Latest / Scouting the League / 2027 Draft Scouting - Will Echoles - Ole Miss DT
Transcript
- Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Hey everyone and welcome to Scouting the League and our 2027 Draft Scouting series. Real games and fresh film will be rolling in soon. Not quite enough to judge 2026 film yet, though, so we will stick with what we have for now. Today's player, Will Eccles, defensive tackle for the running rebels down in Mississippi. A true junior who will have a decision to make at the end of the year. Before we jump in though, Make sure you head over, like, subscribe, share this podcast wherever you're listening. And hopefully, today with the draft series, watching over on YouTube as well. Hit those buttons, like and subscribe. Those are the big ones. Get notifications on everything we're putting out there. And leave your thoughts and notes in the comments as well. I will definitely hit you back on those. Make sure you go ahead over to my website, rsafootball.com, for everything I have, any background information, anything else you need. Follow me on Twitter. at right step ad v is where you can find me. Let's throw it to a quick note on right step scouting now. And excited to get that right step scouting going. But make sure also, if you're a scout or aspiring scout, you check out the scoutingcommunity.com as well for the resources you need, whether you want to be in the industry or you're in the industry. Yes, NFL teams, NFL front offices, college front offices don't have all the answers. That's where the scouting community is working for you and with you to make sure you have everything you need. The scoutingcommunity.com is a spot. Check out all of that. And make sure you head over and get the insoles that will upgrade every pair of shoes you have at blue maca.com. Check the down in the show notes for that. Use code Scouting20 while you're there to get a little discount on that order and let them know we sent you blueMaka.com. They are super comfortable. It's going to make a big difference when you're pacing the sidelines this year. You have those insoles. You will be able to tell a difference. Tomorrow, tune in as Neil and I sit down with Pat Stewart, GM of the Nebraska Corn Huskers. What did he learn in the NFL that he's taking to Lincoln to help Coach Rule and Nebraska back to where it belongs among the top of the NCAA programs? Really fun conversation. So make sure you tune in with Pat. But today it's all about 2027 draft. Today is all about Will Eccles as we get some film thrown on here. Who is Is Will Eccles a guy with high expectations? Really nice production last year. defensive tackle from Old Miss where's jersey number 52. Comes in as Dane Bruegler's number 13 player on his first top 50. Do I like him that high? We will talk about that as we go. So who are we looking at? A true junior this fall played in eight games as a freshman in 2024, started all 15 games last year. He was credited with 68 tackles. That's a big number for an interior guy. 11 and a half TFLs, five sacks. Those are definitely good numbers for an interior player. Whether that was a result of him stepping into some production, either way, he's got the stats, and those numbers certainly look good. So as we start talking about defensive line, it's the same across all four. Nose tackle, your two down run stopper is really the only one that's different. The rest of these guys you got to look for the same things. Takeoff, run defense, Tackling and pass rush. How do we get those things done? Again, with that get off, takeoff, first step explosion. How are we getting up the field? And again, I think Will is at a good level on this. I think there's some very good snaps. there's also a lot of sufficient snaps where again, I don't think he's reading it. He's getting a little heavy legged. I think conditioning will be a question for this player this fall. I think reducing the number of snaps will be good for this player, but again. I think this guy has good ability to get immediate pressure, to get on shoulders, get on edges of interior guys. I think him working inside more and more, he plays a lot of from five eye all the way down to kind of a shade and a two-eye. Again, his two eye to three, maybe four eye snaps are his best snaps. That's where you see the athleticism. That's where you see the first step explosion. So I think he's getting good level takeoff. Again, I don't think it jumps off the board at me, but it's gonna be consistently in that good area. When it comes to run defense, again, this guy is best as a one-gap penetrator. He is getting upfield, he does well working later with he plays with high pad level at times. Again, I think he's just sufficient there. Would like to see him play lower, play with a little bit better pad level, a little bit better hand placement underneath. But this guy is very violent with his hands. There's some times where he throws hands with intent, creates that knockback. Which really helps him in his run defense. That's where this player really stands out. You can see he throws the hands and is going to be disrupted. When it starts when you start talking about lateral leverage, again, I think he's good. He's got good snaps, get some very good snaps, he's got some sufficient snaps. Again, that's where this player, again, he's a little bit, you know, in that range. Now, again, that's what you want. You're gonna throw a higher grade on that potential, see if that consistency comes in 2026 here. But again, There's a little bit of that range from very good down to sufficient. Again, he's got the lateral leverage. When he plays with good pad level, he can do it. But it there's a time times where this guy gets washed out, where he gets offensive players under his pads, gets moved off the spot a little bit. Again, doesn't play with the extension, the hand use that he needs. So again, his run defense, again, one gap, two gap. He can do it both. This guy has three-down ability at the NFL level. I think he is scheme versatile. I don't think this guy's a throwaway for an odd front defense. I think he can play some base snaps as a four-eye and as a zero against some offensive schemes. So again, this guy's going to be a good player and a versatile scheme fit. When it comes to tapling, tackling, this guy is a physical, nasty tackler. He likes to impose his will. He likes to, you know, land on guys. You can see him. He wants to get into it with guys. Again, he is not afraid of contact at all. Again, he is going to do what he has to in the box and in space. he's not gonna slide off a lot. I like the strength, I like the physicality, I like the length and everything he has on the tackle. I think this guy's a good tackler, no issues with the tackling there. And then he gets pass rush. We want to see three text, we want to see defensive tackles, get after the quarterback, be able to get up the field. We want to see these players get going in all they do to make sure they get after the quarterback. I think this guy's got Sufficient power, sufficient bull rush. I think this guy flashes good to very good pass rush skills in terms of working edges, working hands, working in arsenal. It does have to improve. And that's really the name of the game. This guy plays from a sufficient to a very good level fairly consistently, but again, it's all over the place. And where he ends up going in this draft in twenty twenty-seven, if he goes in the draft in twenty twenty-seven, he'll have decision to make. will depend on the consistency of that film. And one of the challenges when Ole Miss did what they did last year, had the success they did last year, that can be really hard to duplicate. And a lot of times guys like this, like Will Eccles, will, you know, come down to earth with their team a little bit. Again, still a draftable player. I think I think the ceiling and the floor for this guy, again, you're talking a first round ceiling, fourth round floor if a guy chose to, you know, come out. I I I don't think he's coming out if he's really worried about going lower than a fourth, but I think that's gonna be a pretty big range for teams where he ultimately goes. Again, is your first round? I'm not ready to go there yet. Thirteen overall in this year's class as far as Dane's looked at him, that's higher than I would go with this player. Again, I think this is a good player. He's for me a second rounder, probably towards the bottom of my second round stack right now. I could certainly see this player in the third round. based on again what we saw this last year in twenty six and again what we typically see, but I'd want to bet on him for now. So as I Will Eckles, I'm putting a second round grade on him again. Is that if I was stacking him, he'd been that lower part of that second round grade compared to a guy like Bear Alexander, who we already looked at from Oregon. He is below him. I think the traits are just not quite consistently there the way Bears are. It's gonna be fun to look at Will as the season goes. Does he ascend? Does he descend? Where does this player end up? I think he's going to be a good player. I think you're gonna like him in that good spot. again, could certainly be a player that chooses to come back. Again, whether it's Ole Miss or somewhere else. Again, he's going to make some money wherever he's at. I think he's gonna have good, tough decisions to make based on his year, regardless of, you know, he's gonna he's gonna have good options. NFL, transfer, get paid, go back to Ole Miss and get paid, whatever it is, good options. Again, I like him. I like the traits of talent. I don't think he's a top-end first-round guy for me yet. Some guys I like more. But we'll see where he's at. But again, not always by me. What do you think? Head over to Twitter. Let me know at right step ADV. Leave your thoughts in the comments here on YouTube if you watched a little film with me today. That was his I think his pressures that he got credit for this last year. Always fun to look at those. Definitely want to look at full game film anytime we're looking at players come these draft, but can't put on full game film for you here. So we do what we can. But again, let me know thoughts in the comments. Make sure you're sticking around, tuning in tomorrow for a conversation with Pat Stewart as Neil and I sit down with him and let me know what players you want to hear in the future. Drop them in the comments here or on Twitter over at Right Step A D V. If you need that report, Right Step Scouting is a spot for you. And you know, as we get into the 2026 films, this starts to roll in, you know I'm gonna keep scouting.