Calijah Kancey – Defensive Tackle – 22 years old – Junior – Pittsburgh
Height: 1m86
Weight: 127 kg
2022 stats: 31 tackles including 14.5 tackles for losses (7.5 sacks)
Estimated draft position: 15-35
NFL Comparison: Aaron Donald (Rams)
The comparison is inevitable: same position, same atypical size and same university! But inevitably, being compared to such a reference is not without danger.
Strong points
– Penetrating
– Fast
– Technical
Possessing a lower center of gravity than her opponents, Calijah Kancey is an ordeal to contain. Offering less body surface than their usual opponents, offensive linemen are caught off guard. And as a bonus, he is much faster than them!
This had been seen on university grounds and Calijah Kancey confirmed it during the NFL Combine: he is explosive! With a canon time of 4.67 seconds for 40 yards, he further strengthened the comparison with Aaron Donald and his 4.68 seconds in 2014. A defensive tackle does not sprint as long on a football field, but this exercise is important to measure the speed of the first presses: 1.64 seconds after 10 yards (1.63 seconds for Aaron Donald).
In addition, his athletic qualities are sublimated by a technique that is already more than solid: his violent hands strike the torso or sweep the hands of the lineman and he has a very good body balance.
Accustomed to facing players bigger than him, he was forced to develop his panoply of moves when in a duel: here is an article that describes the main movements in this position.
Weak points
– Physical limits
His height and arm length are not ideal. Whether at the moment of the first contact with the offensive lineman or when the runner tries to escape, his relatively short arms do not allow him to make the play if he is not perfectly positioned: only a forced fumble in three seasons!
Unimposing for this position, will it be enough against the “golgoths” populating the offensive lines of the NFL? 10 centimeters and 10 kilos more and he would be a top 10 pick! But 10 centimeters and 10 kilos more and he would be a different player…
The course
A native of Miami, Calijah Kancey will join the large colony of NFL players from this megalopolis. In some neighborhoods of this city, children have only two prospects: sports or gangs! So to help young people follow the right path, the youth leagues are an institution there.
Calijah Kancey went to high school Northwestern Senior High School like Amari Cooper, Teddy Bridgewater or Lavonte David before him. He won the Florida State Championship twice! But like them, he failed to hit the holy grail of all the local kids, the college Miami Hurricanes: The U. Here’s one of his statements on the matter for TribLive.com:
“When you grow up in Miami, everyone only talks about The U: everyone loves them! But there was probably something about me that they didn’t like. »
Due to a lack of size, only three universities in the state out of the seven in the first division offered him a scholarship. But none of the main three: Miami, Florida and Florida State.
Possible destinations
Detroit Lions, Los Angeles Chargers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Cincinnati Bengals, New Orleans Saints, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, Houston Texans, Arizona Cardinals etc.
His atypical size means that his rating is necessarily fluctuating, depending on which staff is ready, or not, to bet on a first-round choice despite this deficit. His qualities as well as the fantasy of recruiting an “Aaron Donald bis” mean that he will leave between 10 and 40: it is no longer a fork but a rake!
The Lions defensive line is partially rebuilt: a chief pass rusher in Aidan Hutchinson and his second in James Houston. John Cominsky and Josh Pascal add two more physical profiles. In the center, the imposing tackle Alim McNeill. All that’s missing is a penetrating DT like Calijah Kancey! Add to that that manager Brad Holmes was responsible for the scouting of the Rams when they chose Aaron Donald in 2014.
With Josh Allen and Travon Walker on the outside, the Jaguars could add the finishing touch with a player who can put pressure on the inside. Saints and Eagles are also looking for an impact player in this position.
Its atypical size paradoxically gives it the advantage of being compatible with any defensive scheme. At 3 or 4 on the defensive line, his main role will be to be an aggressor at the level of the opposing guard: this is the position of 3-Technical to attack the Gap B (understand defensive alignments in this article).
