Keion White 2023 NFL Draft profile: Scout report for the Georgia Tech EDGE
Keion White, just a two-star recruit at tight end for Old Dominion in 2017, spent a year on the offensive side of the ball before converting to the defensive line. In his one season at D-end with the Monarchs, he put up 62 total tackles, 19 of those for loss, 3.5 sacks and one interception, fumble forced and fumble recovered.
White nearly lost two full seasons after that, due to COVID canceling ODU’s year and then after missing the first eight of 12 games in 2021 with an offseason injury after transferring to Georgia Tech. In ’22 he put up 54 tackles, 14 for loss and a career-best 7.5 sacks.
Keion White, Georgia Tech
6-foot-4, 280 pounds; Redshirt senior
Positives
+ Even without having seen White at full health for two years, Bruce Feldman put White at No. 20 of his “Freaks List,, with 21 mph of GPS-tracked time along with some other impressive testing numbers
+ Would be a freakish mover for a true edge, but has the natural strength and plenty of experience lining up inside
+ With nearly 34-inch arms, he has the length and power to lock out and keep vision through blockers in the run game, plus then he has the ankle flexibility to circle around the guy in front of him when he has a chance to get a hand on the ballcarrier
+ You see White get banged from the side by the angular man of combo blocks and somehow maintain his balance, not get uprooted from his area
+ He has some plays against the run, where he can penetrate and just blow things up blindly, as well as completely cave in the backside when guys just try to seal him off
+ Georgia Tech would slant him across the tackle’s face, and he would be able to track down the ballcarrier going away from him on wide zone at times
+ Not somebody you can expect to create movement against on kick-out or sift blocks, at best ending in stalemates and mostly he slips off those
+ You see White pull blockers off himself late and get involved on tackles frequently
+ Features some ridiculous change of direction, which shows up against bootlegs, reverses, etc.
+ If you leave him unblocked as the read-man on invert veer for example, with how quickly White can blow up the mesh point, there are times where neither option is able to really accelerate once they commit to having the ball
+ When he can rush from wide alignment and has that runway off the ball, you can see the acceleration he has up the arc
+ Offers impressive flexibility in his lower half to drop his knees and ankles in order to corner his rushes, plus even when he starts to stumble at times, he can continue on that arc
+ It’s pretty crazy at times when White is long-arming a tackle and it seems he’s about to go past the QB, but somehow he’s able to circle back around with his feet way outside of his frame and he finds a way to get there
+ Flashes a rapid spin move to free himself off contact late, at times after bouncing around bodies
+ Delivers significant knock-back when banging into linemen who try to give him ground, and you see some flashes, when he does convert speed-power-power that really pop off the screen
+ When you cut down the length White has to cover, slanting into the A-gap, he can blow through one shoulder of the guard or center and create pressure right up the QB’s face in a hurry
+ White’s skill set can be used to set up front game, where he can crash across gaps on stunts, where he pulls bodies with him and frees the lane for a guy from the other side or the second level to loop around
+ Recorded 30 hurries and four more QB hits along with his 7.5 sacks last season across 276 pass-rushing snaps
+ The Yellowjackets peeled him off the edge as a hook or flat dropper every once in a while, even though he doesn’t seem super comfortable with it right now, just because he didn’t really do it at Old Dominion
Negatives
– At this point certainly lacks an awareness for run schemes and needs to learn how to counter the first steps of the O-line
– Too often you see blockers being able to get the outside foot around him and seal him on outside zone or reach-block on perimeter-oriented plays as well as him trying to jump inside and allowing opportunities to get out to the edge
– Has to work on his hand placement when trying to free himself of the reach of blockers and dictate rushes
– Doesn’t currently rush with a legit plan or set up his moves accordingly, winning largely based on his natural talent and not threatening blockers laterally
– Will already turn 25 right around the end of the 2023 NFL regular season, and it has yet to really click for him
Overview
You just don’t see many 280-plus pound humans move at the pace White can. The size-speed-power combination is off the charts, and some flashes of that natural talent are blinding.
Unfortunately, considering he’s currently projected to potentially go late in the first round to a contender, he may end up celebrating his 25th birthday as his team makes the playoffs and he’s still looked at as more of a project, who can’t be a major contributor at that stage.
The ability to diagnose plays and proactively use his hands to take control aren’t there yet. That doesn’t mean at all that he won’t get there one day. You just need to know what you’re investing into.
The potential is right up there with anybody outside the top three for me at least and I think he's best suited playing head-up or inside the tackle on early downs, where he doesn’t have to worry about as much going on around him in favor of just crashing into blockers and create problems.
Grade: Top-50 overall
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