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Ivan Pace Jr. 5’11”, 235 pounds.
Outside the top-3,000 overall recruits in 2019 for Miami of Ohio, Ivan Pace announced himself to the nation by tying an NCAA record with six sacks (in a win over Akron) as a true freshman.
He ended up only getting one more across the other 15 games he played through two years. In 2021, he became an every-down impact player. Pace was named first-team All-MAC thanks to leading the conference with 125 total tackles, with 13 of those leading to negative yardage, four sacks, three PBUs, an interception and a forced fumble each.
Transferring over to Cincinnati for his final campaign, Ivan Pace put his name further in the national spotlight as the AAC Defensive Player of the Year and a first-team All-American. This was thanks to his 136 combined stops, 20.5 of them for loss, nine sacks, four PBUs and a couple of forced fumbles.
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Ivan Pace Jr. scout report: Strengths
+ Good thickness throughout his frame and plays big, but can also just slip through traffic in an odd fashion almost.
+ Does well to step to the hip and rip through the reach of offensive linemen working up to him, to protect one side. He’s gotten stronger at working through contact, to get his hands on the ball-carrier or crash through one half of guys, to create havoc in the back-field.
+ Has some shocking contact balance and flexibility to contort his body and stay upright versus much larger bodies, consistently playing with sink in his stance to maximize that low center of gravity.
+ Lining up on the edge, you can’t really ask a tight-end to take care of him in the run game, especially when he can shoot the C-gap and run down plays from the backside.
+ I really like the way he plays with his shoulders square to the line of scrimmage when possible, along with using his hands and working around blockers scraping from the backside.
+ Plus, when he sees a wrap-around pull or insert block in his gap, he accelerates into contact at the line of scrimmage, to not allow an extra gap to be created.
+ I thought when he joined the Bearcats his diagnosing skills and willingness to beat ball-carriers to the spot allowed him to create a lot more negative plays.
+ Has some legit hitting power, to bounce ball-carriers on their backside at impact. There’s very little churning of legs for opponents as he bangs them to the turf from the side as he arrives on an angle.
+ Does well to ID targets in space with a quick peak, while mostly having his eyes on the quarterback, And there’s no overreaction to anything that happens to him really.
+ Understands when the read he’s occupied with is dead and he can redirect, to take a second option.
+ Can totally disrupt receivers/tight-ends stemming down the stems by banging them off balance.
+ Will quickly close down that distance to the quarterback and lay the wood on them, if they don’t get rid of the ball rapidly, on bootlegs and rollouts.
+ When Pace has space to work one-on-one against a guard, his burst and timing of hand-swipes can definitely give those guys problems.
+ His ability to corner his rushes and work through contact from much larger bodies is impressive.
+ Was already used on some loops from the inside, as part of Miami OH’s third-down pressure packages. At Cincinnati he was just lined up on the edge a lot more, where they used him for either responsibility on T-E twists or had him bail out from that spot.
+ Overall, he’s just relentless with his efforts in that regard and routinely got home to the quarterback. Pace led all off-ball linebackers with 55 total pressures last season and had nine QB hits in week five alone.
+ Was a menace rushing the passer one-on-one during Senior Bowl practices. His quick-twitch was on another level, as he routinely gave the running backs a little wiggle before contact and then beating them across their face.
Ivan Pace Jr. scout report: Weaknesses
– Ivan Pace is an obvious outlier in terms of size, ranking in the 1st percentile in height (5’10” and ½) and 3rd percentile in arm length (30 ½). This will limit his ability to punch off blockers and finish tackles as consistently at the pro level.
– Wider bodies can cover him up, when able to climb straight up to him.
– When he actually has to open up and run with guys out to the perimeter, he’s not the quickest to stop or redirect as they do.
– Wasn’t really tasked with any true man-coverage or asked to carry guys down the middle at Miami of Ohio or Cincinnati.
– Officially charged with a passer rating of 140.2 allowed, being charged with two touchdowns and only forcing three incompletions.
Ivan Pace Jr. scout report: Grade
Can anybody tell me what’s wrong with Ivan Pace, other than being short? Did anybody watch Malcolm Rodriguez at Oklahoma State and then the Lions as a rookie last year? Sure, the concerns that come with his measurements will only be enhanced against all the size in the NFL and some teams do not have him on their board at all because he’s below their thresholds, but this kid can freaking play.
He has ways of marginalizing his lack of height/length, with the way he dips underneath blockers and defeats the hands, along with how insanely sturdy he is to hold his ground between the tackles.
I do believe some of the worries about what he can provide in coverage are legitimate because he has less margin for error, especially when getting matched up with large tight-ends. But his ridiculous win rate as a pass-rusher makes me believe he can be a major asset in that regard on passing down.
I do understand that I’m significantly higher than the consensus, but Ivan Pace will be a special teams demon early on, earning him opportunities to shine on defense.
Grade: Top-100 overall
You might like other 2023 NFL Draft Scouting Reports: Noah Sewell, LB, Oregon, Jack Campbell, LB, Iowa, Drew Sanders, LB, Arkansas, Trenton Simpson, LB, Clemson, Daiyan Henley, LB, Washington State, Henry To'o To'o, LB, Alabama, DeMarvion Overshown, LB, Texas, Zach Charbonnet, RB, UCLA, Bijan Robinson, RB, Texas.
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