Profiling UCLA Football's Potential 2022 NFL Draft Prospects
The college football season has been rolling for a couple weeks, but the NFL is just now kicking things off.
Per usual, there will be plenty of UCLA football alumni playing on Thursdays, Sundays and Mondays this fall. Two more are joining the fray in 2021 after getting picked by the Dallas Cowboys and Cleveland Browns – Osa Odighizuwa and Demetric Felton – one year after five other Bruins made their NFL debuts.
Now, it's time to look ahead to who might come next.
In an exclusive interview with Zack Patraw, the President of Sports Illustrated and FanNation's The NFL Draft Bible, All Bruins picked up some tips on what scouts think of the biggest names on UCLA's active roster, and what their chances are to hear their names called at next year's draft.
Sean Rhyan, LT
Height: 6 feet, 5 inches
Weight: 320 pounds
Class: Junior
Projection: Top 20
Across the board, Rhyan is the highest-rated prospect in Westwood this season.
Rhyan has started all 21 of UCLA's games at left tackle since he joined the program, and that has led to scouts getting a real good look at him on tape over the past three years. He burst onto the scene as a unanimous freshman All-American in 2019, and then he followed that up with a highly-rated, albeit shortened, 2020 campaign as well.
"He's very explosive in his sets, aims his punches very well, engages blocks with good timing, he's rarely lunging at blocks," Patraw said. "He's a guy that's gonna be NFL-ready for you. He's athletic and well-rounded."
The Bruins' run game has taken major strides with Rhyan joining the offensive line, and the pass protection on quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson's blind side has improved drastically as well.
That doesn't mean scouts view him as a perfect prospect, however.
"One thing I want him to show this year, I need to see more aggressiveness out of him," Patraw said. "There's a lot of times where he can be a little bit too passive. One thing that show up in that is he can be late to throw his hands and punch, and he's a little stiff."
Even with all of that, Patraw sees Rhyan as a mid-first rounder in the same area as Kolton Miller in 2018. One more step forward and he could end up being the highest-drafted offensive lineman out of UCLA since the great Jonathan Ogden.
"If I start seeing some of those improvements with his aggressiveness, playing less passive, I think he's gonna be a guy that we could see actually go top 10," Patraw said.
Read The Draft Bible's exclusive scouting report on Rhyan HERE.
Zach Charbonnet, RB
Height: 6 feet, 1 inch
Weight: 220 pounds
Class: Junior
Projection: Late 2nd-Early 4th
Just months after Charbonnet got to UCLA, his play is already paving him a way out of town.
The Michigan transfer has racked up 223 yards and four touchdowns through two games as a Bruin, all on just 17 total carries. Charbonnet's physical attributes drew scouts attention even while he was back in Ann Arbor, but now his production is doing the talking for him.
"I just love his size, and he's got good speed for a guy who's 220-plus," Patraw said. "I want to see him catch the ball a lot more this year, I want to see him pick the right holes and show that he's got good vision and good instincts as a runner because that's something that I look at a lot."
So far in 2021, Charbonnet has picked all the right holes, as he just just as many carries that have gone for fewer than 5 yards than he does carries that have gone for 15-plus.
Patraw said he's loved what he's seen so far from Charbonnet, and that he is even higher on him than NFL teams seem to be at the moment. Once more people catch on to what Charbonnet is cooking in Westwood, Patraw said he will very likely be a top 10 running back come April.
"This is the one guy that I see differently than the two lead scouts that I talk to quite often," Patraw said. "I think they have him late Day 2, early Day 3. I've got him right around that late second round mark, I feel like I do like him a little bit more than what I'm hearing from some guys. He's burst onto the scene, I think he's gonna be one of those guys that ends up jumping up draft boards just with the production he's shown."
Greg Dulcich, TE
Height: 6 feet, 4 inches
Weight: 250 pounds
Class: Redshirt Junior
Projection: 3rd-4th
For the third time in four years, the Bruins are likely to have a tight end get picked in the draft.
Dulcich was UCLA's leading receiver in 2020 and is on pace to hold that title again in 2021. In his last nine games as the team's TE1, Dulcich has recorded 649 yards and six touchdowns on 30 catches, which translates to 1,226 yards, 11 touchdowns and 57 receptions on a 17-game NFL pace.
"He's an exciting tight end, I like what I see out of him when he's got the ball in his hands, he's shifty" Patraw said. "He's not gonna be like some kind of blazer, but you're gonna see a guy that's gonna run in the 4.6s, which is solid speed for a tight end. He produced well in 2020, he's looked pretty good so far this year. Solid hands, decent route-runner, loose lower body that makes it tough for these safeties and linebackers to keep up with him in his route running ability."
Dulcich was named to the All-Pac-12 Second Team in 2020, perhaps a snub from the First Team. In a similar vein, Patraw said scouts are impressed by Dulcich enough to have him on their boards, but maybe not as high as they should.
"I think you're gonna see a guy like him start rising up draft boards a little bit because I'll be honest, this tight end group, I'm not excited about it," Patraw said. "Dulcich can be one those guys who rises and sets himself apart from the other guys."
For as productive as tight ends have been at UCLA under coach Chip Kelly, they haven't seen much success at the next level.
Caleb Wilson was selected by the Arizona Cardinals with the final pick of the 2019 NFL Draft, and he has been on three teams since then and appeared in less than 1% of the Philadelphia Eagles' offensive snaps in 2020. Devin Asiasi went to the New England Patriots in the third round of the 2020 NFL Draft – something that caused Patraw's jaw to drop in real time, he said – and he caught just two passes his entire rookie year before getting buried on the depth chart by free agent acquisitions Jonnu Smitth and Hunter Henry in the offseason.
Wilson and Asiasi were among the country's most productive tight ends in 2018 and 2019, combining for 1,736 yards and nine touchdowns on 104 catches those two seasons.
The spotty track record of Kelly's UCLA tight ends is not going to do Dulcich any favors when he hits draft day, but Patraw said he is a different enough player to the point where it won't exactly hurt him either.
"You always look at the coaching pedigree that he's been playing under, but he's a completely different prospect," Patraw said. "I think Dulcich is a better prospect than those two guys."
Dorian Thompson-Robinson, QB
Height: 6 feet, 1 inch
Weight: 205 pounds
Class: Senior
Projection: 5th-7th
The driving force behind the Bruins' offense has long been pushing himself as the No. 1 overall pick.
Thompson-Robinson even listed it as one of his goals on his "Don't Be a Fan Later" shirts. While a Heisman-level season probably wouldn't even get him that high on draft boards at this point, he still stands to get picked come next year's draft.
Any improvement Thompson-Robinson shows throughout the 2021 season is a bonus, since teams are reportedly already looking at him as a draftable player based on his raw talent and athleticism alone.
"I think that guy has some great potential, I don't think he's a first round prospect or anything like that, but he's very raw," Patraw said. "I think this is gonna be a guy, if he gets the right development, stays on the right path, he's gonna be a guy that's gonna make an NFL roster, potentially fight for a spot."
Thompson-Robinson slots in at No. 13 among quarterbacks on the NFL Draft Bible position rankings released Thursday, scoring a 6.1 current player value grade that places him squarely in the "Developmental" category between "Bottom of Roster" and "Practice Squad." His potential player value is 8.3, right on the borderline between "Average Starter" and "Solid Starter," which ranks ninth at his position.
A leap up the draft boards is certainly in the cards, as it is for a lot of quarterbacks every year.
"When you look back at Joe Burrow, you look back at Zach Wilson, he's not gonna make those type of jumps, but you can see these jumps that these quarterbacks are making because of so many teams that need a quarterback," Patraw said.
A recent prospect with a similar profile is former Utah quarterback Tyler Huntley.
Like Thompson-Robinson, Huntley was a three-year starter coming out of the Pac-12 who measured in at an identical 6-foot-1, 205 pounds and also profiled as a dual-threat passer. A big step up his senior season, along with the Utes' 11-3 record, helped make Huntley an immediate undrafted free agent signing by the Baltimore Ravens, and Patraw said Thompson-Robinson stands to fare better at the 2021 NFL Draft.
"I think there's more arm talent there with Thompson-Robinson," Patraw said. "I like Huntley as an athlete and as a runner, I didn't hate his arm, but I do think there's more potential in Dorian's arm that Huntley."
Qwuantrezz Knight, S
Height: 6 feet
Weight: 199 pounds
Class: Redshirt Senior
Projection: 6th-7th
Knight started his career at Maryland, then jumped to Kent State and then transferred again to UCLA.
He showed out in a shortened 2020 season, and he entered this season as one of the most vocal leaders on a defense that already seems to have taken a major step forward. Knight was a menace behind the line of scrimmage at Kent State, and he has carried that tendency over to UCLA, picking up 48 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 1.0 sacks, three pass breakups and one scoop-and-score in nine games with the Bruins.
"Knight is one of those guys I do want to see him really have a good year this year because I do think there's some potential there," Patraw said. "He had a good 2020, I want to see him bulk up a little bit, I do think he's a later round guy, but I think he's draftable."
Playing as a striker in UCLA's 4-2-5 defensive scheme, Knight will have to convince scouts he can fit into an NFL defense as either a nickel or free safety. If he can do that while leading the Bruin secondary out of the gutter, he has a real shot to get drafted.
Mitchell Agude, EDGE
Height: 6 feet, 4 inches
Weight: 245 pounds
Class: Senior
Projection: 7th-UFA
Another player with a non-traditional NFL background who has put up big numbers is Agude.
The Riverside Community College transfer has at least half of a tackle for loss in each of his nine games at UCLA, and he is already the program's all-time leader in forced fumbles after punching the ball out four times in the Bruins' first two games this season.
Patraw said he's liked what he's seen from Agude, but that he needs to improve drastically in coverage if he's going to stay at linebacker. Considering how often defensive coordinator Jerry Azzinaro and assistant head coach Brian Norwood like to end four or five rushers, Agude may not get too many chances to prove himself on that front.
"He's a draftable guy, in my opinion, more of a seventh round pick – you could definitely see him not make it onto a team after draft day, but I do think that he ends up as a training camp guy," Patraw said. "I would like to see a little more explosiveness out of him coming downhill, great run support though, all those forced fumbles and tackles for loss. I do think there's a ton of potential there, just I don't think he quite has that overall athleticism. That's what you want to see out of your linebackers now, you've got tight ends like Kyle Pitts coming out, you've got to be able to cover those guys and man them up."
Players like Von Miller and TJ Watt are the same size as Agude and have managed to thrive as disruptive specialists, so there clearly is a role for Agude to fill in a 3-4 defense at the next level. Any team that doesn't run that base set probably won't give Agude the time of day without any notable coverage skills, so that certainly narrows down the list of teams who could scoop him up.
Otito Ogbonnia, DT
Height: 6 feet, 4 inches
Weight: 320 pounds
Class: Senior
Projection: 7th-UFA
The Bruins just had an interior defensive lineman go in last year's draft, and while it isn't very likely they make it back-to-back, Ogbonnia has the physical tools to get real NFL attention.
"He's a block eater, he opens up lanes for linebackers to come downhill or pass rush up the middle," Patraw said. "You're not gonna get excited to see a guy eat up blocks, but he's fun to watch just take on double teams."
Ogbonnia was No. 57 on The Athletic's annual college football "Freaks List" due to his national championship-level shot put ability and shocking powerlifting history. Squatting 683 pounds will draw eyeballs no matter what, and it doesn't hurt that he's proving to be a solid presence on the inside for UCLA through two games this season.
Quentin Lake, S
Height: 6 feet, 1 inch
Weight: 205 pounds
Class: Senior
Projection: 7th-UFA
One of the players who has benefitted the most from UCLA's newly-aggressive defensive mindset is Lake.
Patraw said he still needs to see more from Lake though, as he missed most of 2019 with injuries and has yet to play for a half-decent defense heading into 2021.
"I want to see more production this year," Patraw said. "He's got good size, he's a hard-nosed safety, he's not super quick like that, but there's some hits you can hear on the broadcast, which is always fun."
Lake doesn't have the stats of Adarius Pickett or Jaleel Wadood, who started over him back in 2017 and eventually found their way to the CFL, but he does have more size than both of them.
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