2020 NFL DRAFT SCOUTING REPORT
MARCH 31, 2020
NFL Draft 2020 Scouting Report: DE Alex Highsmith, Charlotte
*Our DL grades can and will change as more information comes in from Pro Day workouts, leaked Wonderlic test results, etc. We will update ratings as new info becomes available.
I pushed to do an Alex Highsmith scouting report for three reasons/items that I’ve come across the past few months…
1) I preview scouted his work for the East-West Shrine Bowl, and he was my favorite edge/DE prospect there after doing all the previews and watching the week/game.
2) He got an NFL Combine invite and came away from the event with very solid numbers (4.70 40-time, 1.68 10-yard, 33” vertical, 10’5” broad).
3) I heard Dabo Sweeney raving about him, and then went back to watch him in his 2019 game against Clemson again and re-watched his performance and found more high praise quotes from Dabo about Highsmith from that game.
All this from a guy who was top three in the NCAAs in TFLs and sacks in 2019 season. My curiosity was piqued -- could Highsmith be a sneaky top DE prospect up there with the Chase Youngs and K’Lavon Chaissons? I watched more tape and looked at his case as a top prospect – and the short answer is…’No, he’s not in the Young-Chaisson crowd’. But that doesn’t mean he’s not a legit prospect for the NFL. The question is – what tier is he among DE/edge prospects? Potential starter…backup…fringe roster guy?
I’d put Highsmith in the C+ range, after my studies…I was hoping for B or B+ based on my initial previews but the deeper I go, the more I lean away from strong ‘B’ to low ‘B’ or ‘C’ grade. There is an upside to a ‘B’ player for him…some potential that he is 2020 version of Carl Nassib or smaller-scale Maxx Crosby – underappreciated for the draft and then their solid skills plus smarts and relentless play ends up winning the day.
Highsmith was a walk-on to the Charlotte football team and then earned his way to a scholarship for his final three seasons. His key stat progression…
2016 FR = 2.0 TFLs, 1.0 sacks
2017 SO = 5.0 TFLs, 2.0 sacks
And then he started to pop…
2018 JR = 18.5 TFLs, 3.0 sacks
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2019 SR = 21.5 TFLs, 15.0 sacks
After playing Clemson in 2019, the team’s 4th game of the season, Dabo Sweeney said that Highsmith was “The best player we’ve faced the first part of the season.” Later, he said…”(Highsmith) could start for anyone in the country.” That’s high praise. The Clemson left tackle said, “He’s the fastest player off the ball I’ve ever faced in a game.” These praises are pretty amazing.
When you watch him against Clemson – you could see why. Highsmith was beating the left tackle about every other play. He looked like a Chase Young event. Being a pass rush top producer in the NCAAs AND impressing against Clemson is worth its weight in gold for his NFL prospect status. I was ready to crown him as great after watching him against Clemson, but then I watched him against Marshall and Buffalo (bowl) later in the season…and he was good, just not dominant. I expected him to be unstoppable against equal or non-Clemson opponents, but Highsmith was just ‘good’…and getting doubled a bit, but still that zip he had against Clemson…I didn’t see it later into the season when people paid more attention to him.
He’s an interesting prospect for sure…one who won’t hurt a team or bust on them, and one who has upside. He’s as nice a young man as you’ll ever meet. He was an honor roll student in college. Guys like Highsmith and UCLA RB Joshua Kelley, walk-ons who became great in college – they have the same patterns…hard work, humble, appreciative, productive/good/great, honor roll students (as Highsmith was). These are guys who deserve a better ranking, treatment in the pre-Draft process…but the NFL mostly fawns over backups at Clemson or Alabama more than a guy like Highsmith (thus no Senior Bowl invite, which was a crime).
There’s a good NFL prospect here…we just don’t know whether he peaks at B-C ‘good’ or has ‘A’ in him. The fact that the ‘A’ is a potential outcome makes him a valuable ‘value’ pick mid-draft.
Alex Highsmith, Through the Lens of Our DE Scouting Algorithm:
15.0 sacks in 2019, after having just 6.0 sacks his first three years…impressive but a little wary of that, but also note a coaching change happened for 2019 and the team got better and Highsmith thrived/learned more than he had his previous three years (per his words). He’s like one who is growing into a ballplayer, not a slug for a few years and then had one good season.
Worry that 6.5 of his 15.0 sacks in 2019 came against FCS Gardner-Webb and (1-11) Old Dominion.
Against Clemson, Appalachian State, and Buffalo (bowl), he averaged 4.7 tackles, 1.0 TFLs, and 1.0 sacks per game…not bad.
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2020 NFL DRAFT SCOUTING REPORT
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2020 NFL Combine Data:
6’3.1”/248, 9 1/8” hands, 33 1/8” arms
4.70 40-time (4th-best at the Combine among DE prospects)
1.68 10-yard (4th-best at the Combine among DE prospects)
4.31 shuttle, 7.32 three-cone (4th-best at the Combine among DE prospects) n/a bench press
33” vertical (2nd-best at the Combine among DE prospects)
10’5” broad (2nd-best at the Combine among DE prospects)
The Historical DE Prospects to Whom Alex Highsmith Most Compares Within Our System:
This is what I worry about Highsmith’s translation to the next level…I liked Brailford and Jeffcoat and Emanuel too…they were also-rans in the NFL. Shane Ray was a bust we saw coming…I don’t like that Highsmith might have some of that DNA. Highsmith is better than Ray ever was, however, to me.
DE Last First Yr College H H W Tackle, Speed, Pass Tackle Score Strngth Agility Rush Metric Metric Metric Metric 7.633 Highsmith Alex 2020 Charlotte 6 3.1 248 10.25 4.56 8.72 6.59 6.235 Brailford Jordan 2019 Oklahoma St. 6 2.5 252 8.67 5.86 6.06 6.02 6.794 Emanuel Kyle 2015 No Dakota St 6 3.2 255 8.78 5.80 8.39 6.18 4.441 Underwood Colton 2014 Illinois St 6 3.0 254 8.69 3.24 6.76 6.36 7.340 Jeffcoat Jackson 2014 Texas 6 3.0 247 8.48 8.12 8.34 6.31 4.180 Smith Bryan 2008 McNeese St 6 2.3 231 9.48 4.78 6.86 9.45 3.085 Ray Shane 2015 Missouri 6 2.5 245 8.45 -3.45 4.79 7.07
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*A score of 8.00+ is where we see a stronger correlation of DEs going on to become NFL good/great/elite. A score of 10.00+ is more rarefied air in our system and indicates a greater probability of becoming an elite NFL DE. All of the DE ratings are based on a 0–10 scale, but a player can score negative, or above a 10.0 in certain instances. Power-Strength Metrics = A combination of several measurements. An attempt to classify the DE prospect as more of a battle-in-the-trenches type of DE, a 'bull-rusher', and/or a DE prospect who has some DT capabilities. Speed-Agility Metrics = A combination of several speed, agility, size measurements. A unique measuring system to look for DEs who profile more as speed-rush, stand-up DEs, and/or possible OLBs. Pass-Rusher Rating = A combination of physical measurables, and college performance, graded historically for future NFL profiling. In the simplest of terms, this is an attempt to classify whether a particular DE is likely to achieve high sack totals in the NFL. We know the 'system'/scheme the DE goes on to play in has a part in future success...but so do the player's skills and performance history. "You can't keep a good man/DE down," we'd like to think. Tackling Rating = A combination of physical measurables, and college performance, graded historically for future NFL profiling. In the simplest of terms, this is an attempt to classify the DE as one more likely to be involved in a heavy amount of tackles, tackles for a loss, and forced fumbles. Lower-scoring DEs in this subcategory tend to be more pure pass-rushers/specialists. This is also our attempt to quantify, if it's possible, the 'toughness' of a player.
2020 NFL Draft Outlook:
I see Highsmith tracking as a 4th-round pick most everywhere I look, and that’s a very logical prediction. Guys like him, snubbed for the Senior Bowl, aren’t as likely to get a bounce into day-two without an awesome Combine…and Highsmith was solid at the Combine, but not ‘wow’.
If I were an NFL GM, I’d really like to have Highsmith on my team in my building. I just wouldn’t chase him. If he fell to the 5th-round, I’d really think about (depending upon what else fell). In the end, I don’t see enough ‘star’ clues to make me press after him.
NFL Outlook:
He should be a solid NFL player…whether as an eventual starter or a rotational backup. I don’t think he’ll just flat out fail. He may not be a star, but he might be really solid – like Carl Nassib, etc. I hope so for his
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2020 NFL DRAFT SCOUTING REPORT
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sake, he’s worked his ass off for a real chance at the NFL. I hope they don’t snub him too hard for being a mid-major school, non-Senior Bowl guy.
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