You Haven’t Seen a Linebacker Like Anthony Hill Jr. | 2026 NFL Draft - video Dailymotion

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Is Anthony Hill Jr. a top prospect in the 2026 NFL Draft? Joe DeLeone and Ryan Roberts break down the Anthony Hill Jr. film, diving into his elite blend of power and speed. They explore what makes Anthony Hill Jr. Texas’s breakout linebacker and debate if he’s a future star in the league.

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00:00Is Anthony Hill Jr. the most dangerous prospect in the 2026 NFL Draft?

00:05Stay tuned to see how his rare blend of power and speed could change the game at the next level.

00:15Anthony Hill Jr. has been one of the most disruptive defenders in college football.

00:19Ryan, how do you have him graded for the 2026 NFL Draft?

00:23He's a late day two player for me right now, Joe, which is going to surprise some folks

00:28because you're going to see him in a lot of first round mocks this time of year.

00:31But this kid is the definition of a lot of tools, a lot of volatility, a lot of inconsistency.

00:39I understand the appeal physically looks like a million bucks, moves really well.

00:45But I just really question the diagnostic skills and just the feel overall for playing the linebacker position right now.

00:52Anthony Hill, for me, has an early second round grade in this class.

00:55I'm like really invested in his traits, fluid as all hell.

00:59He's explosive.

01:01His highest degree of success is as a pass rusher.

01:04Like as a true freshman, that was how they used him.

01:06And then they started to play him more off ball.

01:09He's got the frame on like Harold Perkins to actually become an off ball linebacker.

01:13But I think like there's a really interesting overarching conversation that we can have

01:18about these types of players that are really good athletes.

01:22defensive coordinators want to get them on the field early.

01:24So they just tell them to blitz or they have them rush off the edge.

01:29And then they've already gone down a rabbit hole in a way where you're trying to pull them back

01:36and ask them to become an instinctive player to learn how to read things off ball and away

01:42from the line of scrimmage.

01:43That is the biggest thing with Anthony Hill Jr.

01:46If he can show another year of him playing as a weak side backer, just the understanding

01:53of how to flow to the football, to not hesitate, to not have the gears turning in his head

01:59before he moves to the football, then we can talk about him as a first rounder,

02:03as like a true weapon, a guy that is just going to cause headaches as a multi-use weapon.

02:07But it's just a weird conversation that I don't think happens enough in modern football

02:13that defensive coordinators almost in a way try to cut corners and it sometimes ruins prospects.

02:19Yeah, he's just such a divisive player because like you see the production, obviously,

02:24like he was a tackle for loss sack merchant in 2024.

02:27He had a ton of tackles.

02:28Like he did a lot of good things for Texas, obviously, as like a playmaking presence from

02:31the inside.

02:32But from a linebacker perspective, I'm such a purist in the sense of like, I need eyes.

02:38I need discipline.

02:39I need guys to just kind of feel through traffic.

02:42And I just don't think Anthony Hill does that right now.

02:44And I do think that you're right in the sense of like, I think that he is, he is limited

02:49by the role that he has played, not only at Texas so far, but in high school as well.

02:54Like he was a guy that was just going to blitz and get downhill and he was going to declare

02:57a gap early and he was going to make explosive plays.

03:00But when you're talking about the read and react skills from the inside, like you have

03:04to be patient.

03:04Like there's a level of patience to read things out and be able to attack accordingly and

03:09in the right timing.

03:10And that's just kind of the thing that are missing mostly in Anthony Hill's game.

03:13If you just want big six foot three, 235 plus pounds, explosive downhill, can rush the

03:20quarterback from, from multiple spots and multiple gaps.

03:24There's a lot to love with an Anthony Hill, but you have to admit to yourself that there

03:28is some volatility as well.

03:29And there's a little bit of a question mark as far as his pure instincts for playing the

03:33linebacker position.

03:35I really think, and this isn't a direct comparison.

03:38I really think that Anthony Hill can be viewed in the same light as what Jihad Campbell was

03:43this year.

03:44If we do see better processing.

03:45And what I mean by that is he's going to test well at the NFL combine.

03:49He's going to have really good numbers.

03:50It will be one of those debates of like, Hey, is this guy fit in the middle of the first

03:56round for a team that's looking for somebody who can just be a battering ram as a blitzer

04:00and also, um, a quality player from depth as a linebacker.

04:05So as Campbell was taken in the end of the first round with injury concerns, there's a

04:09chance that Anthony Hill jr could be a riser.

04:11Let's quickly just talk about his background as a recruit.

04:14This is a former five-star.

04:15He was super highly recruited, uh, coming out of Denton, Texas, number one linebacker

04:20in the 2023 class, number 17 overall recruit.

04:24I remember when we talked about him a couple of years ago, he was freakish on tape and that

04:29translation and that jump is, is happened on a year by year basis.

04:33It's funny that you're having the conversation of like edge versus true off ball linebacker,

04:38because I remember when Anthony Hill was coming out in the 2023 class, that was a lot, a lot

04:42of fan bases were talking about.

04:43They're like, is this a future standup rusher or is this a guy that's going to play true

04:47off ball?

04:48Obviously he has now become that inside linebacker and all American candidate for the longhorns,

04:54but it's just been very interesting.

04:55Like he made in pretty early impacts with Texas in year one.

04:59He developed into an all American in year two.

05:01I'm excited to see the jump that he could potentially make in year three with the program.

05:05Folks comment below.

05:06How early would you draft Anthony Hill jr in the 2026 NFL draft?

05:11Hit that like button and subscribe.

05:12We'll talk to you later.

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You Haven’t Seen a Linebacker Like Anthony Hill Jr. | 2026 NFL Draft

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