Latest / Scouting the League / 2027 Draft Scouting - Quincy Rhodes Jr - Arkansas DE
Transcript
- Rodrik David: It's Tuesday, July 7th. Welcome to Scouting the League. Today, as we do every Tuesday, we get to look at a prospect that I expect to be on the 2027 draft class. On the defensive side today, we look at Edge from Arkansas, Quincy Rhodes Jr., a new coaching staff, and front office have the Razorback Nation excited. Coach Silverfield, always competitive at Memphis, friend of the program, guys Crowley running that front office as well. They have a good one here in Quincy. We'll get to him here in just a moment. Before we do, though, let me remind you to go like, subscribe, share this podcast wherever you are listening, and hopefully watching with that video portion we get put up there. Add a comment, leave them in the notes. Again, whatever you want to put in there. Agree, disagree, players you want to hear in the future. Leave it here on YouTube in the comments or head over to Twitter. Give me a follow at right stepadv. Leave your comments there. 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Give Justin a follow as well. Subscribe to that podcast, really help him out. Who do you want to hear next? Maybe it's wide receiver number three. Who should it be after we've talked about both Jeremiah Smith and Cam Coleman? Maybe another edge added to the group, an offensive lineman. Not let me know. But today it's all about. Quincy Rhodes Jr. as we go ahead and start sharing some film here before we start talking about the players' profile. So Quincy is going to be wearing jersey number 97, a true senior in 2026. So no special eligibility will be required. Played nine games as a true freshman, 12 as a sophomore in a part-time role before starting 11 of 12 last year. It's 44 tackles, a good number. 15 and a half TFLs led the team. Eight sacks, that's a good number. Would certainly see that one become 10 plus in 2026. Listed at 6'6, 273. I think this is a true defensive end prospect, hand down, even front guy that is going to be in the NFL. Played a lot of four-eye in his time at Arkansas. That's not going to be his home. I don't expect to really ever see him playing that four-eye role in the NFL. This guy's going to be. five and wider, maybe a stand up in some scheme, but we're gonna talk more about his traits. Again, still expecting Arkansas to be in that 3-4 base with new defensive coordinator Ron Roberts, but I expect Quincy to get more five and wider rushes consistently this year. Four edges always have to talk about the traits. Again, we're always gonna be talking a takeoff. We want to see that first step, that first three steps in his speed. We want to see this guy get off on the edge. Of course we're talking run defense. We want to know how this guy plays in the run. Not just can he do it, but how is he winning? We want to know his tackling. Is this guy able to finish? Is he a striker? Is he a drag tackler? Of course, we want to know pass rush. Pass rush getting pushed up more and more for these edges in the NFL. Is again we're going see nickel defense 60 to 70% of the time. And it's all about rushing the passer. That is going to get you paid. That is certainly going to get you drafted. So when we start talking about Quincy again, you start talking about the cutoff. He's got good. level get off. And we're going to talk a lot of good level traits. Maybe nothing that really pushes him, which is why we'll talk about the grade where it goes at the end. But again, maybe it's good first step, good first three steps. Again, a little bit tough to see it at times with all the inside rush. Again, the way that Arkansas rushed last year. Again, we don't consistently see him winning to the junction point, just running past guys, but we see some burst. We see some close. We see The ability for him to eat up some ground on the edge and win with good quick pressure. Again, I think he's got sufficient snap reaction. He can be a little bit late off the ball. But again, I think a lot of that goes back to his read step that he's used to playing at in that four-eye technique. So again, we'll expect to see that get a little better. Again, let's talk about pass rush here. Again, it's getting pushed up. I think this guy is a good level rusher with lots of very good flashes, maybe even some excellent flashes. His spin move that we'll see showcased here in this film is. is consistently good. He's got a good feel for that spin move, which is not always a natural move for a lot of guys. He can work upfield and spin inside. He can work tight from that four eye spin outside. Again, that spin move that he has is good. Again, I think this is still a sufficient arsenal guy that has flashes. Again, all of that goes back to how he has been used at Arkansas. I think he works edges well. He uses his length well. We don't see a ton of a variety is arsenal, but we see a high motor with a guy that really works edges, which means there's still plenty more there. I don't think it's gonna be just a day one. This guy's ready to rock as your premier number one edge rusher. Again, we'll get to where his grade ends up as we go here, but this is a guy that has some good twitch, some good traits, some good length and a good ability to improve that arsenal to where he is going to be consistent rusher, number two type rusher On an NFL front. So again, I think that pass rush, it is high motor. It is relentless. He's going to find production one way or another. Some finish that he's got to clean up, slid off of a few sacks, could have ended up with 10 plus potentially last year. Want to see the finish improve, but this is a high motor guy that is going to play hard. He's going to create some some problems for blockers on the edge with just how hard he plays. As we can get back to it, run defense again. Light on the hip. You see that a lot from the four-eye. This guy's not a four-eye. He's going to be a one-block edge setter. He's got to get better with his block anticipation and his block recognition. Again, teams that know how to attack him, they get to his hip. They really get him washed out. He will run out of plays a few times when again, again, gets baited into shooting gaps or playing out wide. Has to get better with some of his awareness, his football instincts. Again, Get him in that spot from a five to a seven, play that one block, read the tackle, read a tight end, set an edge vertically. That will certainly improve his game. But again, the the run blocking is sufficient, but again, it's gonna be good enough. He's gonna be disruptive. He is going to do things from a one-gap standpoint. Don't ask him to two-gap. He's gonna be light there. But again, I don't think we're gonna see that in the NFL. And then as we, you know, hit at the tackling. We talked about the finish. The finish has to improve. The finish has to get his hands on, get the guy to the ground. This guy will strike. He will be nasty. He will go after the ball. All of those things are good. We just have to finish a little bit more consistently. There are some snaps left on the field, production-wise, which again, we hate the MOBPs, missed opportunities for big plays at sacks. Those are TFLs. Those are missed tackles at the line of scrimmage that result in that five plus yardage. That is the yardage that can't happen, that it will get you beat at every level. MOBBs can't happen. So the finish has to improve there. There's flashes. There's plenty of it. This is a consistent pressure, high motor guy. The finish is going to get better. We want to see it, you know, get better this year. Again, with this new defense. Again, yes, I know it's going to be 3-4, but with a better offense, with a more consistent team, will we see more dick nickel defense? I think we're going to see Quincy playing on the edge, five and wider. I just have a hard time seeing this staff. Not utilizing Quincy from the spots where he is going to be best. Get him moving around, rushing from a three, rushing from a wide five playing in the base out wider much more consistently, which is where I think he is going to be best. So as we move over to our scouting board, we are gonna see where we slot Quincy in here. with this beautiful scouting board brought to you by Kyle Morgan. Let me know if you want to get connected. Maybe you can get your own scouting board from Kyle. Start stacking your players, ranking them, talking about them. Again, we talk about a lot of good level traits. Again, that competitiveness certainly at a very good level. Again, size and length, motor, plays hard, works on the edge. Again, it gets a little out of control. Wanna see him tighten that up a little bit, but this is going to be hand down defensive end. This is a guy again, Houston's defense kept jumping into my mind. Again, obviously you got a guy like Will Anderson on the edge. You, you know, you you you've got Daniel Hunter on the other side. You've had Grenard there. You've had guys that again know how to get after the passer. Again, maybe a little bit lighter than Quincy, Quincy is a great fit. Plays really hard. I think that would be a really fun player. Again, does he end up in Houston? No, I think there's a lot of options. 32 option teams will have this guy on the board because he could be a bigger Mac type linebacker, Jack Buck, depending on that 3-4 defense. Get him standing up opposite of maybe your more athletic underside, outside linebacker, or a true four three. Everybody's gonna be in four three. I think that is where this guy goes. I'm gonna put a second round grade on him though at this point. I think this is a top starter, but I think it's going to take a little bit of time for him to develop and grow into that DE number one. And I maybe he doesn't even quite have the speed and twitch to be that number one. I love this guy as my second best rusher on my defense. Playing against right offensive tackles, maybe as he continues to grow the disruption, the length inside is a three tech inside rusher. But again, I think this guy is your second best, which is a second round drafted player. Maybe even with production into the first round, Testwell does all those things. I think this is a top starter in the NFL. Again, a Derek Moore from this last year type of guy that again does a lot of things well. Maybe not quite the traits to be that number one rusher for you, but you like him. You want him on your team. So we're going to hit save on this one. and stick him on the board. He is Quincy Rhodes Jr. Let's go ahead and put that second round grade on him here. If I can edit it, hit save. There we go. We'll hit save on it right there. it's gonna drop him in here. This is gonna be our second rusher on the board. Obviously, this player from a trade standpoint, he is a notch, maybe two in some areas below Dylan Stewart of South Carolina, who is D E. Defensive player number one for me at this point. But Quincy, I think this is a second round player. You look at these guys from last year that got drafted in the second. I think he fits that similar mold. But again, you all of a sudden see a true four three edge rusher and a new Arkansas defense production ten plus. This guy could certainly make a case to be that number a player in the first round form. So that's where we'll stick him. beautiful board there brought to you by Kyle. Again, that's where I've got I've got him. But again, not always what I think. What do you think? Where do you think he needs to go? Where do you think he needs to end up? First round, second round, am I too high? Let me know your thoughts. Drop them in the comments here on YouTube. Let me know on Twitter at right step ADV. Who do you want to hear next? Let me know as well. Another edge, another wide receiver, quarterback, O line. Let me know. I'll bring him to you. Love talking trades, love talking drafts, so you know I am going to keep scouting.