Top five edge rushers in college football 2020

3. Jaelan Phillips (Miami, Fla.)

One of the top overall recruits in the country, it took some time for Phillips to jump onto the national scene, as he started his career at UCLA had to sit out all of last season, but coming into this 2020 season, with the U having two projected first-round edge defenders, he has been the star of this unit. I mean all you have to do is put on the tape and watch like ten snaps to understand the natural ability – the quickness off the ball, the length, the flexibility – it’s all there. He shows busy hands and his outside contain upright, while not allowing blockers to widen gaps inside. As a pass-rusher, his best move is the high swim, which he also uses against guards and wins with at a high rate. Through the first nine games of 2020, he already has 14 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, three passes broken up and a pick in the Florida State game. And when you watch their Virginia Tech game, he completely wrecked their right tackle and was a huge reason they won that game. While there are still things he needs to refine, he went from rather unknown commodity to one of the most intriguing draft prospects out there already.

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4. Azeez Ojulari (Georgia)

This guy has been ready to step onto an NFL field ever since he came to Athens it feels like, becoming the first freshman to gain captain status on Kirby Smart’s Bulldog defense, but he has only gotten better since then. Ojulari excels at squeezing things down in the run game and when he has a puller coming his way, despite giving up some mass at 240 pounds, he routinely knocks those guys backwards. You see him routinely win hand-fights and he can put some tackles on skates, when he catches them off balance. Ojulari is a team-first pass-rusher, who knows how to set up different games up front and free up his teammates. While he might not quite be as flashy in terms of some of those bendy speed rushers out there, he is a really assignment-proof player, who helps blow up run plays, he constantly puts in work a rusher and excels at identifying blitzes, in order to shut them down. Ojulari just wrecked Tennessee’s freshman left tackle earlier this year, but he shows up in every game.

5. Patrick Jones II (Pittsburgh)

If there’s one thing that really stands out about it’s that mind-blowing get-off he shows. He gets a great jump off the snap and is a very twitchy pass-rusher. You routinely see him force tackles out of their stance and at times open up their hips instantly. However, he doesn’t overshoot the arc very open and then has an up-and-under to take advantage of guys who can’t deal with his speed around the edge. He also surprisingly holds his ground well in the run game and has great short-area burst to shut down plays towards the sideline. When he has a puller coming towards him, he uses a wrong-shoulder technique with a low-pad level to not open up an extra gap. Through these last 22 games, he has recorded 22 tackles for loss and 17.5 sacks. With that being said, he still needs to learn how to play with better extension when engaging with blockers and I’d like to see more of him in terms of converting speed to power and use the long-arm more routinely.

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