Elite RAS Score Sends Clemson Defensive Lineman Climbing 2026 NFL Draft Rankings

It's draft month, and there's one Clemson Tiger who could be rising up every team's draft board until everybody's name is called.

Clemson defensive lineman DeMonte Capehart could go higher than an expected Day 3 pick after a strong NFL Combine. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Entering the combine, DeMonte Capehart was not necessarily on anyone's radar, at least not in the early rounds. The 6-foot-5, 314-pound defensive lineman was initially projected as a Day 3 pick, falling somewhere in the fourth or fifth round. 

Now, that agenda might be changing. 

In a metric titled “relative athletic score,” Capehart’s combine scores earned him a cumulative 9.96 RAS out of a possible 10.00. RAS evaluates a player’s athletic testing by benchmarking it against all players at the same position from 1987 through the year of that player’s draft, creating a fixed, era-specific score. Capehart now sits at No. 9 all-time at his position out of 2270 total defensive tackles since 1987.

Statistically, that means Capehart’s physical abilities are in the top 0.03% of all DTs in the last 39 years. 

One of the eight names listed ahead of Capehart is Jordan Davis, a first-round pick in 2022 for the Philadelphia Eagles out of the University of Georgia, who received a perfect 10.0. Markus Kuhn, who was given a 9.98, was drafted by the New York Giants in 2012 and played four seasons, making history as the first German player to score an NFL touchdown.

But Capehart and prospective NFL teams should proceed with some caution. 

Justin Zimmer, who scored 9.97 and was drafted in 2016, played with several teams, most notably the Buffalo Bills, where he made some impact plays, but ultimately had minimal professional success.

Scoring high on the RAS metric is not a surefire indicator of extreme NFL talent. But Copehart’s score is certainly something that will raise some eyebrows. 

His draft stock was initially hindered in part by an arrest suffered in Clemson in February 2024. Capehart was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm on university grounds and failure to exercise due care in a motor vehicle.

But beyond his off-field antics, Capehart was solid for Clemson. In five seasons, he registered 71 tackles (43 solo), 4 sacks and a forced fumble. 

His junior and senior seasons were by far the most impressive, suggesting a true growth from the time he arrived on campus and the time he left. He played in nine games in 2024 and 11 in 2025, registering more than 20 total tackles in each campaign.

At the combine, he recorded a 4.85 40-yard dash and a 33.5’’ vertical. 

“Still chasing dreams so forth and so far along beyond Clemson,” Capehart said after the combine at Clemson’s Pro Day.