1. devon witherspoon • illinois

#7 overall // style comparison: denzel ward

Grade: 9

RAS: INC

Strengths: 🕹 🏎 🔒 🏝 👔 🧠 ☄️

Sticky, mean, confident corner here. This guy is a lockdown master with quick hips, fluid movement, and a keen knack for annoyance. He’s like a gnat in your eye. Plus, he combines that physicality with a quick processor and an innate understanding of the game. Rarely if ever out of position, and closes faster than a bear trap. If there’s any knock, it’s his size compared to other top corners in this class, but I think he’s better than similarly sized Denzel Ward was coming out. Has elite level awareness in zone coverage, and combined with ball skills, he can break on a play with ill intent and disruptive results.

2. christian gonzalez • oregon

#12 overall // style comparison: byron jones

Grade: 9

RAS: 9.94

Strengths: 🕹 🏎 🔒 🏝 🦒 👔 ☄️

Corners like this don’t come around often. He’s long, natural, fluid, and has the athletic ability of a once-in-a-decade guy. He’s a physical corner who knows how to use the sideline as a boundary player, influencing receivers from the snap. He’ll get caught gaining depth too long at times, but once the ball is in the air, he displays an innate ability to track and make a play. He’s going to continue to get better with NFL coaching, and the short-area deficiencies are clearly not a physical limitation for him. He simply affects the ball when in man coverage, whether after it’s thrown or before.

3. joey porter jr • penn state

#16 overall // style comparison: jimmy smith

Grade: 8.5

RAS: 9.69

Strengths: 🔒 🏝 🦒 👔 🧠 ☄️

There may not be a better combination of size, length, physicality and man coverage instincts in this class. Porter plays like the son of a linebacker. He’s not the fastest CB in this class, and he’s not the best pure athlete, but the sum of his parts is a lockdown press-man corner who has the size to match up with bigger receivers and the pedigree to contribute early in his career.

4. emmanuel forbes • mississippi state

#24 overall // style comparison: deltha o’neal

Grade: 7

RAS: 9.27

Strengths: ☄️🦒☄️🦒☄️🦒☄️🦒

Talk about ball skills. Forbes has uncanny instincts when it comes to breaking on passes and a nose for the end zone after he’s stolen it. He’s twitchy, aggravating, and a real menace for anyone he faces, but damn is he skinny. I don’t know if that’s a major concern though, considering he’s still bigger than the football, and he spent more time with it tucked under arm than he ever did watching it sail over his head. His long arms and closing speed helped him affect a lot of throws, and while you wonder how he’ll handle more physical NFL receivers, he doesn’t mind getting nasty at the line, and you love his gambler mentality because if you’re always winning it’s not really gambling, is it?

5. deonte banks • maryland

#25 overall // style comparison: marshon lattimore

Grade: 8

RAS: 10

Strengths: 🕹 🏎 🔒 🏝 🦒 👔

What a corner class. For Banks to be all the way down as a clear fourth option is as much a compliment to the top three guys as anything. There are teams that will have him above Porter and Witherspoon, too, as he combines some of Gonzalez’s game without sacrificing a willingness to mix it up. He’s got the same nastiness as a press guy that the first two show, while combining that with insane athleticism and a versatility to play press, man, or zone. He’s a quick twitch guy who can click and close in a hurry, and his reaction time and instincts will be assets, though there are times when he can get grabby after being forced to follow horizontally.

6. kelee ringo • georgia

#43 overall // style comparison: aj terrell

Grade: 7

RAS: 8.20

Strengths: 🏎 🔒 🏝 🦒 👔 ☄️

Reminds me so much of AJ Terrell. Tons of tape against top competition is going to lead to more than a few burns, but Ringo also has excellent ball skills, great length, and loads of experience. He’s fearless, and routinely took on the No. 1 target aggressively, getting physical at the line and playing bump and run as consistently as anyone. He’s not as smooth hipped or fluid as some guys in this class, especially when changing direction, and that means he needs to win the release against the receiver, so you wish he had longer arms, but that didn’t stop him from shutting down Quentin Johnston. He has the size to match up against the most brutish receivers you can draw up, but there’s a clear ceiling due to his lateral stiffness.

7. julius brents • kansas state

#45 overall // style comparison: ahkello witherspoon

Grade: 7

RAS: 9.99

Strengths: 🕹 🏎 🏝 🦒 🧠 ☄️

Ok, I love Brents’ potential. He didn’t have the same straight line speed as some other guys in this class, but everywhere else he’s an elite athlete with insane length. That’s going to be a plus. You can see it on film, even when he’s beat, that ability to affect the ball with his long arms makes up for it. And, surprisingly for a bigger guy, he’s physical with shifty slot receivers, and less surprisingly has a knack for making plays against the run. He lined up as edge rusher at times for K State. BUT… and it’s a big one… he shied away from pressing bigger stronger faster guys like Quentin Johnston. That tape is awful. Both games. When he gives a free release, his footwork gets lazy, he’s caught on his heels, and he gets very grabby. I believe that’s coachable, and I’d bet on him, but it’s definitely a real issue right now, and it may cause him to move positions until he can get it fixed.

8. cam smith // south carolina // grade: 6.5 // #59 overall

9. dj turner // michigan // grade: 6.5 // #60 overall

10. clark phillips // utah // grade: 6.5 // #67 overall

11. riley moss // iowa // grade: 6 // #75 overall

12. tyrique stevenson // miami // grade: 6 // #84 overall

13. jakorian bennett // maryland // grade: 6

14. trevius hodges-tomlinson // tcu // grade: 6

15. cory trice // purdue // grade: 5.5

16. garrett williams // syracuse // grade: 5.5

17. kyu blu kelly // stanford // grade: 5.5

18. jaylon jones // texas a&m // grade: 5.5

19. eli ricks // alabama // grade: 5.5

20. terrell smith // minnesota // grade: 5

21. rezjohn wright // oregon state // grade: 5

22. darrell luter // south alabama // grade: 4

23. arquon bush // cincinnati // grade: 4

24. lance boykin // coastal carolina // grade: 3

25. carrington valentine // kentucky // grade: 3

26. cameron brown // ohio state // grade: 3