2019 NFL Draft: Devin White scouting report

Based off of strictly production alone, it would've be hard to argue against LSU's Devin White being considered the best LB prospect in the 2019 NFL Draft.

Then he followed up his All-American career in Baton Rouge with a tremendous showing in Indianapolis at the NFL Combine, essentially sealing his status as LB1 for this draft class.

Looking for a scouting report of his strengths and weaknesses? Well, look no further!

Devin White, LB, Louisiana State, #40, 6000/237

40: 4.42 – Bench: 22 – 3C: 7.07 – VJ: 39.5 – BJ: 118

Film Evaluated: Alabama (2018, 2017), Mississippi State (2018), Georgia (2018), Florida (2018, 2017), Auburn (2018, 2017), Miami (2018), UCF (2018).

Strengths: Great frame, thick and stout, well built. Impressive athlete who moves very well, both vertically and horizontally. Quick twitch with good lateral quickness and burst and explosiveness. Shows good flexibility and natural bend. Plays very fast and fluid, constantly in motion. As a pass rusher, shows good burst and ability to penetrate when blitzing A and B gaps. Above average in zone coverage, can click and close. Excellent open-field speed to break on ball. Stout against the run and uses his natural strength and power well, plays with good leverage. Plays runs away well, naturally sifts through traffic well to locate ball carrier. Is a heat seeking missile once he locks on. Generally a pretty solid tackler both in the box and in space. Terrific leadership skills, great worker on and off the field. Ridiculous production in college against elite level of competition. Very impressive from a raw skill set perspective, i.e. size, strength, athleticism, agility, etc.

Weaknesses: Isn’t a polished pass rusher and almost solely relies on quickness and bend, needs to use hands more effectively. Average awareness in coverage, regularly bites on play-fakes. Struggles in man coverage, particularly with double moves. Struggles at times at the point-of-attack, doesn’t use his hands well to stack and shed. Can be engulfed by bigger blockers once engaged and can’t get off doubles. Isn’t as quick to process plays as you’d like, and doesn’t show natural instincts reading the QB.

Overall: White was widely considered a solid 4-star prospect coming out of North Webster HS in Springhill, LA, recruited as an ATH who could play either RB or LB. The Tigers moved him to LB after he signed, and he enjoyed a very solid true freshman campaign as a backup/special teams ace, finishing with 30 tackles, 3 TFL’s, 1 sack, 1 FF and a FR en-route to being named to the All-SEC Freshman team.

As a sophomore he really emerged as an elite college football player and was named 2ndteam All-American and 1stteam All-SEC, finishing the year with 133 tackles, 13.5 TFL’s, 4.5 sacks and an INT. He entered his junior campaign of 2018 obviously with extraordinary expectations and the object of many offensive game plans, and he didn’t disappoint. He wound up with 123 tackles, 12 TFL’s, 3 sacks, 3 FF’s and 2 FR’s, being named 1stteam All-America and winning the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker.

As a prospect, he’s far from a finished product and still has a lot of work to do cleaning up his technique and improving pre-snap reads, but there’s an awful lot of raw talent to work with here. Strictly from a ‘tools’ perspective, he’s got it all. More than enough size and power to play between the tackles and more than enough speed, athleticism and range to cover sideline-to-sideline.

Against the run, he’s still improving his take-on skills and learning to use his hands better to stack and shed, but the ability is there. He has a good nose for the ball and an innate ability to sift through traffic to get to the ball carrier. On runs away he really shines with his speed and explosiveness allowing him to close distance to the ball in a hurry.

Against the pass, he’s far better in zone right now than man, but again, the ability is there to develop. He can click and close to the ball but he’s still coming along with his reads and can easily be fooled with double moves and play-fakes. His lateral quickness, burst and speed are very well suited for the modern passing offenses he’ll be facing in the NFL.

As a pass rusher, he’s been effective but he’s gotten by so far on his athleticism, which is an edge that will be evened out a bit at the next level. His power and burst make him a lethal blitzer in A and B gaps but learning to use hands will really make him a weapon rushing the passer.

Off the field, by all accounts he’s exactly what you’re looking for – diligent worker in the weight room, puts in time studying film, known for leadership traits, doesn’t get in trouble, accountable, dependable, a coaches favorite, etc.

I think he has the natural skill set to play ILB in a 3-4 or 4-3 defense at the next level, but also think he can play either SAM or Will in an even front as well. He has the ability to become a complete, 3-down linebacker who can excel against both the run and the pass. I think he’ll be a day-1 starter who can develop into All-Pro candidate down the road.

Final Grade: 1st Round.

Rick Stavig is the owner and founder of SE Scouting. Email questions and comments to rgstavig@sescouting.com and follow him on the twitter machine @rickstavig.