NFL Draft Prospects 2019: Cornerback - Rock Ya-Sin, Temple

Rock Ya-Sin, a two-time former all-state wrestler, was not highly recruited coming out of high school and decided to join the FCS program Presbyterian.

After a strong freshman year in a reserve role he became a full-time starter in his second season. Ya-Sin was a first-team All-Big South performer in 2017, intercepting five passes and breaking up another eight.

After that, he decided to transfer to Temple, where he quickly earned one of those highly touted single-digit numbers. In that one year against FBS competition, he immediately became a first-team All-AAC performer, leading the Owls with 12 PBUs and two interceptions.

Ya-Sin has created a lot of buzz during this pre-draft process about being like glue in coverage. His body-type, with long arms and good definition throughout his frame, is already intriguing and when you see what he did in one year of DBS action, you really want to like him.

I would describe him as a fierce competitor with a scrappy style of play: he likes to chirp once the whistle is blown. In press, Ya-Sin plays with balanced footwork and stays squared up to his target off the line.

He can faceguard receivers without making premature contact. Ya-Sin plays through the hands of receivers exceptionally well and has a good feel for back-shoulder throws. His 39.5-inch vertical and 32-inch arms obviously help to crowd the catch point. This kid is a PBU-specialist who really competes to force those incompletions.

While he likes to put hands on the receiver to feel routes coming, it’s Ya-Sin's incredibly quick feet that allow him to stay with guys out of their breaks. His ability to accelerate and decelerate is phenomenal and he displays impressive speed turns with good overall fluidity of the hips.

His ability to bring those hips around is tremendous, as he can bite on outside nods or jab-steps and still make a play on inside-breaking routes. Ya-Sin has a special ability to flip his head when leaning too much and recovering against receivers coming out of the breaks.

He made a lot of money during Senior Bowl week, where he constantly searched for the challenge of going up against South Carolina’s Deebo Samuel. Ya-Sin pretty much locked down everybody down in Mobile outside of that tremendous matchup.

The former Temple corner does, however, lack that top gear to run underneath deep balls and make plays downfield consistently. He allows receivers to get into his chest way too easily in the run game and struggles mightily to disengage, often not even showing up in the broadcast view as the play progresses.

His punch technique in press definitely still needs some work and could be way more disruptive. Ya-Sin’s coverage style overall might be a little too grabby for NFL referees and he probably will have to adjust a little, putting on those baking gloves in practice.

Ya-Sin is a player nobody really talked about before the college season ended, but after people saw him at the Senior Bowl and started watching his tape, he has been shooting up draft boards.

While he primarily played on the left outside, he should be a good inside at nickel as well. That combination of athleticism and competitiveness puts him in the first-round conversation.

Grade: Mid-Second