Scouting Profile: Grey Zabel - IOL - North Dakota State
Sales Pitch: Versatile lineman with plus strength and athleticism. Small school player with short arms who will need an adjustment period but projects as a quality interior starter.
*Gold Numbers Indicate NCAA T-25 for 2024*
Scouting Report
Grey Zabel is a former unranked recruit from South Dakota. He is a 5th year senior with over 40 starts under his belt, 36 consecutively to end his career. Zabel was asked to play a little bit of everything for the Bison, logging snaps at all five spots along the line during his career but settled in at LT in 2024 where he was an FCS All-American on the way to a National Title.
Zabel is a tall lineman with above average movement skills and strength. His experience makes him an efficient processor as a blocker who quickly sorts through traffic to find his target. He does a tremendous job picking up and passing off stunts with his communication skills. He brings a mean streak as a run blocker, looking to drive his man through the turf to finish reps. Zabel is a versatile blocker, but is at his best on gap scheme runs. He combines good burst and strike power to pop and stun defenders out of his stance. He drives his legs with his hips and feet underneath him to create displacement at the point of attack. Zabel does an excellent job keeping his eyes on his target when working to the 2nd level on combo blocks as well. In pass protection he displays the lateral agility to mirror speed rushers and stay balanced. He uses strong hands to get contact and control reps.
Zabel has a very tall frame for an interior lineman and while he has good natural power, he will need to add more weight, especially since he will be facing a steep competition jump from the FCS to NFL. The more concerning part of his profile is his short arms (11th percentile for IOL). He struggles to get first contact on reps and lock out defenders. An issue that is compounded by inconsistent hand placement. Zabel is more of a brawler than puncher as a blocker, and his hands tend to attach too wide and grabbing a healthy amount of cloth. This allows defenders to slip out of his grasp as both a run blocker and pass protector. Zabel is a good pass protector, but does have some technique to clean up. He does a good job keeping his taller pads low but when he misses punches he will lean out over his knees and create balance issues. He much also improve his punch timing to disarm speed to power rushes. His short arms limit his ability to get first contact without taking initiative as a striker, and ends up ceding too much ground as a result.
Zabel profiles best as a starting guard in a gap scheme. The length isn’t ideal and there will be a competition jump, but he displays the physical and mental tools to be a quality starter. Zabel projects as a Top-50 pick who may get bumped into the First Round in a weak interior class.