ACC’s Top 2021 NFL Draft prospects – “The Field”

The Clemson Tigers sit atop the college football landscape. They also sit atop the NFL Draft landscape. Clemson is going to have a whole slew of prospects taken in the first round of both the 2020 and 2021 NFL Drafts. But it would be unwise to overlook the talent the rest of the ACC has. The conference as a whole boasts strong draft classes, and that’s especially true of the 2021 class. Some of the top prospects for the 2021 NFL Draft come from the ACC, and a good number of them come from outside of Clemson.

The ACC is particularly strong when it comes to defensive prospects for the 2021 NFL Draft. Clemson is losing a lot of talent on that side of the ball in this draft class, and the rest of the conference is more than ready to rise to the occasion. A lot of solid defenders were left off this list — Hamsah Nasirildeen from Florida State, Quincy Roche of Miami, and Caleb Farley from Virginia Tech, just to name a few — and will have just as much impact on the NFL Draft as those listed.

ACC’s Top 2021 NFL Draft Prospects – The Field

Marvin Wilson (Florida State)

We mentioned the defensive power vacuum that will be left by Clemson’s 2020 NFL Draft class. So what better way to start our look at the top non-Clemson prospects for the 2021 NFL Draft than with arguably the best defensive player in the conference?

Auburn’s Derrick Brown is likely to be a top-10 selection in this year’s NFL Draft, and Marvin Wilson might be an even better prospect than Brown. Wilson is an explosive athlete for his size who is going to cause problems for every single team on the Florida State schedule. He notched 8.5 tackles for loss and 5 sacks last season from his interior defensive line spot, and he’s only getting better.

The biggest thing Wilson will have going for him from an evaluation standpoint is his versatility. Wilson is an athletic big man, with prototypical size and strength. That, along with terrific explosion off the line, means Wilson will have the ability to fit any scheme. He can move around the defensive line and play any responsibility or technique.

Wilson won’t be the number one overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, but with another solid year for the Seminoles, he may very well be the number one top prospect in the entire ACC in the 2021 NFL Draft. With the amount of talent this conference boasts, that’s no small feat.

Gregory Rousseau (Miami)

The race for the top EDGE prospect from the ACC for the 2021 NFL Draft is going to be an exciting one to watch. There are several high-quality prospects at the position, with the clubhouse leader being Miami’s Gregory Rousseau. But there are going to be some players nipping at his heels for conference supremacy, including Wake Forest’s Carlos Basham, and Rousseau’s own teammate Quincy Roche.

What separates Rousseau from the rest of the crowd? First off, it’s his size. Rousseau is a towering EDGE prospect, coming in at 6-foot-7 and over 250 pounds. That kind of size coming off the edge is almost unheard of in the NFL, much less coming from the college ranks.

The crazy numbers for Rousseau don’t stop with height. In his first season as a starter for the Hurricanes, Rousseau wracked up nearly 20 tackles for loss (19.5, to be exact) and had 15.5 sacks, earning first-team All-ACC honors, all as a redshirt sophomore. As Rousseau ages and refines his technique and pass-rush plan, his ceiling appears to be nearly limitless.

Rousseau comes into the 2020 college football season as only a redshirt sophomore, so he doesn’t need to — and may not — declare for the 2021 NFL Draft. But with another double-digit TFL and sack season, it would be a hard prospect to pass up on. He’d cement himself as one of the best defensive players available.

Carlos Basham Jr. (Wake Forest)

Speaking of Carlos Basham Jr., if there’s anyone who can challenge Rousseau for ACC EDGE rusher supremacy, it’s going to be the Wake Forest product. Basham could have declared for the 2020 NFL Draft and would have likely been a top-5 player at the position. Instead, Basham comes back to the Demon Deacons for one more go-round, with his eyes firmly set on solidifying first-round status.

Though not quite as athletically gifted as his Hurricanes counterpart, Basham is the most refined pass rusher the ACC has to offer. He knows how to set up his pass rush moves no matter who he’s lined up across from, and he always comes to the line with a plan to beat his opponent. More often than not, he succeeds in his plan. Basham finished second in the entire conference last season with 11 sacks and notched 54 quarterback pressures on the season.

Another season like 2019 and Basham is going to make things very interesting at the top of a lot of NFL Draft boards. EDGE is one of the premium positions in the NFL, and the ACC might have the two top prospects of the 2021 NFL Draft class with Rosseau and Basham. You really can’t go wrong with either one.

Brevin Jordan (Miami)

Finally! Four prospects in and we finally get to the ACC’s top offensive prospect for the 2021 NFL Draft not from Clemson — the only one on this list, in fact. And it’s a tight end, of all positions! I’m not sure whether that says more about the top-end defensive talent this conference boasts, a relative lack of NFL Draft-eligible offensive talent outside of Clemson, or just how good Miami Hurricanes tight end Brevin Jordan is.

The 2020 NFL Draft class may be lackluster at the tight end position, but if there’s any position the 2021 class has an edge at, it’s this one. There are several TEs in the 2021 class who would have challenged for the top spot in this year’s class, had they declared. 

Jordan was hamstrung a bit last season, struggling in a poor Hurricanes offense and suffering a foot injury late in the season. Now that Jordan is healthy and there’s a new offense in Miami, it’s his time to shine. Jordan is a great athlete at the position and is likely to follow in the footsteps of TEs like Mike Gesicki and Evan Engram, transitioning to move tight end or “big slot” at the next level.

Andre Cisco (Syracuse)

For the last prospect in our look at the top ACC prospects for the 2021 NFL Draft, we come back to the defense. Syracuse football has fallen a great deal since the days of Donovan McNabb and Marvin Harrison. But that doesn’t mean that the cupboard is completely bare from an NFL Draft standpoint.

Syracuse safety Andre Cisco is not only one of the top defensive prospects in the ACC for the 2021 NFL Draft, but he’s one of the top safety prospects in the entire country. Cisco checks every box you want from a modern-NFL safety. He’s got great coverage and ball skills, he’s more than competent coming into the box for run support, and he can cover tight ends and slot receivers well.

Cisco’s tackling is still a little suspect at times, but for the most part, the Syracuse athlete is just about as solid as it gets at the position. The competition is going to be stiff, but it would not surprise me to see Cisco slip into the last few selections of the first round in 2021.

Chris Spooner is an NFL Draft contributor for PFN. You can follow him on Twitter @CSpoonerNFL.