The Ohio State Buckeyes are gearing up to compete for a national championship. Cornerback Jordan Hancock will be looking to add to his legacy, but 2025 NFL Draft evaluators will also keep a close eye on his scouting report — because Hancock has the tools to keep a role at the professional level.
Jordan Hancock’s Draft Profile and Measurements
- Height: 6’1″
- Weight: 195 pounds
- Position: Cornerback
- School: Ohio State
- Current Year: Senior
The Buckeyes return all three starters at cornerback from the 2023 regular season. Denzel Burke — a former freshman phenom — is back to end his career on a high note. The opposite boundary CB Davison Igbinosun is a rising up-and-comer, and Hancock is the player who blends everything together.
Hancock’s development at Ohio State was a slow burn. He was a four-star recruit who played at North Gwinnett High School in Suwanee, Ga. His 2020 season was canceled by COVID-19, but he still earned interest from a host of schools and signed with Ryan Day.
In 2021, Hancock played sparingly — though he did log his first career pass breakup. In 2022, he missed several games with a leg injury and again played primarily as a reserve. He was almost an afterthought entering 2023, but he challenged that reputation quickly.
In 2023, Hancock played in all 13 games and officially started seven, amassing 41 tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles, two interceptions — including a pick-six — and five pass breakups.
It was a long-awaited breakout for Hancock, and the stats don’t do his impact justice in Jim Knowles’ defense. Entering 2024, he’s a senior with a unique blend of experience, versatility, and youth — he’ll be just a 22-year-old rookie if he declares. And the arrow is trending up.
Hancock’s Scouting Report
Strengths
- Agile, explosive, and malleable athlete who can correct positioning while trailing.
- Fleet-footed mover who can match receivers with feet first while staying square.
- Glides through transitions with easy hip sink and can carry speed through transitions.
- Disciplined press-man defender with outstanding corrective and reactionary athleticism.
- Has the hip fluidity to enter trail and maintain his speed while carrying vertically.
- Able to manage 2-on-1 route relationships in zone and anticipate in-breaking routes.
- Can hawk in front of ill-fated passes with his route recognition and closing speed.
- Able to sequentially vary his technique from matches to shuffles to trail through reps.
- Can play clean catch technique in off-man coverage and stick to his WR’s hip pocket.
- Can adjust his hip leverage in zone coverage and quickly pick up crossing WRs.
- Instinctive DB and a sharp processor who can pass off WRs and diagnose underneath.
- Dangerous blitzing threat who can use his speed and burst to sear through gaps.
- Plays fast and physically and has the willingness to slab blockers in support with force.
- Has shown he can actively wrap up as a tackler and use his length to dislodge the ball.
- Has the versatility to play the slot, boundary, line up at safety, and fulfill various roles.
Weaknesses
- Explosiveness, while great, appears to not be quantifiably elite.
- Has room to add more mass to his frame to improve play strength against physical WRs.
- Doesn’t have great proportional length for his size, which can limit disruptive radius.
- Can be worked off balance when matching releases, veering instead of driving in.
- On occasion, tugs his base too narrow on releases and grants the inside track too easily.
- Occasionally resorts to tugs and grabs to regain leverage after losing a step at stems.
- At times, fails to get his head around and track the football when working the boundary.
- With non-elite length and strength, sometimes struggles to deconstruct run blocks.
- Sometimes lurches and over-extends when attacking run blocks, losing balance.
- Sometimes ducks his head and whiffs when attacking downhill as a tackler.
Current Draft Projection and Summary
Entering the 2025 NFL Draft cycle, Hancock grades out as a mid-to-late first-round prospect, and he has the upside to be one of the first CB prospects taken in the 2025 NFL Draft. In particular, Hancock’s skill set as a nickel DB could bode very well for him.
Hancock didn’t have much of an established reputation entering the 2023 season, but he changed that as a junior at Ohio State. He was a stellar two-phase player across the 2023 campaign, and one could argue he was the Buckeyes’ best defensive back.
Hancock is a certified glue guy who can play any alignment in the secondary — boundary, nickel, or safety. But he thrives in the nickel spot, where all of his best qualities — fluidity, agility, physicality, quick processing, and role versatility — mold together.
With fluid hips, crisp explosiveness, and superb corrective athleticism, Hancock can match WRs with ease, and he has the biting physicality to size up any opponent. With his route recognition, he can pass off, carry, and respond to breaks quickly, and he’s a quality playmaker at the catch point.
Hancock might not have quantifiably elite explosiveness or speed, but his fluidity and short-area agility more than counteract that, and his ability to be a Swiss army knife and high-level cover man all in one is rare. At his maximum, he could be an impact NFL starter in the mold of Trent McDuffie.