Heading into the 2024 college football season, there were no questions on whether or not Ole Miss defensive tackle Walter Nolen was a gifted athlete. Rather, it was a matter of whether he could maximize those physical attributes.
Fast forward to the end of the year, and Nolen finished as a consensus All-American and a first-team All-SEC defender. Needless to say, he put it all together in 2024.
Walter Nolen’s Draft Profile and Measurements
- Height: 6’3″
- Weight: 305 pounds
- Position: Defensive Tackle
- School: Ole Miss
- Current Year: Junior
Nolen bounced around in high school, attending three schools in his four years. Regardless of where he played, he made a massive impact and garnered significant attention in recruiting cycles.
As a five-star recruit, he was ESPN’s top-rated recruit in the nation in 2022, with other sites having him No. 2 behind only Travis Hunter. In Nolen’s senior year of high school for Powell High School in Tennessee, he finished with 93 tackles, 33 tackles for a loss, 27 quarterback hurries, and 17 sacks.
Coming off a season that saw him named the 2021 USA Today High School Defensive Player of the Year, Nolen committed to Texas A&M after an intense recruiting battle between numerous top programs. He factored into the Aggies’ defense right away, starting in four games as a true freshman in 2022 and playing in 10. He finished the year with 29 tackles, one sack, three tackles for a loss, and a forced fumble.
Nolen stepped into Texas A&M’s starting lineup in his sophomore year, starting 10 of their 12 regular-season games. Amid some inconsistency, he still put up solid numbers, increasing his sack total to four and finishing the year with 9.0 tackles for a loss. The 2023 season ended up being Jimbo Fisher’s last as head coach of the Aggies, as the program was a combined 12-13 in his last two seasons. This coincided with Nolen’s first two seasons at the collegiate level.
Nolen soon entered the transfer portal, eventually landing with Ole Miss as part of the top-ranked transfer class in the nation in 2024. It was there that his production increased even further. He finished the year with a career-high 6.5 sacks as a defensive tackle, adding on 48 tackles and 14 tackles for a loss in the process. After combining for 32 quarterback pressures in his two seasons at Texas A&M, Nolen had 35 pressures in his one year at Ole Miss alone.
Scouting Report
Strengths
- Dynamic athlete at defensive tackle with rare first-step acceleration and overall athleticism for his size.
- Often miscast at Texas A&M as a 5-technique defensive lineman, but his ability to win outside is still encouraging for his alignment versatility.
- Offers impressive agility in his jab step across an offensive lineman’s face, using his quickness to keep blockers guessing.
- Should test very well in athletic testing situations.
- Has a powerful anchor, as his lower-body strength allows him to plug up gaps in the run game.
- Has quick hands and ideal finesse as a pass-rusher, utilizing moves like rips, stabs, swims, and cross-chops to shed blocks.
- Agility as a backside defender is tremendous for an interior defensive lineman.
- Rushes with a high motor that sees him maximize his athletic talents.
- Fares well against down blockers, as he has the coordination and mobility needed to work through moving blocks to penetrate opposing backfields.
- Packs a powerful punch at the initial point of contact.
- Looks the part on tape, carrying his weight well with long arms.
Weaknesses
- Needs to be more precise with the counter moves he uses.
- Can be a bit slow to identify what moves to string together when his first move doesn’t work, stalling out the rep and essentially eliminating him from the play.
- Has a tendency to pop upright coming out of his stance, giving him a higher center of gravity and making it tougher for him to win battles in the trenches with leverage.
- More of a waist-bender at this stage who hasn’t shown consistent flexibility or weight distribution in his lower half.
- Instincts against the run got better in 2024, but there are still instances in which he can struggle to figure out which moves to use to free himself up for an incoming ball carrier.
Current Draft Projection and Summary
Nolen is an athletic 3-technique defensive tackle, which is a valuable asset in today’s NFL. Combine that with his leap in production in 2024 and his top-notch pedigree, and it’s not hard to see why many are high on him entering the NFL.
Although only 21 years old, Nolen has shown improvement as a technician over the years, which has helped him make better use of his freakish combination of speed and power. He still has some more development to do, but he has shown that he’s coachable, and that’s an important trait for future success.
With an NFL-ready frame and in-game athleticism that’s well above average for his position, Nolen figures to be an early-round selection in the 2025 NFL Draft. Given his improvement in his junior year and his physical upside, it would not at all be surprising to see him end up selected in Round 1 come April.
His 2023 tape screamed “Day 2 pick you spend on a raw player with upside,” but his 2024 tape made him look like a future high-end contributor at the NFL level.
If he can continue to develop his plan as a pass rusher and work on his pad leverage a little bit, Nolen possesses a high ceiling at the next level. Gifted young prospects with production at a Power Four level don’t often fall out of the first round.
