The SEC is always ripe with NFL talent. Even as the Big Ten has arguably risen to the standard set by the SEC for years, it’s still a fact that the SEC is home to some of the best players in college football. I’ve just wrapped up my SEC summer scouting podcast with The Draft Professor, and I’ve found a fair number of players who aren’t being talked about, but should be.
I’ll be splitting this article into two, an offensive and defensive edition. For this exercise, I didn’t force myself to find one player at each position group, nor design any arbitrary structure to format this. I simply went through “The List” (my large notes document with all scouting reports on players who have not yet been drafted), and hand picked some of the guys I’ve covered over the summer so far. This article will focus on the offensive side of the ball, from which I have four players to bring to the table.
Wilkin Formby, G (Texas A&M)
Formby may be a player you’re vaguely familiar with if you follow college football. He was the starting RT at Alabama to begin the previous season, and eventually made his way to the interior down the stretch, slotting into RG. The selling point on Formby is the build and the power profile. He’s reportedly 6’7” and 324 lbs, with arm length reports varying from around 34”-35”. For some, 6’7” is a tad tall for a guard, but you wouldn’t be able to guess that height by putting on the tape and watching how great his playing leverage and pad height are. He has immense stopping power in his hands, and does a fantastic job of drawing power from the ground up. When he digs in, he can be nearly impossible to move directly through as a pass rusher. The latch strength and pad height also spell potential as a gap run blocker.
He does have his limitations, notably the foot speed and athleticism. His feet aren’t quick enough to react to pass rushers crossing his face, nor are his hands, so when lured outside the phone booth, he has a more difficult time staying in front. I’d like to see him get more aggressive to cut off those angles in this coming season. Frankly, I thought the traits played much better as a guard, yet he’s currently listed as the starting RT for his newfound home in the transfer portal, the Texas A&M Aggies. A player like this will also naturally struggle in the run game. At times he finds it difficult to reach his landmarks on time, and he isn’t always able to square up cleanly to his assignment at the second level or on reach blocks. Even in gap, his leg drive could stand to improve a touch.
All in all, the strength traits are fantastic, and he played some of his best ball down the stretch last year. Despite being what I would consider a bigger name in college football, I’ve heard no buzz around him as a draft prospect. If he has a repeat of last year’s production, I definitely think he’ll at least go on day three, and if he can find more aggression in his hands and speed up his feet, I see no reason why he couldn’t play his way into day two. Keep an eye out for Formby as he tries to make a name for himself in his new uniform.
Brett Norfleet, TE (Missouri)
Here’s another name you may be familiar with if you watched many SEC games last year. Norfleet stands at a towering 6’6” and weighs around 260-265 lbs, and honestly seems like he can really fly for that size. He doesn’t have the most impressive first step explosiveness, but he has this build speed that starts to show through after he hits that second gear. He maximizes his already extensive catch radius to make tough grabs outside his frame, and he attacks the ball in the air with confidence. He has his share of focus drops, and needs to do a better job of coming down with the ball through hard contact, but unlike many receivers who emerge in the college ranks, he’s not a body-catcher. He has some real lateral stiffness to him, but he has moments where he flashes enough eye deceptiveness on routes to make up for his limitations in those moments.
Now, Norfleet is quite raw as a run blocker. He has a tendency to lunge over his feet at targets, and struggles to consistently marry his feet with his hands, but my god does this man want to knock the hell out of someone every time Missouri puts the ball on the ground. He’s a hard-nosed, high effort player no matter what the call is.
He’ll struggle with more angular routes, as he plays very tall and struggles to fully sink his hips into breaks, and despite the Twitter highlight I’ve included of his sick hurdle against Florida, he’s a less creative, more straight-line runner with the ball in his hands, but that combination of speed and size is enough to get me interested. He reminds me a lot of Luke Musgrave as a prospect. If he can avoid the injury woes of seasons prior, I certainly see someone who has enough traits to get drafted, and certainly the upside to rise as we approach next year’s draft cycle.
Jamal Roberts, RB (Missouri)
I’m gonna keep the conversation here in Columbia to talk about someone else who I haven’t heard any buzz around in RB Jamal Roberts. Obviously, we have one of the higher-profile RBs here in Missouri in Ahmad Hardy, who’s already been a heavy feature in much summer scouting content. However, the guy who rotates in behind him is an impact player who is criminally overshadowed.
Roberts has super quick feet that continue to churn until the end of reps, another major “effort guy”. His fleet feet allow him to alter his course or change lanes quickly and efficiently without losing much speed. He blends that agility with some rock-solid contact balance, an essential trait for RB success. There are many moments on tape where he’s able to break through the first tackle and pick up yards above expected. He gambles a lot on lunging into and stunting incoming blitzers with his initial blow as a pass protector, but when he squares up and connects, it can really be a thing of beauty. Much of his workload this previous season was actually as more of the third down complement to Ahmad Hardy’s early down bellcow workload, so a good deal of his snaps feature him as a pass protector in the pocket.
He’s not quite the athlete that Hardy is, which is certainly a reason Hardy is the clear first option. His first step explosiveness seems pretty pedestrian, and he doesn’t have great long speed to pull away from second and third level defenders. Being that second option to the lead guy is also important in the context of sample size. We don’t see Roberts toting the rock on a more consistent down-to-down basis, so it’s tough to glean a full picture about aspects of his game, such as his ball carrier vision and how consistently he’ll be able to read multiple blocking concepts if counted on for a larger workload in a step up to the NFL. I’d also like to see him weaponize his quick feet to force misses in space more consistently. He plays like a more power-oriented back, so he approaches defenders with that freight train mentality. His raw strength is good enough to make a difference in picking up contact yards, but certainly isn’t exceptional, so this season I’d really like to see him get more creative with his footwork in space, as I believe he has the feet capable of doing so. As much as I’m on the edge of my seat waiting for Ahmad Hardy’s follow-up season in the power four, I’m also hoping to see more on Roberts’ plate. I think he’s a really talented player, and I’d love to see him play on a bigger stage, both for his sake and for the sake of rounding out my eval.
SIDENOTE: I will also be writing a separate article on players I like who played more limited roles last year, and are in line for much bigger ones this coming season. Roberts didn’t quite fit into this bucket. He ran the ball 123 times last year and played 423 total snaps, which is around the top for the players I have in that group, and he’ll also likely play the same role as he did this year, so he didn’t really fit into the “gearing up for a bigger role” category either. Could have easily punted on Roberts until then, but decided he fit in better with this article.
Laurence Seymore, G (Texas)
This is one of my favorite under-the-radar players from summer scouting so far, because I’m a fiend for guys with great technique, and Seymore has some of the best pass pro technique of anyone you’ll find playing in a non-power conference. Last year was his first season as a full-time college starter, and he took the scenic route to get there. He began his career at Miami in 2021, where he wasn’t able to establish himself as a starter in his two seasons there. He transferred to Akron for the 2023 season, but he apparently did so outside of the approved window, so he had to miss that year. By the time 2024 rolled around, he would start a handful of games, but again failed to emerge as a stalwart. He then took his journey to Western Kentucky, where he was finally able to find a home, and clearly he took away a lot from the multiple stops in his trek, because he looked like a natural as a pass protector.
Seymore plays with quick feet and a firm base, keeping proper leverage and tapping into the necessary reactive athleticism for the position. His initial punch is quick, and he continues to rework his hands throughout reps. His grip strength seems above average in his 2025 tape, and he seems to have enough lower half anchor to not be vaulted back into the pocket on power moves. He’s listed at 6’2” 320lbs, and frankly I think he could even stand to add another 5-10 lbs to his frame to really maximize those power traits.
The first, most obvious downside is the age. I can’t find a verified birthday, but according to Rivals he’s already 23 years old. No matter how his verified age shakes down around draft night, I think it’s pretty obvious that a redshirt senior who began his college career in 2021 will likely emerge as an older prospect by the 2027 draft. He’s also a seemingly more limited athlete, both in his short area explosiveness and his lateral fluidity. He’s taking a major step up back into the power four, and he’ll be coming face to face with much better athletes than he has in his current starting experience. This will be the year where we really figure out who Seymore is. He doesn’t seem to have an athletic advantage outside of his quick feet, and the strength traits played well in CUSA, but are they enough to maintain ground against SEC strength?
Seymore has seen the face of adversity and laughed. He finally got his shot in a starting role, and he more than impressed, now he’ll face his biggest test. The LG spot was a problem area for Arch Manning and the Longhorns last season, and Seymore is the transfer looked to as the solution, so he’ll be under his fair share of scrutiny. If he produces this year how he did last year, I see no reason he can’t play his way into the top half of the draft. Now it’s on him to cross that bridge from here to there without falling off the side... and I think he’s got what it takes.
Bottom Line
Thank you for the read! Be sure to stay tuned for the defensive side of this article, as well as for my collection of players with a limited 2025 workload who are stepping into a much more significant role in the coming season who I think are possible breakout candidates! Also be sure to check out my podcast on Draft Professor live on Fridays at 9pm EST, where we’ll be doing weekly SEC team prospect breakdowns. Only 297 days until draft day!
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