on the team.
Nothing about Porter really pops off the stat sheet. He was not tested nearly as much on his side of the field with just 26 targets. His main draw is his size at 6'2, 194 pounds with 34" arms and he is a magnet in man coverage that will see him drafted early. He has starting outside corner ability, but he also has bust ability with lack of change of direction and emotional outbursts.
Kelee Ringo
Georgia
Grade: 2nd Rd
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Kelee Ringo joined Saguaro High School, a football powerhouse in Arizona, after completing his freshman year. Initially, he trained with the wide receivers, but the coaches soon moved him to cornerback, where he was mentored by former NFL player Bryant Westbrook. Ringo was instrumental in Saguaro's state championships in 2017 and 2018, and in his senior year, he was named a first-team All-American and became a five-star recruit. Ringo also achieved great success in track and field, winning state championships in the 100m and 200m events in 2019.
Ringo's talent in football earned him a position as the No.1 cornerback in the 2020 recruiting class and the No.4 recruit in the country. He received offers from numerous national programs, including Notre Dame, Alabama, Ohio State, and USC. Ultimately, he selected the Georgia Bulldogs, announcing his decision during the All-American Bowl. Ringo decided to forgo his final two years of eligibility and declared for the 2023 NFL Draft.
Ringo has an athletic, muscular frame with the size to match up against NFL receivers. He has a terrific background in track, which gives him elite acceleration and deep speed for vertical routes. Ringo possesses fluid footwork and hips, and can react quickly to incoming passes. He's shown impressive hands with 8 interceptions and 38 pass deflections over the last three years. He has physicality mid-route and strong tackling ability. With prototypical cornerback size and smooth movements in transition, Ringo will be a consistent starter and a valuable asset to any team, especially for a team looking for health at the position as Ringo has played in 30 consecutive games for the Bulldogs.
Ringo has a tendency to turn his hips prematurely and defaults to a vertical sprint before reading. He often struggles with timing and sink-and-drive mechanics, conceding completions in front of him. In press-man coverage, he has a soft and upright jam and struggles to reroute receivers. Ringo also has issues consistently turning his head downfield and can be undisciplined with his hands, resulting in multiple penalties. He has missed tackles due to poor timing and needs to improve his footwork. Ringo missed his entire first season due to shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum in August 2020, though there does not seem to be lingering issues.
Cam Smith
South Carolina
Grade: 2nd Rd
Photo: Chris Gillespie
Cam Smith was honored with the U.S. Army All-American title in high school. During his senior year, he had impressive statistics including 65 tackles (four of which were for loss), 16 pass breakups, and four forced fumbles. Considered a highly-rated four-star recruit, he was the 19th-ranked cornerback in the 2019 recruiting class. Despite being offered by West Virginia, East Carolina, and numerous MAC schools, Smith attended a recruiting camp held by the University of South Carolina in the summer before his senior year, where he received an offer from head coach Will Muschamp. He eventually committed to the Gamecocks after considering Georgia and Tennessee as his top three choices. This decision was heavily influenced by the fact that he grew up close to Columbia, South Carolina.
Smith possesses explosive athleticism and nimble footwork that allows him to isolate himself on the field. His ability to break up throws in front of him is excellent. Additionally, his transitions out of breaks are smooth and seamless. With his great ball skills and length, he is an irritating presence for receivers at the catch point. He plays confidently with a bold attitude, and his swagger is evident on the field. In addition, he likes to engage physically in both the run game and coverage, fighting off push-offs at the end of routes. While his contributions to special teams were limited to field goals, he did manage to block one in 2022. On the 2022 tape, he played both as a nickelback and as an outside cornerback.
Smith's body frame lacks bulk and has a knack for penalties in coverage with more than ten times over eleven games. He needs to improve his technical skills in press-man coverage, particularly his feet and hands. Smith shows zone coverage skills in reads but he is still working on developing his route anticipation for big plays. His marginal play strength frequently leads to him getting blocked by wide receivers and his tackling mechanics are inconsistent. He grabs and throws opponents over wrap-and-drive to the ground. Throughout his career with the Gamecocks, he has missed a few games due to minor injuries though he has been relatively healthy throughout his career.
Smith is a better zone defender than man coverage specialist. He has shown to be talented enough to be an NFL starter, but the drop in productivity from his junior to senior year should draw some concerns. He gave up a reception under 50% of his total targets over the last two years, but the high-end plays were down. Smith is trending toward being a top-50 selection in the NFL Draft for a zone-heavy scheme.
Emmanuel Forbes
Mississippi State
Grade: 2nd
Mississippi State Staff
Emmanuel Forbes Jr. comes from a family with a football tradition and played quarterback in youth leagues before becoming a three-way player at Grenada High School, where he played defensive back, wide receiver, and returner. He earned varsity action as a freshman and All-State honors as a senior, posting impressive stats in each of his four years of high school. He also played baseball and basketball. Forbes was a highly rated four-star recruit and committed to Mississippi State but kept his options open and was pursued by other schools, including Ole Miss. He ultimately stayed committed to Mississippi State, but his head coach was fired two weeks after he signed. Forbes chose to skip his senior season and enter the 2023 NFL Draft.
Emmanuel Forbes Jr. has a number of strengths as a football player, including elite ball production, excellent spatial awareness, and strong instincts. He has terrific change-and-go burst to fire downhill and uses his long arms to defend against bigger receivers. Forbes is competitive and always looking to get involved in the action, and has a strong record of interceptions and touchdowns. In all, Forbes was a turnover machine, with 14 total interceptions over three years and 35 pass deflections. As a member of the All-SEC Freshman team, Forbes returned three interceptions for defensive scores and added three more last season. He tested exceptionally well at the NFL Combine with 4.35 speed, 36.5 vertical at 6'0" tall.
The main drawback for Forbes is his thin skeleton frame, weighing in at under 170 pounds. More physical receivers will manhandle him at the top of routes and when blocking downfield, and his play strength overall is subpar. He can also be overly eager to jump plays and may struggle to finish tackles, though he has shown that he is not afraid of contact and wants to be involved in the run. Additionally, Forbes has had some issues with penalties and has missed parts of several games due to injury.
Forbes played primarily outside during college, and was likely not physical enough to play on the slot. He has the speed to stick in man, and the awareness to play in zone making him very well-rounded for any scheme an NFL team may run primarily. His ability to generate turnovers is a major strength, leading all players in interceptions since he came into the NCAA. That alone should make him a first-round talent as turnovers are the quickest way to win football games, though teams that have specific requirements at size will write him off completely. Even so, ball production matters and Forbes tape shows he's one of the best coverage playersin this draft class.
Deonte Banks
Maryland
Grade: 2nd
Maryland Athletics
In high school, Deonte "Tae" Banks played football as a two-way player at cornerback and slotback, recording a total of 125 tackles, 44 passes defended, and 11 interceptions, while also accounting for 2,306 total yards and 37 touchdowns on offense, and he set several school records in track and field. Banks earned All-State and All-County honors in his senior year. Banks received several scholarship offers from both FCS and FBS schools before committing to the University of Maryland as a three-star recruit.
Banks is a physically gifted cornerback with impressive speed and a muscular build. He exhibits patience and uses his long arms to slow receivers at the line of scrimmage. Banks also has coordinated footwork and slick body control for smooth transitions and turning at the top of routes. He loves to play physically, and his dog mentality sets the tone for his team's secondary. He is a proficient open-field tackler with above-average balance and finishing skills, and his speed and motor allow him to make tackles on the opposite side of the field. Additionally, he has experience as a jammer on punt coverages and even blocked an extra point in 2022.
Banks is prone to getting turned around by skilled receivers when he turns his hips too early after the snap. He needs to have more faith in his technique when facing NFL-level receivers. Additionally, his aggressive play style often draws extra attention from officials, as evidenced by his five pass interference calls and three defensive holding penalties in 2022. Banks struggles with inconsistent depth in zone and off coverage and needs to improve his ability to toggle his eyes between the backfield and route. He has only recorded two interceptions in his career so far. Finally, Banks suffered a serious shoulder injury in September 2021, which required season-ending surgery a week later.
Banks has an outside chance of being drafted in the first round, though his lack of turnovers may not be most desirable at being a top pick in the NFL draft. He has stepped up against some of the most elite competition, like Ohio State's Marvin Harrsion Jr., Michigan's Ronnie Bell, and Purdue's Charlie Jones. He faired well which should boost his stock and keep him in consideration along with his exception testing at the NFL combine with 4.3 speed and a 40"+ vertical leap.
DJ Turner - Michigan
Garrett Williams - Syracuse
Tredavous Hodges-Tomlinson
Tyrique Stevenson - Miami
Julius Brents- Kansas State
Clark Phillips III - Utah
Jaylon Jones - Texas A&M
Darius Rush - South Carolina
Eli Ricks - Alabama
Kyu Blu Bellu - Stanford
Alex Austin - Oregon State
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