Scouting Profile: Donovan Ezeiruaku - EDGE - Boston College
Sales Pitch: Twitchy explosive rusher with long arms. Undersized frame will limit his versatility but brings impact juice as a pass rusher.
*Gold Numbers Indicate NCAA T-25 for 2024*
Scouting Report
Donovan Ezeiruaku is a former 3-Star recruit from the state of New Jersey. A three year contributor and two year starter at Boston College who posted three straight campaigns with 500+ snaps and 30+ pressures. Ezeiruaku had a breakout 2024 at only 21 years old ,with 60 pressures and 14 sacks, en route to All-American honors and the ACC Defensive Player of the Year.
Ezeiruaku is an explosive twitchy rusher with impressive arm length for a player of his size. He was one of the most impactful and productive rushers in the country in 2024, with Top-10 marks in almost every meaningful metric. Ezeiruaku primarily wins as a speed rusher, where his strong first step and speed allow him to win up the field. He displays the stop-start ability and body control to tempo his rushes, freezing tackles in space, and countering across their face. He pairs excellent foot quickness with a solid collection of pass rush moves, headlined by a dynamic swim move. What makes Ezeiruaku such a special edge rusher is his ability to turn the corner and bend into a pocket. He displays a rare blend of contact balance and flexibility to dip around tackles, sometimes ghosting their punch altogether, on his way to the quarterback. Ezeiruaku isn’t a world beater as a run defender, but his quick first step and block shed ability allow him to win as a penetrator. He also plays with outstanding natural leverage given his short frame and long arms, which allows him to extend blockers away from his frame and discard them to peel back inside his gap.
Ezeiruaku is a small edge by NFL standards, at sub 6’ 3” 250 pounds. He struggles to generate much of a power rush outside of converting speed to power from the Wide-9. His long arms don’t help him collapse pockets because of below average play strength and mass. Ezeiruaku’s lack of size mostly hampers him as a run defender. If blockers are able to get inside his length and attach to his frame, he lacks the anchor to hold his ground. He has no versatility to slide inside where he would be exposed to double teams and down blocks. As a result he projects as a pure stand up OLB and won’t fit into every defensive scheme.
Ezeiruaku profiles as a 3-4 standup OLB. His athletic profile and pass rush ability is one of the best in this class, but his size will limit his three down impact and versatility. Ezeiruaku projects as a Top-50 pick with Round 1 upside. He will likely start his career in a DPR role but shows enough setting the edge as a run defender to be a future 3-down starter.