Devon Witherspoon CB Illinois: Scouting Report

Height: 6’0

Weight: 180

Overall

Devon Witherspoon is a dominant corner in Illinois’ man heavy defense. In his 4 collegiate seasons, he played in 41 games, starting 31 of them. He is an excellent athlete and made plays all over the field on film.

Pass Game

Witherspoon plays with a ton of confidence and intensity and is not afraid to line up one on one with the opposing team’s number 1 receiver throughout the whole game. He played a lot of man coverage on film and has a lot of experience in press coverage. When in press, he takes too many false steps off the line but he has the athleticism to make up for it. He also has the physicality to get his hands on his man early and disrupt the route. He has fluid hips and the balance to stay square with his man down the field. When in phase, he does a very good job of getting his hands on his man to squeeze them to the sideline and get his eyes back around to the football. He makes excellent breaks on the ball especially in off coverage and he had a lot of production in breaking up passes during his college career. At times he will get too grabby deep down the field resulting in multiple pass interference penalties but that can be fixed at the next level.

Run Game

In the run game, Witherspoon again made a lot of plays on film. At times he takes some very poor angles and struggles coming to balance to make tackles in space but when he gets a clear lane to the ball-carrier he is an excellent tackler. He is explosive and shows phenomenal effort in run support. He is not afraid of contact and with his tackling ability he will make an immediate impact against the run in the NFL.

Last Word

Witherspoon has the athleticism to play on both the outside and in the slot but he projects best as a boundary corner who can play man coverage against top receivers. He needs to be better at not grabbing his man down the field resulting in penalties, while still using his physicality. He has the speed, length, coverage ability, and intensity to be a lockdown corner in the pros and with his aggression in run support he can excel on special teams.

One-Liner: Devon Witherspoon is an excellent cover corner with the physicality against the run to be a dominant every down player in the NFL.

Grade: 7.3 (High End 3 Down Starter)

Games Watched: 2022 - Chattanooga, Michigan, Minnesota, Wyoming

Team Fits: Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers