Overview

Position: DL

College: South Carolina

Class: Junior (RS)

Age: 21

 

Measurables

Height: 6’3 7/8”

Weight: 297 lbs.

Arm length: 33 1/8”

Hand size: 10 1/4″

 

Athletic testing

40-yard dash: N/A

10-yard split: N/A

Vertical jump: 31.5”

Broad jump: 112.0”

Bench press: N/A

3-cone drill: 7.70 sec.

Short shuttle: 4.67 sec.

 

Strengths

Athletic build and well-conditioned. Plays with great balance. High motor and keeps his feet moving. Quick change-of-direction skills. Very quick lateral movements. Athletic and light on his feet. Smooth breaking down and changing direction. Often slanted at the snap to create penetration. Agile at the snap to make blockers miss. Fluid overall body movements to work around blockers. Very good overall play recognition. Quick to disengage and tackle laterally. Hands are very quick and strong to shed after engaging. Very effective stack-and-shed ability. Accurate hand placement as a run defender. Very strong to extend and hold his ground. Impressive holding his ground versus bigger blockers. Does his job slanting and creating traffic as a run defender. Quick disengaging from a block to tackle on the second level. Excellent overall pursuit and hustle. Very good closing burst. Great pursuit speed towards the sideline. Able to stop quarterback sneaks with quicks and low leverage at the snap. Often faced double teams as a rusher. Quick on loops and stunts. Very active hands as a rusher. Quick to split blockers as a rusher. Strong reach to drive opponents back as a rusher. Tremendous power rush over the center. Hands are very strong to grab and control opponents as a rusher. Great swipe move. Quick rip move. Closes accurately on the quarterback. Experience lining up all along the interior. Used as a five-technique in heavy personnel. Very smooth when used to drop in coverage.

 

Weaknesses

Will unnecessarily move laterally and take himself out of the ball-carriers path. Can get pushed around by side shoves. Has been blown up by powerful opponents when going into their gap. Seems too segmented based on assignment rather than being aggressive trying to get past blockers.

 

NFL comparison

Malik Jackson

 

Conclusion

Overall, Sanders is an athletic, penetrating defensive lineman with active hands and outstanding strength for his size. He could be more impactful at the NFL level with more traditional one-on-one rushes rather than the heavy slanting opportunities he saw at South Carolina.

 

Big Board ranking: #75 | Positional ranking: #9