Sleepers and keepers … One of the interesting elements of the 2024 draft was that while there were obviously changes, the top of the board remained remarkably constant pretty much through the whole process. And the sense we have as we begin the process of a pre-season Top 50 or so for the upcoming draft, given the quality of the prospects currently ranked in the 10-15 range, is that there’s good chance we’ll see something of the same continuity this year. That said, at the same time, several players with the upside to bust into that top group have already jumped out at us. In fact, we weren’t planning to actually write about them quite yet, but a piece over at ESPN this weekend listing 15 players they classified as sleepers for 2025 piqued our interest, in large part because 0ne of the players on their list was one of the guys we had id’ed as having high ceilings. He’s Arizona CB Tacori Davis, who in fact at this time isn’t really a sleeper any more every team around the league knows who he is. Davis is a rising 3rd year cover corner who wasn’t highly recruited, but has emerged as a legitimate mid-to-late first round prospect after leading the PAC-12 with 15 pass break-ups last fall. At 6-4, he’s tall, angular player with long arms who is very physical jamming receivers at the line of scrimmage and disrupting their routes. He’s also an instinctive corner who anticipates routes and breaks well and as a former HS receiver has good ball skills. He’s also a very good tackler who is not shy about coming up to support the run defence. He’s also a decent athlete who can flip his hips with ease and turn and run with most receivers. However, he’s also more quick than fast with a projected 40 clocking in the low 4.5 range. And Arizona practices should be almost as entertaining as their games this fall when Davis go head-to-head against star Wildcat WR Tetairoa McMillan who is already a top 5-10 prospect.
The other two guys we wanted to mention are defensive linemen including massive 345-pound Kentucky DT Deone Walker and Texas A&M DE Nic Scourton. Originally from Detroit, he spurned offers from SEC powers Alabama and Georgia to sign with Kentucky where he was a freshman All-American in 2022 and made multiple AA teams last year when he posted 7.5 sacks and 5 other tackles for loss. He’s an imposing physical specimen at 6-6 and almost 350 pounds with commensurate power and strength who is very difficult to move off the line of scrimmage. He’s also something of a dancing bear type who has outstanding quickness, lateral agility and closing speed including a 40-clocking close to the 5.0 flat range. He is also a high character player with an outstanding motor and work ethic who was a full-time team captain as a true sophomore last fall. Scourton is also a 3rd year DL who played his first two years at Purdue where he had 10 sacks last fall, but transferred to A&M for the upcoming campaign. Scourton actually looks a little more like a DT at 6-4, 280, but he moves more like an OLB with a projected 40 time in the 4.7 range, along with unique lateral agility for a player that size. Indeed, he actually played OLB last fall for the Boilermakers. Also, like Davis and Walker, he’s a highly competitive player with a great work ethic.
