2023 DE/ER preview

Tide ER heads strong DE/ER contingent for 2023 … Here’s a bit of an interesting stat: more DEs have been selected with top 5 picks over the past decade than QBs. That includes this past April’s draft when three DEs were taken in the top 5 picks including former Georgia DE Travon Walker who Jacksonville chose with the #1 pick overall. And while one of QBs Bryce Young of Alabama and Ohio State’s CJ Stroud are the favorites to go first overall next April, a pretty good case can be made that Young’s Tide teammate Will Anderson currently grades out as the top-rated prospect for the upcoming draft. Certainly, one can make the case that Anderson was THE best player in college football last fall when he rang up 17.5 sacks in leading Alabama to the national championship game.

Anderson, though, is a tad undersized at 245 pounds and there are going to be teams that wonder if he’ll be big enough to play with his hand on the ground in 4-2-5 situations which may cost him a real shot at the #1 pick overall next April. Still, Anderson is just too disruptive to have to wait too long to hear his name called next April 28^th.

And while edge rushers likely won’t dominate the early going at the 2023 draft as they did this past April, it’s also a very good class with as many as a half dozen legitimate first-round prospects. Myles Murphy, a true DE at 6-5, 275, for example, also has top ten potential, while Notre Dame’s Isaiah Foskey, Nolan Smith of Georgia, and B.J. Ojulari of LSU all have later opening round grades. Arguably, the most interesting ER prospect in 2023 – and maybe the most interesting at any position – could be 6-7, 250-pound Andre Carter of Army who actually led the country in sacks per game last fall. Literally from any other school, Carter would conceivably be right up there with Bama’s Anderson, but there is always going to be the prickly question of his military commitment.

There is something of a drop-off after that first group, but there is still a decent contingent of second-day ER prospects including Ohio State star Zach Harrison and the appropriately named Habakkuk Baldonado of Pittsburgh! Meanwhile, there are several FCS pass rushers to keep an eye on in that range including Isaiah Land of Florida A&M and Montana State’s Patrick O’Connell. Neither is all that big at around 230 pounds, but they have both been dominant at that level. Land in particular actually led all of college football with 19 sacks last fall.

And for the future, the top freshman ERs in the country last year include Collin Oliver of Oklahoma State and Josiah Stewart of Coastal Carolina, both of whom were double digit sackers last fall, while Lukas Van Ness of Iowa reminds people of Aidan Hutchinson, the second player selected this past April. Meanwhile, the search for ERs for the 2025 draft may start at Texas A&M which signed both of this year’s top incoming DEs in Lebbeus Overton from Milton Georgia and Shemar Stewart from Tampa.

Top 20 DE/ER prospects for 2023:

April 26, 2023 1:32 PM

#	Player	HT/WT	40X	College	Notes
	Will Anderson	6-3.5	4.60c	Alabama	OLB
	Tyree Wilson	6-6, 271	4.75	Texas Tech	DE/X
	Nolan Smith	6-2, 238	4.39c	Georgia	OLB, X
	Lukas Van Ness	6-5, 272	4.58c	Iowa	DE
	Myles Murphy	6-5, 268	4.55p	Clemson	DE
	Keion White	6-6, 285	4.80	GeorgiaTech	5T
	Will McDonald	6-3.5, 239	4.70p	Iowa State	OLB
	Felix Anudike-Uzomah	6-3, 255	4.75	Kansas State	DE
	Isaiah Foskey	6-5, 264	4.58c	Notre Dame	OLB
	BJ Ojulari	6-3, 248	4.60	LSU	OLB
	Derick Hall	6-2.5, 254	4.55c	Auburn	DE
	Tuli Tuipulotu	6-3, 266	4.80	Southern California	DT
	Zach Harrison	6-5.5, 274	4.65	Ohio State	DE
	DJ Johnson	6-4, 260	4.49c	Oregon	DE
	Isaiah Maguire	6-4, 268	4.76c	Missouri	DE
	Byron Young	6-2.5, 250	4.43c	Tennessee	OLB
	Yasir Abdullah	6-0.5, 237	4.47c	Louisville
	Dylan Horton	6-4, 257	4.65	TCU	DE
	Mike Morris	6-5, 275	4.95c	Michigan	DE, 5T, DT
	Andre Carter	6-6.5, 256	4.65	Army	OLB, MIL
	Tavius Robinson	6-6, 257	4.66c	Mississippi	DE
	Viliami Fehoko	6-4, 276	4.80	San Jose State	DE
	Colby Wooden	6-4, 273	4.79c	Auburn	5T
	YaYa Diaby	6-3.5, 263	4.51c	Louisville	DE
	Dante Stills	6-3.5, 286	4.85c	West Virginia	5T
	KJ Henry	6-4, 251	4.71c	Clemson	DE
	Jose Ramirez	6-1.5, 242	4.73c	Eastern Michigan	DE
	Thomas Incoom	6-2, 262	4.66c	Central Michigan	DE
	Nick Hampton	6-2, 236	4.58c	Appalachian State	OLB
	Lonnie Phelps	6-2.5, 245	4.55c	Kansas	OLB
	Habakkuk Baldonado	6-4, 251	4.78c	Pittsburgh	DE
	Ali Gaye	6-6, 263	4.74c	LSU	DE
	Ochaun Mathis	6-4.5, 250	4.75	Nebraska	DE
	MJ Anderson	6-2, 270	4.85	Iowa State
	Caleb Murphy	6-3, 255	4.81c	Ferris State
	Ikenna Enechuwa	6-5, 270	4.85	Rice
	Tyrus Wheat	6-2, 263	4.65c	Mississippi State	OLB
	Brenton Cox	6-3, 255	4.75	Florida	OLB, O
	Reggie Grimes	6-4, 275	4.80	Oklahoma	DE
	Derek Parish	6-0, 245	4.60p	Houston	FB, ST
	Tyler Lacy	6-4, 280	5.11c	Oklahoma State	5T
	BJ Thompson	6-5, 240	4.75	Stephen F Austin	DE
	Akheem Mesidor	6-3, 275	4.85	Miami	DE
	Jordan Burch	6-5, 275	4.85	South Carolina	DE
	Tyler Batty	6-5, 275	4.80	BYU	DE
	Trajan Jeffcoat	6-4, 270	4.85	Missouri	DE
	Brock Martin	6-3, 245	4.75	Oklahoma State	OLB
	Solomon Byrd	6-3, 255	4.75	Southern California	DE
	Spencer Waege	6-5, 280	4.85	North Dakota State	DE, X
	Eyabi Okie	6-5, 245	4.70	Michigan	OLB
	Ian Marshall	6-1, 270	4.80	Northern State	DE

* e indicates estimated time; c indicates combine; p indicates pro day time

** X indicates player has an injury or illness issue; XX indicates serious injury or illness that could impact draft status; XXX indicates injury or illness that could be career threatening; O indicates off-field issue