Ruke Orhorhoro scouting report: Exploring the Clemson interior defensive lineman's strengths and weaknesses

Despite only playing two years of high school football, Ruke Orhorhoro was a top-1000 overall recruit and became the first Clemson commit from the state of Michigan since 1975.

He barely got onto the field his first two years for the Tigers, but over the following two as a rotational piece, he combined for 59 tackles, eight for loss each year, 6.5 combined sacks, eight passes batted down at the line and a fumble recovered in each.

Profile: 6-foot-4, 290 pounds; RS SR.

Breaking down Ruke Orhorhoro's scouting report

Ruke Orhorhoro: NFL Combine

Run defense:

• Lined up all over the D-line for the Tigers, from nose-tackle all the way to six-technique
• Defends the run with good pad-level and maximizes his length when asked to gap-control or even two-gap
• From shade-alignments and on slants, he consistently is looking to attack one shoulder of the blocker and keep his opposite arm free
• You love his ability to stay square on the front-side of zone concepts, lock out and then fall back a gap as he tracks the ball-carrier, creating first contact
• Frequently is able to press off and create leverage on the gap after the guy across from him takes that initial step reach-block him
• Was very effective on early-down gap-exchanges, with his lateral agility to loop over the top of traffic and take away the front-side, forcing running backs to redirect
• Looks like he’s almost bouncing off blockers and then running down the back a few times, providing excellent pursuit
• Received PFF grades above 75 vs. the run in each of the past two seasons

Pass-rush:

• The ability to win against centers with the club-rip, where he pushes at the shoulder and really pulls the inside arm through leads to some clean Ws for him
• Has some nice reps where he freezes the feet of guards by stuttering off the line and then cornering his rush with that rip-through
• Packs a rapid arm-over to free himself from pass-protectors as he’s recognizing play-action after engaging with those guys
• Guards lunging forward trying to quick-set him get beat cleanly off the line with the club-swim a few times
• Yet if they initially sit back, he’s also very good at anticipating up their punch and linking his arms and hips in order to win on cross-face moves paired with a tight arm-over mauneuver
• When he’s at the hip of a blocker and that guy has him arm-barred to push off with the back of his near-arm or pull it over and clear that, as he chases the quarterback
• Showcases good awareness for screen passes and trails the back working outside, forcing quarterbacks to dirt the ball
• Was tied for tenth among interior D-linemen in this draft in 2023 pass-rush productivity (7.1) – 26 pressures on 235 rush opportunities

Weaknesses:

• Has room to improve his ability to read and counter the first step(s) of the offensive line, particularly staying a half gap ahead so to speak against wide zone
• Gets blown off the ball by double-teams quite a bit, lacking the ability to anchor effectively against the angular element of those
• When linemen get their hands inside his chest quickly (on short-sets), too often he’ll end up battling them instead of being forceful with attacking one shoulder to gain control of the rep
• Generally has room to grow as a “reactionary” pass-rusher, countering the approach of opponents on the fly and figuring out how to give them trouble throughout games – being moved around as much as he was didn’t help with that development, to be fair

Ruke Orhorhoro's 2024 NFL Draft prospect

Assuming no issues in terms of medical report or otherwise, I believe the top-five on the interior D-linemen is pretty concrete, even though the order may ultimately look different for the NFL as a whole.

With that being said, Ruke Orhorhoro was pretty clearly my next name up here, because even though he’s not a complete player at this point or I see a defined scheme fit, I see him as an extremely useful player for a variety of systems. His ability to play low, combined with length, the short-area quickness and play demeanor, you’re got yourself a pack of dynamite on the interior.

I do believe you want to protect him early on at least, where he‘s in shade-alignments and can play that “gap-and-a-half” but not deal with legit double-teams, and he certainly has room to grow in that first phase of the pass-rush and he approaches those matchups.

However, I really liked Ruke Orhorhoro's tape and then he finished with a 9.88 RAS score at the combine thanks the second-best broad jump (9’8”), third-best vert (32 inches) and fourth-best 40 (4.89) for his position, along with putting together an excellent on-field workout.

Grade: Late second/Early third round