South Carolina's Nick Emmanwori Is THE RAREST Athlete In The 2025 NFL Draft

AtoZ Sports

Just how rare is South Carolina DB Nick Emmanwori? Joe DeLeone and Ryan Roberts break down the 2025 NFL Draft prospect from South Carolina football in their Nick Emmanwori Scouting Report

Transcript

00:00Nick Emanuari is one of the rarest athletes we've ever seen enter the NFL.

00:05Here's why his traits are going to make him one of the best safeties in the league.

00:10Ryan, do you think Nick Emanuari's freakish athleticism is going to work in the NFL?

00:18I do.

00:19I do.

00:20I think that there is a role that will specifically fit him best on the NFL level, but I do think

00:24anytime we're talking about a six foot three, 220 pound kid with good instincts and can

00:29absolutely fly around the field, I think there is obviously a place for that with the right

00:33defensive coordinator.

00:34I was so geeked up when he ran that 4-3-8.

00:37I felt vindicated knowing and seeing what his film was like, but it made me feel excited

00:43that a player like this is a part of this class.

00:45But the biggest part about Emanuari, Ryan, is that he's not one of these players that's

00:50just big and fast and doesn't know how to use it, doesn't know how to play the game

00:54of football.

00:55We see a consistent impact.

00:56We see a guy that is overpowering smaller receivers, that's keeping up with and boxing

01:01out tight ends.

01:03He is exactly what I think a lot of creative defensive coordinators want in their safeties.

01:08I almost don't even want to call him a safety.

01:09I want to call him a defensive weapon.

01:11That's kind of how I view Nick Emanuari, because I think that if we're just labeling him as

01:15a safety, you're going to think about the traditional stuff, right?

01:18Working from depth and being a guy that could be a stalwart and deep in zone coverage.

01:23But when I look at this young man, I think that he is a guy that could play on the second

01:27and the third level for a team, right?

01:29Because he has that rare size and he has that rare athleticism.

01:32So whether I'm asking for him to walk up a tight end in the slot, I'm asking him to be

01:36an extra box defender, or I'm asking him to work from the roof, I think that he can bring

01:39a little bit of everything and be a Swiss army knife for a team on the back end.

01:43Right.

01:44That's what makes a prospect like this so rare, Ryan, is having a player who can do

01:48so many different things.

01:49We always discuss on this channel, being able to play multiple roles is what makes you even

01:53more valuable as a player in the NFL.

01:56A defensive coordinator who can deploy him, as you talked about, in the box, who can play

02:00over the top, who actually moves pretty well in coverage.

02:04There are so many different avenues to see an impact with Nick Emanuari.

02:09If we're talking about just some weaknesses, though, just to put into context that this

02:12isn't a perfect prospect, he's a rare one, but he's not a perfect prospect.

02:15I do think we need to acknowledge that there needs to be some improvements with the angles

02:20that he's taking in the football.

02:22He needs to not just overly rely on his athleticism to make plays.

02:25Yeah, and I would also add into that, because I do think that there is an over reliability

02:32for the athlete that he is, and an overcompensating kind of feeling to that regard.

02:38But I would say this to Joe, I think that he's overaggressive at times because of how

02:44physical he is, how much of a downhill plugger he is.

02:47And then also, I think we also need to understand that if you're going to ask this kid to play

02:51single high free safety, the majority of the snaps, that's not going to be the best role

02:54for him.

02:55It's not, because he is still 6'3 plus, he still is 220 plus pounds, and he is going

03:00to be a little bit of a high legged kid that is not going to have the most amazing deep

03:04range of all time.

03:05So if we're going to draft him to be a free safety center fielder type, you're probably

03:09not going to get your money's worth off of that investment.

03:11This is a kid that needs to move around, come towards the line of scrimmage, come down

03:15into the box.

03:16He's better coming forward than he is going backwards.

03:19So I do think that we need that concept and that context for what makes him such a really

03:23talented football player.

03:25The thing that's always really fun too about a prospect like Eamon Warry is that this wasn't

03:28a five star kid.

03:30This wasn't a guy who was a five star recruit that was the number one safety in his class.

03:34He was actually a three star, the 59th ranked safety in the 2022 class, the seventh highest

03:41rated prospect in the state of South Carolina per 247 sports coming out of Irmo, South Carolina.

03:48I love guys like this that have this rapid progression and growth once they, maybe they're

03:53late bloomers once they kind of grow into their bodies and they get this chance to really

03:56shine on the field.

03:57Well, it's, it's hilarious.

03:58I was actually looking at his recruiting background as far as like his offers, Joe, South Carolina

04:03was his only powerful offer.

04:05The only one, he only had three other reported offers.

04:08He had Charlotte, Georgia Southern, and then FCS Richmond, right?

04:12So like this kid did not have a lot of options, man.

04:15There was only one option that stood amongst the rest.

04:18And obviously he's a South Carolina kid.

04:20I'm sure he grew up with deep knowledge of the Gamecock program and everything that they

04:23bring to it.

04:24But we're, let's not act like this kid had a ton of options as a, as a recruit.

04:28He was a lightly recruited kid for X, Y, and Z reason.

04:32He was listed at 6, 3, 2 0 8.

04:33So I'm still a pretty big kid coming out of the state of South Carolina, but for a reason,

04:38I don't know the context of it.

04:39Was he playing multiple positions in high school?

04:41Not really sure what that background is, but for whatever reason, he was a lightly recruited

04:45kid and it is a great story that he even ended up playing for the Gamecocks and then ending

04:48up to be one of the best players we've seen for South Carolina over the last several years.

04:54There's a couple of different options, Ryan, that we can go here for a comparison.

04:57Kyle Hamilton, I think is a good comparison for his role and how he'll be deployed.

05:02Derwin James is another one because there's a similar physical profile, but I think the

05:06best one that we can go with here is Jeremy Chin.

05:08Now Jeremy Chin's bounced around a little bit, but there was just some unreal moments

05:15that he had, especially as a rookie.

05:17And I see this with Nick Emanuari that Nick Emanuari is the better version of Jeremy Chin,

05:22almost the version of Jeremy Chin coming into the league.

05:24If he was a couple of years already developed of having played SEC football.

05:29Well, it is a really unique comparison though, from just like a height, weight, speed perspective.

05:33Because I remember Jeremy Chin coming out of Southern Illinois and he was literally

05:36six foot three.

05:37He was literally 221 pounds and he tested like an absolute freak of nature.

05:40I'm pretty sure he's the number one all time for RAS for the relative athletic score for

05:46safety.

05:47I think so.

05:48Just some freaky stuff.

05:49And Nick Emanuari may have overtaken him this year.

05:52I'm not really a hundred percent sure about that one, but this is one of the rarest athletes

05:57we've ever seen at the safety position.

05:58Jeremy Chin was the same way, but Jeremy Chin was also Joe, a guy that had been utilized

06:03all over the place.

06:04Right?

06:05Like he was a short zone defender.

06:06He was playing in the box.

06:07He was playing on the second level a ton.

06:08And I think Nick Emanuari is a guy that needs to do a lot of those similar things.

06:11Move him around, get him down into the box, utilize his all around skill set that he brings

06:17to the table.

06:18Similarly to how Jeremy Chin was used early in his career with Carolina.

06:21Folks, comment below.

06:23What team do you want to see Nick Emanuari play for?

06:25Hit that like button and subscribe.

06:27We'll talk to you later.

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