April 2, 2025 • 8 mins
Team Reporter Casey Phillips & Senior Writer/Editor Scott Smith discuss the potential prospects of interest leading up to the 2025 NFL Draft. This week they highlighted Alabama LB Jihaad Campbell, Boston College EDGE Donovan Ezeiruaku and South Carolina S Nick Emmanwori.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into another edition of Road to the Draft, coming
to you from the Buck Studio, presented by ticketmaster at
Casey Phillips.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Here was Scott Smith, and you know Scott.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Last time we did some of the second round stuff,
and we talked so much about that first round.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
We did a little pivot.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
But now we're back to it because we're getting closer.
We know everyone wants to know who that first pick
is going to be. So tell me what you have
dialed up for us today.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Well, I'm looking at guys that you're seeing in a
lot of mock drafts. Now, you know, things develop over
the course of a couple months, and players you were
seeing mocked to the Buccaneers in February you don't see anymore,
and it tends to get a little bit more focused.
So I'm going to look at three guys that if
you look at a bunch. There's a million mock drafts
out there, right, if you look at a bunch of them,
you'll see these stredams coming up a lot, beginning with
(00:41):
ge Hot Campbell.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
All right, let's take a look at it. Now.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
This is circling back to a player we actually looked
at at our very first one of these. We got
away from that a little bit, but I think as
I was charting mock drafts last week, and there was
a span of six in a row that all had
us taking him, and eight in a span of thirteen
mock drafts. So it's obviously a player that a lot
of people think would do well for the Buccaneers. This
(01:04):
is a six foot three, two hundred and thirty five
pound off ball linebacker who ran a four point five
to two at the combine. He's a very rangy guy.
He reads quarterbacks eyes very well. He's smooth in his
drops in pass coverage, which is very important obviously something
yeah the Buccaneers are emphasizing with their linebackers right now.
He has some edge rush jews too. There's a possibility
(01:25):
that this guy could play off ball linebacker for the
most part, but occasionally see some reps off the edge,
which would be nice to have that. I'm not saying
he's Micah Parsons. I'm just saying he could give you
a little bit of both.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
He Tacho Bulls, loves some versatility, loves the ability to
mix things up. I mean, when you've had Vedaveo drop
and coverage, you never know what going to want to do.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
And he's only twenty one also, so by at the
time of the draft, he'll be twenty one. So you're
talking athletic, fast, rangy, and young. So there's a lot
of upside potential there. Last year he had one hundred
and seventeen tackles and five sacks, twelve tackles for lost,
and he sprinkled in an interception as well. What we're
gonna look at is one of his edge rush snaps,
because we did talk about how he could potentially do
(02:05):
that for the Buccaneers.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
All right, can I circle? You can't go ahead this?
I think we should divide.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
It's only my favorite part.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I'll let you do the other two.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
This first one is over number eleven. Now he's kind
of you know, he's standing up, but he's not exactly
right on the line, right, So his intentions are a
little bit unclear at this point. He's not like, this
guy's clearly rushing the past, right right. So but look
what he does kind of creeps up and then he
takes off. He's got you know, he's he's locked in
with that guy. But he manages to fight him off
(02:32):
and get around him. So that's pretty cool. We're going
to see this from the back angle as well, and
you'll see the power that he has right there and
then he's able to disengage and get around the corner
and underneath him.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
That's great.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Yeah, So obviously it'd be nice to have a player
that could give you something in that regard.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
All right, so now this next guy. First of all,
great names today you've chosen. I'm already a big fan
of this. Tell me who we got here from Boston College.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
So this is done as Araku. It's really not that
hard to pronounce. Just don't read it, just don't look
at it. This is a pass rusher. This is a
need drusher, a position a lot of people think the
Buccaneers will go to eat even after signing hasan Reddick
and the reason he's been falling to the Buccaneers a
lot more often lately, or going to the Buccaneers a
pick number nineteen. In fact, in my mock draft last week,
(03:18):
we talked about it last week, this is who I
gave the Buccaneers. And that's because in general, this is
a guy you weren't seeing in the first run of
mock drafts, like in February, but his stock has risen.
He did a pretty good job at the Combine in
the agility drills. Add that to his production. He had
sixteen and a half sacks last year, which is second
only to Mike Green and the nation. Twenty one tackles
were lost three Force filmals. We know how much Todd
(03:41):
wants that. He's a newly popular pick. In the last
couple of weeks in a Buccaneer mock drafts including you
know Scott Rolds from the Peter Report right here, they
picked Donovan as Roku. So, as I said last week,
I think this is the kind of prospect the Buccaneers
would like when they're choosing Ned Rusher, because you talk
about potential versus production, obviously you'd like to have both,
(04:03):
and this guy, I think has both against a guy,
say like Shamar Stewart, an extremely talented guy who blew
away than Combine from Texas A and M, but only
had four point five sacks over three seasons at A
and M. As a rock who had this sixty and
a half sax season, he had an eight point five
sax season a couple of years ago as well, So
there's definitely a production.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, we've seen that consistency over a few years.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
It's a great thing about them. He's got a lot
of pass rush moves already. He's got a really good
bin to get around the corner, which we're gonna see
on some of these highlights. And and he's just he's
good at he sets up his moves, as we'll see.
I remember when we drafted Kleig Kansi and he talked
about how he had plans. He had pass rush plans.
He would study tape and he had ideas of moves
(04:42):
he was gonna put together. I think he might have
the same kind of player here, but off the edge
with his rocket. So let's get to his he is
right here.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Yeah, well we just need a line that drugs right
down the middle from your territory in mind.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
And you'll see.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
The spin move. Loves the spin move right, and he
set that move up this act. This next clip actually
looks like a It looks like almost the same thing.
This is him over here again. You can circle him
if you want. We can take that back a little
bit here. This is gonna look I thought at first
that this was the same play as the last one,
(05:20):
just from a different angle. It's very similar, and you'll
see the series of moves, which is what I like
about this one. So he does good job with here
get keeping the hands off him and then does the
spin move and wipes him away with the back arm.
That's a whole lot of moves together, and it looks
like probably was very much planned. Now we got one
more were here, come on your side there if you
want to get them a little circle and here you
(05:44):
just see the great Ben just he's got that explosion
around the corner. And that's what you want, right. You
don't want a player that only has that, because then
you're gonna spin your whole life watching him run around
the back of the play, right, But sometimes he's gonna
be able to give you that, But he also has
a lot of moves to be able to do other things. Yes,
exactly the case, exact right, all right, one more guy
to look at.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Again with the names. I love it.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
It's long, but it's not that hard.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
It's yeah, I just really like it. Nick in Memory
and Menmory Nick and Memory. I like it.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Carolina Carolina again, we've got now we've gone full defense today.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
I notice still that's what everybody thinks people.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Are predicting up to now, but three different positions essentially,
which which is kind of cool.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
So now it looks like we have a safety.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
This is one that I'm seeing in a handful of
mock drafts Buccaneers now, and I understand it because Jordan
Whitehead is obviously not back. You have Christian Izian and
you have Tyke Smith, both of whom could be the
starting safety next to Antoine Winfield. But they're also capable
of playing other roles. And if you added another safety
you think it'd start right away, then you got all
(06:48):
that flexibility right, and you're gonna need death as we
saw last year in the secondary. Now, I would caution,
in what forty nine previous Buccaneer drafts they've taken a
safety in the first round. One time, Mark Barron in
twenty twelve. Didn't really work out that well when you
think about it. The Buccaneers got Antoine Winfield in the
second round, they got John Lynch in the third round.
(07:08):
They got Dexter Jackson super Bowl MVP in the fourth round.
Dwight Smith was a third round prick. You can find
safeties on day two, which is why I think they
don't often go on day one. But this is kind
of a special player. He's big six to three. I've
seen two twenty here. I've also seen two twenty seven.
I guess it depends on when and where. But he
ran a four to three eight at the Combine, which
(07:29):
is extremely good for a safety. Yeah, and really, if
you've added all to get all the drills together, he
basically tested out as the most athletic safety ever wow
at the Combine. Now combine that with the fact that
this guy's a hitter. He's like a hybrid linebacker safety almost.
He plays like a linebacker when you're going against the run.
He's a very aggressive herkeitting shere, tackling hitter who.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Should be nice next to an Antoine Winfield that I
feel like they would compliment each other.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
So come in the box a lot more. But he
also had six interceptions over the last two years, so
this is a guy who finds the ball. He had
eighty eight tackles and four picks last year, so clearly
an impactful player. And after the Combine his stock started
to go through the roof. So let's take a look
at his he's playing It looks like it almost looks
like I can't. I think this would be a zone
(08:12):
because there's two receivers there and three defenders. But you
see him react really quickly to the ball, and that's
obviously something that you want. So the instincts are there
and the production is there, and hear the same play
from a different angle, just how quickly he fires down
on the ball and diagnosed.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Him so that guy hadn't hit him so hard.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
So there's three guys that you know, there's a decent
chance at least one of those will be available to
the Buccaneers. And if you look at mock drafts, that's
three very good options for the Buccaneers.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yeah, I think that all three of those would have
books fans pretty excited for sure. All Right, we still
have a few more of these roads to the drafts
coming up before it at the end of the months.
To stay right here with us and we'll see you
next time.
Welcome into another edition of Road to the Draft, coming
to you from the Buck Studio, presented by ticketmaster at
Casey Phillips.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Here was Scott Smith, and you know Scott.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Last time we did some of the second round stuff,
and we talked so much about that first round.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
We did a little pivot.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
But now we're back to it because we're getting closer.
We know everyone wants to know who that first pick
is going to be. So tell me what you have
dialed up for us today.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Well, I'm looking at guys that you're seeing in a
lot of mock drafts. Now, you know, things develop over
the course of a couple months, and players you were
seeing mocked to the Buccaneers in February you don't see anymore,
and it tends to get a little bit more focused.
So I'm going to look at three guys that if
you look at a bunch. There's a million mock drafts
out there, right, if you look at a bunch of them,
you'll see these stredams coming up a lot, beginning with
(00:41):
ge Hot Campbell.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
All right, let's take a look at it. Now.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
This is circling back to a player we actually looked
at at our very first one of these. We got
away from that a little bit, but I think as
I was charting mock drafts last week, and there was
a span of six in a row that all had
us taking him, and eight in a span of thirteen
mock drafts. So it's obviously a player that a lot
of people think would do well for the Buccaneers. This
(01:04):
is a six foot three, two hundred and thirty five
pound off ball linebacker who ran a four point five
to two at the combine. He's a very rangy guy.
He reads quarterbacks eyes very well. He's smooth in his
drops in pass coverage, which is very important obviously something
yeah the Buccaneers are emphasizing with their linebackers right now.
He has some edge rush jews too. There's a possibility
(01:25):
that this guy could play off ball linebacker for the
most part, but occasionally see some reps off the edge,
which would be nice to have that. I'm not saying
he's Micah Parsons. I'm just saying he could give you
a little bit of both.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
He Tacho Bulls, loves some versatility, loves the ability to
mix things up. I mean, when you've had Vedaveo drop
and coverage, you never know what going to want to do.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
And he's only twenty one also, so by at the
time of the draft, he'll be twenty one. So you're
talking athletic, fast, rangy, and young. So there's a lot
of upside potential there. Last year he had one hundred
and seventeen tackles and five sacks, twelve tackles for lost,
and he sprinkled in an interception as well. What we're
gonna look at is one of his edge rush snaps,
because we did talk about how he could potentially do
(02:05):
that for the Buccaneers.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
All right, can I circle? You can't go ahead this?
I think we should divide.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
It's only my favorite part.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I'll let you do the other two.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
This first one is over number eleven. Now he's kind
of you know, he's standing up, but he's not exactly
right on the line, right, So his intentions are a
little bit unclear at this point. He's not like, this
guy's clearly rushing the past, right right. So but look
what he does kind of creeps up and then he
takes off. He's got you know, he's he's locked in
with that guy. But he manages to fight him off
(02:32):
and get around him. So that's pretty cool. We're going
to see this from the back angle as well, and
you'll see the power that he has right there and
then he's able to disengage and get around the corner
and underneath him.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
That's great.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Yeah, So obviously it'd be nice to have a player
that could give you something in that regard.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
All right, so now this next guy. First of all,
great names today you've chosen. I'm already a big fan
of this. Tell me who we got here from Boston College.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
So this is done as Araku. It's really not that
hard to pronounce. Just don't read it, just don't look
at it. This is a pass rusher. This is a
need drusher, a position a lot of people think the
Buccaneers will go to eat even after signing hasan Reddick
and the reason he's been falling to the Buccaneers a
lot more often lately, or going to the Buccaneers a
pick number nineteen. In fact, in my mock draft last week,
(03:18):
we talked about it last week, this is who I
gave the Buccaneers. And that's because in general, this is
a guy you weren't seeing in the first run of
mock drafts, like in February, but his stock has risen.
He did a pretty good job at the Combine in
the agility drills. Add that to his production. He had
sixteen and a half sacks last year, which is second
only to Mike Green and the nation. Twenty one tackles
were lost three Force filmals. We know how much Todd
(03:41):
wants that. He's a newly popular pick. In the last
couple of weeks in a Buccaneer mock drafts including you
know Scott Rolds from the Peter Report right here, they
picked Donovan as Roku. So, as I said last week,
I think this is the kind of prospect the Buccaneers
would like when they're choosing Ned Rusher, because you talk
about potential versus production, obviously you'd like to have both,
(04:03):
and this guy, I think has both against a guy,
say like Shamar Stewart, an extremely talented guy who blew
away than Combine from Texas A and M, but only
had four point five sacks over three seasons at A
and M. As a rock who had this sixty and
a half sax season, he had an eight point five
sax season a couple of years ago as well, So
there's definitely a production.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, we've seen that consistency over a few years.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
It's a great thing about them. He's got a lot
of pass rush moves already. He's got a really good
bin to get around the corner, which we're gonna see
on some of these highlights. And and he's just he's
good at he sets up his moves, as we'll see.
I remember when we drafted Kleig Kansi and he talked
about how he had plans. He had pass rush plans.
He would study tape and he had ideas of moves
(04:42):
he was gonna put together. I think he might have
the same kind of player here, but off the edge
with his rocket. So let's get to his he is
right here.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Yeah, well we just need a line that drugs right
down the middle from your territory in mind.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
And you'll see.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
The spin move. Loves the spin move right, and he
set that move up this act. This next clip actually
looks like a It looks like almost the same thing.
This is him over here again. You can circle him
if you want. We can take that back a little
bit here. This is gonna look I thought at first
that this was the same play as the last one,
(05:20):
just from a different angle. It's very similar, and you'll
see the series of moves, which is what I like
about this one. So he does good job with here
get keeping the hands off him and then does the
spin move and wipes him away with the back arm.
That's a whole lot of moves together, and it looks
like probably was very much planned. Now we got one
more were here, come on your side there if you
want to get them a little circle and here you
(05:44):
just see the great Ben just he's got that explosion
around the corner. And that's what you want, right. You
don't want a player that only has that, because then
you're gonna spin your whole life watching him run around
the back of the play, right, But sometimes he's gonna
be able to give you that, But he also has
a lot of moves to be able to do other things. Yes,
exactly the case, exact right, all right, one more guy
to look at.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Again with the names. I love it.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
It's long, but it's not that hard.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
It's yeah, I just really like it. Nick in Memory
and Menmory Nick and Memory. I like it.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Carolina Carolina again, we've got now we've gone full defense today.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
I notice still that's what everybody thinks people.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Are predicting up to now, but three different positions essentially,
which which is kind of cool.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
So now it looks like we have a safety.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
This is one that I'm seeing in a handful of
mock drafts Buccaneers now, and I understand it because Jordan
Whitehead is obviously not back. You have Christian Izian and
you have Tyke Smith, both of whom could be the
starting safety next to Antoine Winfield. But they're also capable
of playing other roles. And if you added another safety
you think it'd start right away, then you got all
(06:48):
that flexibility right, and you're gonna need death as we
saw last year in the secondary. Now, I would caution,
in what forty nine previous Buccaneer drafts they've taken a
safety in the first round. One time, Mark Barron in
twenty twelve. Didn't really work out that well when you
think about it. The Buccaneers got Antoine Winfield in the
second round, they got John Lynch in the third round.
(07:08):
They got Dexter Jackson super Bowl MVP in the fourth round.
Dwight Smith was a third round prick. You can find
safeties on day two, which is why I think they
don't often go on day one. But this is kind
of a special player. He's big six to three. I've
seen two twenty here. I've also seen two twenty seven.
I guess it depends on when and where. But he
ran a four to three eight at the Combine, which
(07:29):
is extremely good for a safety. Yeah, and really, if
you've added all to get all the drills together, he
basically tested out as the most athletic safety ever wow
at the Combine. Now combine that with the fact that
this guy's a hitter. He's like a hybrid linebacker safety almost.
He plays like a linebacker when you're going against the run.
He's a very aggressive herkeitting shere, tackling hitter who.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Should be nice next to an Antoine Winfield that I
feel like they would compliment each other.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
So come in the box a lot more. But he
also had six interceptions over the last two years, so
this is a guy who finds the ball. He had
eighty eight tackles and four picks last year, so clearly
an impactful player. And after the Combine his stock started
to go through the roof. So let's take a look
at his he's playing It looks like it almost looks
like I can't. I think this would be a zone
(08:12):
because there's two receivers there and three defenders. But you
see him react really quickly to the ball, and that's
obviously something that you want. So the instincts are there
and the production is there, and hear the same play
from a different angle, just how quickly he fires down
on the ball and diagnosed.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Him so that guy hadn't hit him so hard.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
So there's three guys that you know, there's a decent
chance at least one of those will be available to
the Buccaneers. And if you look at mock drafts, that's
three very good options for the Buccaneers.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yeah, I think that all three of those would have
books fans pretty excited for sure. All Right, we still
have a few more of these roads to the drafts
coming up before it at the end of the months.
To stay right here with us and we'll see you
next time.
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