{"id":197702,"date":"2024-11-01T11:30:05","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T15:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=197702"},"modified":"2024-10-31T20:08:21","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T00:08:21","slug":"2025-nfl-draft-early-scouting-report-donovan-ezeiruaku-boston-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/11\/01\/2025-nfl-draft-early-scouting-report-donovan-ezeiruaku-boston-college\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 NFL Draft Early Scouting Report: Donovan Ezeiruaku, Boston College"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Boston College edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku has exploded onto the scene in 2024 and become an intimidating and productive defender.\u00a0 His nine sacks through eight games are among the most in the country and he has torn apart numerous offensives. Here is a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/10\/30\/defensive-nfl-draft-risers-in-week-9-features-elite-pass-rushers\/\" target=\"_self\">2025 NFL Draft<\/a> Early <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/10\/31\/2025-nfl-draft-early-scouting-report-kyle-monangai-rutgers\/\" target=\"_self\">Scouting Report<\/a> and film analysis on him.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Overview, Film Analysis, and Early 2025 NFL Draft Scouting Report of Boston College EDGE Donovan Ezeiruaku<\/h2>\n<h3><b>Measurables:<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">6\u20192<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">247 lbs<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Player Background:\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Playing High School football at Williamstown, New Jersey, Ezeiruaku was named a <a  href=\"https:\/\/247sports.com\/player\/donovan-ezeiruaku-46100546\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">three-star recruit<\/a> in the 2021 class. He got decent action in his first collegiate season with BC, totaling three sacks and four tackles-for-loss in 11 games. His mini-breakout came in 2022 and it was also his first year as a starter. 8.5 sacks and 14.5 TFLs cemented him as Boston College\u2019s top EDGE and one of the ACC\u2019s best.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His junior campaign was much quieter, still starting all 12 contests but only accumulating two sacks and 6.5 TFLs. His senior season has looked much closer to his sophomore, ascending to levels he had yet to come close to and looking like a premier NFL Draft Prospect.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Accolades:\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Second Team All-ACC (2022)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Athlon Sports Preseason All-ACC Team (2023)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Athlon Sports Preseason All-ACC Team (2024)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shrine Bowl Defensive Breakout Player of the Week (2024)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Walter Camp National Player of the Week (2024)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Strengths\/Pros:\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ezeiruaku\u2019s swim move is far and away his best asset and overall strength as an NFL Prospect. He shows nuanced body control when using it and can showcase a plethora of different looks before he uses it. He gets off the line well when attacking downhill and gains considerable ground before linemen can shift into position.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ezeiruaku works tackles from numerous different angles and can set up various sequences to win reps. In the run game, he\u2019s able to hold outside contains quite well and limits explosive bursts to the sideline. That skill also translates to holding ground at the line of scrimmage, rarely getting moved downfield.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Weaknesses\/Cons:\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Inspecting Ezeiruaku\u2019s frame, his size leaves some room to be desired and his length is subpar. Oddly enough this sentiment is entirely flipped in his running style; a somewhat uncomfortable-looking lengthier movement that doesn\u2019t conserve power. He also gets too vertical when given space and is left vulnerable to chip blocks. When moving downhill on pass rushes, he tends to sink too far down and often loses his anchor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On straight bull rushes, Ezeiruaku will disengage too quickly and allow the OL to reset and counter his moves. He drifts for too long on extended run plays and at times fails to capitalize on the potential impact he can make. Moving in traffic yields a similar issue with too much hesitation and doesn\u2019t move with intent. In coverage, his backpedal is choppy and is usually a non-factor on those plays.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Potential Team Fits:\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/buccaneers\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/falcons\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Atlanta Falcons<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/lions\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Detroit Lions<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>NFL Projection:\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ezeiruaku has been one of the biggest media risers in this class at the midway point of the season. In a generally weaker class, he has a chance to get drafted considerably high and even sneak into Day 1. As a pro, his long-term outlook is more of a rotational pass rusher than a full-fledged game wrecker. A possible career path could be that of a consistently solid EDGE that catches on with multiple different organizations. His swim move will win him a solid amount of reps, but he needs to flesh out his technical abilities to develop into anything more.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Prospect Grade:\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Late 3rd Round<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Film Exposures:\u00a02024 vs. Missouri \/ 2024 vs. Florida State \/ 2023 vs. Florida State \/ 2023 vs. UConn<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo Courtesy of Peter Casey &#8211; Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview And Film Analysis Of 2025 NFL Draft Prospect And Boston College EDGE Donovan Ezeiruaku, BC\u2019s Breakout Pass Rusher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5364,"featured_media":197727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1647],"tags":[32605,32911,32912],"class_list":["post-197702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-draft","tag-2025-nfl-draft","tag-boston-college-eagles","tag-donovan-ezeiruaku"],"modified_by":"Drew VonScio","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5364"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}