By: Michael Higgins

School: Illinois (Junior)

Position: CB

HT: 6’0

WT: 180 lbs

Sideline Prospect Ranking: #18

Devon Witherspoon is one of the more aggressive cornerback prospects that you will see. He seems to be a magnet for the football and is always looking to make a play on the ball. Witherspoon spent his freshman season in 2019 playing as a special teams ace before earning a role as a starting cornerback for the Illini. This makes Witherspoon a 3-year impact start at the University of Illinois and he really impressed during his 2022 campaign. Witherspoon hauled in 3 interceptions and 5 passes defended in his 2022 season. Witherspoon has a natural ability to get his hands on the football. He is sticky in coverage and has played a nice mix of zone, press man, and off man coverage. His background as a special teams ace not only boosts his draft stock but also shows on the field when he is playing cornerback. He has great speed when covering the deep routes and can be seen glued to his assignments’ hip. Witherspoon isn’t the longest or biggest cornerback, but he can’t shift receivers' direction at the line of scrimmage by pressing them and using his hands to get into their chest. While Witherspoon did play a variety of defensive sets and coverages, Illini defensive coordinator, Ryan Walters, had him mostly in a soft man coverage. Witherspoon plays with a competitive nature that is necessary to play in the secondary. He is confident and aggressive on the ball and never takes a play off.

One negative that is consistently brought up with Witherspoon is his frame. He is not exceptionally lengthy and is quite slender. Standing in at 6 feet tall and just cracking 180 lbs, he will not be able to aggressively press the more physical X receivers of the NFL. He will need to add some muscle in order to be able to play the style we saw him succeed with in college. He also only had the one All-American season in 2022 that skyrocketed his draft stock, his prior seasons had just been good seasons. It is still a question of whether or not he will be able to do it for a full 17 games in the NFL.

Witherspoon is a top cornerback prospect and the skills are all there for him to be great. If he can fill out a bit there would be no knock to his game. With that being said, he still shows an ability to make smart and aggressive plays on the ball despite his smaller frame.

Scheme Fit: Soft Man Coverage

Ideal Role: Boundary Cornerback

Best Team Fits: JAX, CHI, KC

Player Comparison: Casey Hayward

Player Grade: 86.5