The Clemson Tigers have produced an abundance of NFL defensive linemen, but how does DT Ruke Orhorhoro compare to them with his 2024 NFL Draft scouting report? Orhorhoro has been on the NFL Draft radar for a few years now, but now, he’s finally making the leap.
Ruke Orhorhoro Draft Profile and Measurements
- Height: 6’4″
- Weight: 290 pounds
- Position: Defensive Tackle
- School: Clemson
- Current Year: Redshirt Senior
Few college programs can field a more impressive NFL positional unit than the Clemson Tigers can on the defensive line.
Right off the top, the Tigers can boast All-Pro and Pro Bowl talents like Dexter Lawrence, Christian Wilkins, and Grady Jarrett. Just a year ago, in the 2023 NFL Draft cycle, they saw both Bryan Bresee and Myles Murphy go in Round 1.
Clemson has a track record when it comes to defensive line production, and Orhorhoro (Pronounced “Oh-roh-roh-roh”) is next up.
Over the past three seasons, Orhorhoro has amassed 84 tackles, 24 tackles for loss, 11.5 sacks, and nine pass deflections — and in 2023, he earned third-team All-ACC recognition.
The @ClemsonFB program has a track record of sending productive defensive linemen to the NFL, and Ruke Orhorhoro is up next. 🐅#ALLIN | #NFLDraft pic.twitter.com/UH2wwpWeYm
— Pro Football Network (@PFN365) April 16, 2024
That production is even more impressive once you realize that Orhorhoro — who was born in Nigeria and came to America when he was nine — didn’t start playing football until his junior year of high school, after first standing out as a basketball player.
Orhorhoro is young and still somewhat inexperienced — he’ll be 22 years old until next October. But he’s incredibly talented, and trending up incredibly fast. It’s the kind of high-upside proposition that NFL teams live for, and there’s plenty to like on tape.
Orhorhoro’s Scouting Report
Strengths
- Has solid mass, density, and proportional length, and carries his weight extremely well.
- Athletic, alignment-versatile defender who’s played everywhere from 0-tech to 5-tech.
- Possesses elite explosive capacity, shooting through gaps and stressing blockers early.
- Can elongate his strides to generate force with runways on stunts and angled rushes.
- Explosiveness and length culminate in near-elite raw power capacity on the attack.
- Possesses the explosiveness and lateral athleticism to work across alignments.
- Able to load his hips into contact and torque through blockers with brutal rotation.
- Has the functional strength to violently wrench and pry through gaps with his length.
- Can set a strong edge at 5-tech, or combat anchors and demolish gaps farther inside.
- Visibly improved leverage and balance in run defense in 2023, loading his base more.
- Able to quickly load his base, extend and stack blockers, and prevent displacement.
- Can scrape across-face to gaps with active, forceful hands, and occlude running lanes.
- Shows bright flashes as a pass-rusher, using various combos and baiting blockers.
- Can use club-rips and swipes to invade gaps, or weaponize power with push-pulls and bull-rushes.
- Hot-motor DL with voracious pursuit energy, and the alertness to clog passing windows.
Weaknesses
- Frame is a bit lean and lacks high-end mass, which can detract from power maximum.
- Doesn’t quite have elite length, which can also detract from peak power output.
- Lacks elite quickness and change-of-direction, and is more potent on the vertical plane.
- At times, can more efficiently load and extend his hands to fully channel his power.
- Can still strive for greater consistency with his over-arching hand usage on the attack.
- Actively experiments with head-fakes and misdirection, but application isn’t seamless.
- Often struggles to stack second-wave counters off initial hand usage combos.
- Needs a better contingency plan as a rusher, and must adapt quicker versus contact.
- Sometimes diverts too far upright off the snap as a pass-rusher, exposing his frame.
- Tackles who drag their inside hand can goad him into flinching upright too quickly.
- Lacks great functional ankle flexion, which can prevent him from finishing plays.
- Can’t always roll his hips into adjacent gaps after winning initial hand battles.
- Is sometimes a bit hasty invading gaps, flushing himself out of run defense looks.
- Doesn’t have elite pursuit speed, and won’t be able to chase down superior athletes.
Current Draft Projection and Summary
Orhorhoro grades slightly higher than he did a cycle ago. On my board, he’s a top-64 prospect in the 2024 NFL Draft, worthy of early-to-mid Day 2 consideration. Round 1 isn’t out of the question, either — and a strong Senior Bowl showing could help matters.
The exciting element of Orhorhoro’s evaluation is that he’s so schematically flexible. He likely fits best as a disruptive 3-tech at the next level with his profile. But he can play big EDGE at 5-tech or rotate inside and work across interior alignments with his lateral athleticism and power. His run defense improvements in 2023 only embolden this freedom.
Going further, with his explosiveness, Orhorhoro is dangerous in NASCAR packages, where he’s able to launch from greater depth, load his hips, and build up momentum into contact. There, his power and motor can be a lot to deal with.
Orhorhoro flashes the combo work to win one-on-one, but he also has the raw tools to be a battering ram for defensive coordinators. He can still improve at fully channeling his power and adapting against contact, but he’s a moldable ball of clay with the tools he has.
In a sense, it’s exciting how productive Orhorhoro has already been rushing the passer. He wins on raw talent and motor often enough, and he’s still very early into his development as a football player.
Meanwhile, in run defense, Orhorhoro is as steady as they come. He’s strong, well-leveraged, and unnaturally proficient at eating combo blocks and preventing displacement for his size, and he has the balance, hand strength, and athleticism to work across-face, patrol gaps, and snuff out runs.
Especially for teams that emphasize alignment versatility and employ hybrid fronts, Orhorhoro is an easy sell. He’s solid enough to start early on in his career, and he has the ceiling to be an impact player in both phases — with the flexibility to disguise pre-snap looks and exploit angles.
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