Scouting Profile: Nohl Williams - CB - California
Sales Pitch: Long slender DB with excellent ball skills. Solid all-around profile but lacks the strength or twitch to be a true differencemaker in coverage.
*Gold Numbers Indicate NCAA T-25 for 2024*
Scouting Report
Nohl Williams is a former 3-Star recruit from the state of California. He spent his first three seasons at UNLV, starting 23 games and receiving All-MWC honors in 2022. Williams started all 26 games for Cal in this two years there, receiving All-ACC honorable mention in 2024. He was also a standout special teams player with over 600 snaps and averaging 24 yards per return for his career.
Williams is a long slender corner with quick feet and excellent balance. He primarily operated as a press corner at Cal, but has experience in both man and zone schemes. Williams is a physical corner at the line of scrimmage who uses a quick inside hand to strike and disrupt releases. He displays the lateral agility to slide and match vertical releases and carry them down the field. Williams is at his best in man coverage when in trail technique. He smoothly is able to anticipate and mirror routes from underneath, and create difficult throws for quarterbacks. Williams projects best as a zone corner at the next level, due to his instincts and ball skills. He plays with good positioning in off-coverage with the key and diagnose skills to quickly drive on the ball. He put up elite production in 2024, with 7 INTs and 9 PBUs. He is a natural receiver who attacks the ball with soft hands in the air.
Williams is a tall corner but has average mass and play strength for the position. It really limits him as a press corner, where even when he strikes his target, bigger WRs are able to power through his punches. He struggles to keep his leverage versus size on the outside at both the line and the top of routes. Williams’ tall frame also limits his ability to transition laterally. His long legs make it difficult for him to quickly redirect and match routes angles once he opens up his hips. This exposes him up to sharp releases and in-cuts in man coverage back to the inside. Williams lack of size also limits him as a run defender. While he is a solid tackler who does his job, his grab-and-drag style results in extra yards for ball carriers when they finish runs. He also doesn’t get involved in run fits often, and when he does, lacks the size to take on blocks and leverage his gap.
Williams profiles best as a outside zone corner. He possesses a fairly well rounded skillset, but outside of his ball skills is closer to average in most aspects of the game. Williams projects a fringe Top-100 pick, as a player who could step in early and be a low end starter while also being a special teams stalwart.