Big Board ranking: #20

Positional ranking: #3

 

Overview

Position: EDGE

College: Florida State

Class: Junior (RS)

Age: 23

 

Measurables

Height: 6’3 7/8”

Weight: 254 lbs.

Arm length: 33 1/2″

Hand size: 9 7/8″

 

Athletic testing

40-yard dash: 4.58 sec.

10-yard split: 1.60 sec.

Vertical jump: 35.0″

Broad jump: 127.0″

Bench press: 31 reps

3-cone drill: 7.31 sec.

Short shuttle: 4.44 sec.

 

Strengths

Thick and strong build. Tremendous strength. Physical and aggressive overall player. Very good acceleration. Excellent get off at the snap. Outstanding power on the bull rush. Walks back offensive tackles with power rushes. Tremendous outside chop move to disarm offensive tackles. Speed rush has some juice. Shows bend to flatten and finish. Closes and wraps up with violence. Delivers a crushing blow if given the opportunity. Effective on stunts. Exceptional overall balance. Can get in the backfield in a flash. Great instincts to knock down quick passes. Terrific overall play recognition. Impressive speed with a head of steam (nearly tracked down LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels). Hands are quick and strong to shed. Will side step blockers at the snap. Uses strength to overpower opponents off him. Spins and contorts to get off blocks. Strikes at the chest of blockers with two hands and stays low to create leverage. Hand placement is accurate and effective. Keeps outside leverage while squeezing down to play inside runs. Strong to stack tight ends at the point of attack. Doesn’t hesitate crashing inside to play the run. Very eager to get in on gang tackles. Experience both standing up and playing with his hand in the dirt. Broke out a few effective spin moves and seemed to be playing faster versus Florida (2023).

 

Weaknesses

A bit stiff in terms of quickness to counter as a pass rusher. General reaction time can be a beat slow. Would like to see a little more consistency from game to game.

 

NFL comparison

Brian Orakpo

 

Conclusion

Overall, Verse is an aggressive edge defender with a tremendous bull rush and great physicality defending the run. If he can consistently be at his best from week to week, everything is there for Verse to be a standout player at the next level.