Big Board ranking: #94

Positional ranking: #8

 

Overview

Position: S

College: Utah

Class: Sophomore

Age: 22

 

Measurables

Height: 5’11 1/8”

Weight: 210 lbs.

Arm length: 29 1/8”

Hand size: 8 5/8”

 

Athletic testing

40-yard dash: 4.62 sec.

10-yard split: 1.54 sec.

Vertical jump: 39.5”

Broad jump: 125.0”

Bench press: 20 reps

3-cone drill: N/A

Short shuttle: N/A

 

Strengths

Solid overall build. Outstanding strength for his size. Great acceleration. Very good speed. Tremendous leaping ability and athleticism. Quick reaction time. Flies to the ball and plays hard. Provides major pop on contact. Wrap-up form tackler when he gets his hands on opponents. Very controlled to tackle if on the attack. Sheds and squares up. Excellent technique to stay square while strafing towards the ball as a backside defender. Extremely aggressive into the backfield. Flows to the spot on outside runs when playing in the box. Great feet when used in man coverage. Exceptional burst to close off space in coverage. Good overall feel in intermediate zone coverage. Fast and smooth in side-to-side shuffle. Outstanding playmaking instincts and ball skills. Two-way player that excelled at running back. Impressive feel and vision as a ball-carrier. Natural balance and elusiveness. Very soft hands as a receiver. Has experience lining up out wide and in the slot. Used on screen passes. Ran away from defenders and ripped off chunk gains versus USC (2023) and Washington (2023).

 

Weaknesses

Frame at safety appears smaller due to below-average length. Has too many lunging attempts as a tackle. Can struggle to disengage from bigger blockers. Will have some misses versus quicker opponents in space. Needs to be better keeping contain versus outside runs when lined up close to the line of scrimmage. Limited sideline-to-sideline range as a deep safety. Can get worked too easily by eye manipulation in coverage. More fluid going forward than he is in backwards cover transitions. Did not play very well versus Oregon (2023).

 

NFL comparison

Geno Stone

 

Conclusion

Overall, Vaki is an extremely versatile player that fits best defensively as a split safety used mostly in intermediate zone coverage. The legitimate ability to play running back should increase his roster value for NFL teams as a potential target on Day 2.