Early Draft Grade
Early First Round
Leonard Moore is an alpha corner who plays a suffocating brand of coverage. Moore's length is a natural advantage that his technique constantly leverages, first at the line of scrimmage, then throughout the route, and finally at the catch point. His weaknesses rarely make themselves apparent and another season of dominance should keep Moore in the early first round range.
Weaknesses
-Short area quickness is okay rather than elite. Moore sometimes struggles to mirror receivers through their breaks. He usually can hide this with physicality, but it was exposed when receivers were able to avoid or withstand contact. This was especially evident in the Miami game.
Early Draft Grade
Fourth Round
Benefield's flaws are mostly fixable, and there is a good chance that DB guru Corey Raymond fixes them before it is time to lock in Benefield's draft grade. If Benefield is able to round out his game while in Baton Rouge, his size and speed will make an instant impact to an NFL team's secondary and should be valued as an early day 2 pick. Otherwise, he looks a bit more like a lottery ticket that might need some time before seeing the field on Sundays. His performance throughout spring ball at LSU indicates he is on the first track, but time will tell.
Weaknesses
-Hesitation at the top of his drops led to some busts in the Boise State secondary last season. While Benefield has great instincts filling against the run, his processing in coverage doesn't happen at the same speed yet and it caused some ugly moments.
-Can whiff on ballcarriers because of over-aggressive angles. Benefield sometimes goes headhunting which turns into missed tackles as often as it does highlight plays.
-Short area quickness is just okay. You want to avoid manning him up against smaller slot receivers.
Early Draft Grade
Second Round
Kewan Lacy has a rare ability to make a major impact at any given moment while also being consistent across moments across games. The Ole Miss offense ran through Lacy at times in 2025 and he responded in a big way. His 2025 dominance shot him up draft boards and another season of production should solidify him as a Day 2 guy if he declares in 2027.
Strengths
-Consistently breaks off chunk gains because of his mix of vision and explosiveness. When he sees a path through the defense, he hits holes hard and does not give much time to defenders to react.
-When that path extends through the second level to the endzone, Lacy has the long speed to pull past everybody. His high cut frame allows him to stride it out and turn 30 yard runs into 70 yard sprints.
-He is a workhorse in every sense of the word. Ole Miss constantly leaned on Lacy in 2025 and they were rewarded in yardage and explosive plays. He is well conditioned and is not beset by fatigue the way everybody else on the field is.
-Lacy is very effective in pass protection where he meets rushers at the line of scrimmage with force.
-Did not fumble once over 306 carries in 2025.
Weaknesses
-His instincts to bounce runs outside of the tackle box usually turn into big yards, but he'll sometimes bubble again into the second level and pass on straight paths for more yards.
-His game is based on vertical slashes rather than lateral agility. His high cut frame limits his ability to create space for himself a bit.
-Lacy's college workload is trending to be problematic and another season of overuse might raise concerns about his shelf life in the NFL.
While Kewan Lacy didn't make headlines when he entered the transfer portal after rushing for 104 yards at Mizzou in 2024, his name stayed in the forefront of college football discussions throughout 2025. He finished with the third most rushing yards, second most rushing touchdowns, and the most carries in the country in his first season in Oxford. He is draft eligible in 2027 where he is trending to be one of the top playmakers available for NFL teams to select.
5'11" 210
2025 Stats: 1,567 rush yards (5.1 ypc) 24 rush TD; 177 rec yds
Jerrick Gibson, Soph(RS), Purdue
Gibson left Texas to enter the portal and save a year of eligibility after carrying the ball once in the Red River Rivalry. Gibson showed traces of talent in his carries last season and brings a healthy mix of size and speed to Purdue. A change of scenery might allow Gibson to vindicate his high school ranking and he has three seasons of eligibility remaining to do so.