This is a decidedly different cornerback class than we were looking at this point a year ago. There are very few sure-fire studs in this class whom we know we’ll be seeing in first-round mock drafts all season. And the one whose tape most closely resembled that is the one whose ACL tear is putting his status in limbo.
The one thing this class does have going for it is youth. Seven of the 10 prospects below are heading into their first year of draft eligibility as third-year players this fall.
Here are my top 10 cornerback prospects (ordered from No. 1 to No. 10) ahead of the college football season.
Positional rankings: EDGE • DT • LB • CB • S • IOL • OT • TE • RB • WR • QB
Note: ⭐️ represents each player’s 247Sports star rating as a high school recruit
- Player type: Island Man Corner
- Room for improvement: Health
- Early grade: Top-10
Back in 2005, a Florida State junior cornerback tore his ACL in offseason training and missed the entire season. That spring, he was still the 19th overall pick in the draft. That player, of course, was four-time Pro Bowler Antonio Cromartie, and why I bring that up is because Jermod McCoy could be in a similar boat. The Tennessee corner tore his ACL in a workout in January, putting his status for this season in jeopardy. But I don’t care if he plays another down of college football; if McCoy can do on-field drills and looks like the guy we saw as a sophomore, he’s going in the first round.
In his first season at Tennessee after transferring from Oregon State, McCoy allowed only half of his 62 targets to be completed while intercepting four passes and breaking up six more. He didn’t give up a gain longer than 32 yards all season as he was solid from start to finish. With special athletic traits and a physical demeanor, there’s not much to dislike about McCoy’s game.
- Player type: Undersized do-it-all corner
- Room for improvement: Muscle mass
- Early grade: First round
If the name and school sound familiar, it’s because Avieon Terrell‘s brother, A.J., was a first-round pick out of Clemson and current shutdown corner for the Falcons. But unlike many of the high-level brother duos we have become accustomed to, Avieon and A.J. are nothing close to carbon copies of each other. While A.J. was a long and smooth boundary corner, Avieon is an undersized lightning rod who can stay in the hip-pocket of pretty much any receiver he faces. While he’s played almost exclusively on the outside in his two seasons at Clemson, Avieon’s skillset looks tailor-made to dominate in the slot at the next level.
The only thing missing from his game is the sheer mass to hang with the 200-plus-pound receivers he’ll have to see on a weekly basis in the NFL. Although in watching his game, it’s hard not to see a little Devon Witherspoon, who has held up just fine after entering the league at only 181 pounds.
- Player type: Press corner
- Room for improvement: Finishing at catch point
- Early grade: Early Day 2
If you tell me a corner is long, fast and can throttle his speed down in an instant, chances are you have a high-floor cornerback. That describes my feelings on Will Lee III’s game. It’s rare to see receivers stack him completely on tape because of his wingspan and long speed. And when vertical routes turn into hitches/comebacks on the outside, it’s also rare to see Lee need more than a couple gather steps to work back downhill himself.
While he gave up more plays than you’d like at the catch point and had some mental mistakes on tape, there’s not much to dislike about Lee’s game.
- Player type: Zone corner
- Room for improvement: Press technique
- Early grade: Day 2
Malik Muhammad may only be 6-foot-0, but his frame jumps off the tape. With long arms and broad shoulders, the Texas corner presents a far more imposing obstacle than his traditional measurables might suggest.
While he may not be a true speedster, Muhammad makes up for it with his fluidity. He can flip his hips and ride receivers from a press alignment while also being able to hit his back foot and drive from an off alignment. Those skills led to Muhammad allowing only half of his targeted passes to be completed with nine pass breakups. While he’s underdeveloped as a man corner, Muhammad should excel in zone in the NFL.
- Player type: Feisty slot
- Room for improvement: Penalties
- Early grade: Day 2
It goes against pretty much all scouting conventions to have a 5-foot-9, 170-pound corner rated this highly, but after watching D’Angelo Ponds‘ tape thoroughly, I really don’t care. The man is a menace. He was a menace as a true freshman for James Madison when he only allowed 259 yards on 437 coverage snaps, and he was a menace after transferring up to the Big 10 and only allowing 263 yards on 436 coverage snaps last fall.
In the same way that undersized defensive tackles like Geno Atkins use their innate leverage to their advantage in the trenches, Ponds does so on the outside. He gets under taller receivers early on in the route and lives in their shoulder pads. Instead of being afraid of getting outmuscled, Ponds takes the fight to them. While it’s the same reason he was flagged seven times last season, it’s a play style we’ve seen work for smaller corners in the league.
- Player type: Outside silo corner
- Room for improvement: Play strength
- Early grade: Late Day 2
The other Colorado corner was no slouch himself last season. He’s a long and fluid player who was tremendous about putting a cap on his side of the football field. DJ McKinney uses his length to his advantage and always seems to maintain contact on opposing wide receivers throughout the route. As primarily an outside corner, McKinney’s 8.4 yards per reception allowed — the ninth-best figure among outside corners in the FBS — is indicative of just how good he was at limiting big plays. Now, he just needs to add to his trim 180-pound frame to make sure he can continue to limit those big plays at the next level.
- Player type: Man-match corner
- Room for improvement: Getting caught squatting
- Early grade: Late Day 2
Playing corner in a Marcus Freeman-coached defense is no easy task. You are playing press man. You are lining up all over the field. And you often don’t have a lot of help. It was Christian Gray who was (in)famously hung out to dry against Jeremiah Smith when Notre Dame‘s 0-blitz didn’t get home on a third-and-11 with 2:45 left in the College Football Playoff National Championship game. However, it was also Gray who made what was eventually the game-winning interception against Penn State the week prior while perfectly executing inside leverage in man against a dig route.
It’s easy to point to negative reps on his tape and be worried, but you also have to admit there’s special reps almost every game. All three of Gray’s picks (plus a few others he should have hauled in) and all seven of his pass breakups came in some form of man coverage. That’s impressive stuff for only a sophomore. While there’s certainly aspects of his game to clean up, Gray is going to be as battle-tested as it gets by the time he enters the NFL.
- Player type: Zone corner
- Room for improvement: Disrupting routes
- Early grade: Early Day 3
Chandler Rivers isn’t the type of corner who’s going to immediately jump off the tape at you. Listed at only 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds, it’s not as if the Duke corner makes up for his modest size with elite speed, either. No, he gets the job done at one of the highest levels in college football by having some of the best footwork at the position.
He rarely gets himself into positions he can’t recover from and as such rarely loses. Pro Football Focus had him charted for only 296 yards allowed on 488 coverage snaps last fall. That being said, he will have an uphill climb to being a high draft pick because of his small frame and physical tools that aren’t particularly special at one of the most physically demanding positions in football.
- Player type: Versatile corner
- Room for improvement: Eyes in off-coverage
- Early grade: Early Day 3
In his very first season as a starter, Keith Abney II showed to be a very gifted athlete. With loose hips and instant acceleration, Abney has the goods to be a scheme-versatile corner at the next level. Watching his tape, I was reminded of former Kansas State corner and recent third-rounder Jacob Parrish. While Parrish was more refined in press coverage, they are both well-built corners who use their size to press receivers to the sideline routinely.
Abney’s main struggles came in off-coverage in being late to key and close. That’s not the biggest worry given his age, and hopefully should improve this fall.
- Player type: Zone corner
- Room for improvement: Ball production
- Early grade: Early Day 3
Life was easy for A.J. Harris behind one of the most feared pass-rushes in college football, but the Penn State corner was rarely taken advantage of even when Abdul Carter and company weren’t creating havoc. He allowed a paltry 224 yards on 302 coverage snaps all last season for the Nittany Lions — his first as a starter. Harris is already one of the best in the class at disrupting routes early on after the snap. Unfortunately, Harris is going to be limited by his lack of top-end speed and foot quickness out of his breaks. You saw it already limit the number of plays he made on the football last season with one pick and three pass breakups.
