Too Deep 96 #46-#50: Meet the One-Man Tush Push, and Some Other Cool Defenders

Meet Ole Miss DT/QB (???) J.J. Pegues, plus some other defensive prospects who may be just as good but nowhere near as much fun.

This installment of the Too Deep Zone focuses entirely on defenders. Though our first prospect is more than just a defender.

#46 J.J. Pegues, DT, Ole Miss

Pegues is the best combination defensive lineman/Wildcat quarterback I have ever seen. He’s also the only … oh, you can figure out how to finish this intro.

Pegues rushed 21 times for 69 yards and seven touchdowns for the Rebels in 2024. So we’re not talking about a guy who scored a trick-play touchdown or two. Pegues, who started his college career as an Auburn tight end, took regular Wildcat snaps in short-yardage situations. He sometimes looks like Cam Newton when plunging off tackle. He has stutter-step and spin moves as a ball carrier! He’s a one-man Tush Push! He absolutely deserves a chance to be a short-yardage specialist in the NFL.

Pegues is also a very good defensive line prospect, though a bit of a square peg. (His name is pronounced Peh-GEES. Puns are the lowest form of humor.) He shared the Ole Miss line with Walter Nolen, a quick-footed Top Ten-caliber interior lineman; Princely Umanmielen, a conventional edge rusher; and Jared Ivey, an Arik Armstead-shaped traits monster; plus Suntarine Perkins, a surefire first-round pick in 2026. So Lane Kiffin rotated Pegues all over the line. Pegues may have been most effective on the left edge, where his size-quickness combination caused matchup headaches (and sometimes surprised running backs catching passes in the flat).

Pegues isn’t really built to be a LEO-type edge, and he’s a solid notch below the Nolen-Mason Graham-level defensive tackles when it comes to eating double teams and winning strength-on-strength battles. But an athletic, disruptive 3-tech or 5-tech lineman who can also contribute to a short-yardage offense? Sign me up.

Pegues is a solid late-second/early-third round value. He absolutely deserves some sort of goal-line package role on offense, and he may be worth more for a team whose quarterback does not like to sneak.

#47 Xavier Watts, Safety, Notre Dame

Watts led the nation in interceptions in 2023 (7) and 2024 (6). He absolutely tormented USC: two interceptions and a strip/scoop/score touchdown in 2023; a 100-yard pick-6 in 2024.

Opposing quarterbacks were 11-of-20 for 116 yards, the six aforementioned interceptions and one dropped interception against Watts’ receivers last year. That amounts to an efficiency rating against Watts in coverage of 16.3, well below the “just throw the ball to the turf and surrender” line.

Watts is instinctive and alert in zone coverage. He sorts out crisscrosses and route combinations well in man coverage. He recognizes running plays and short passes quickly and positions himself to make the play. He hustles when giving chase. He’ll overrun a few tackles but will also position himself to prevent cutbacks when he sees that other defenders have a better line of pursuit.

Oh, if only Watts were two inches taller or one step faster! Watts can get beat by pure speed in man coverage, and running backs can outrun him to the edge. He managed to chase Tyler Shough down from behind at the end of an option keeper, with a teammate stripping the ball away. But while Tyler Shough runs pretty well, he isn’t exactly Lamar Jackson.

Several of Watts’ interceptions were line drives straight into his center-fielder’s glove, plus a tip drill in the same Louisville game as the Shough footrace. It’s nitpicking to say that there’s helium in his interception total, but it’s also important to not get carried away by a counting stat.

Watts will be an NFL starter as a pure free safety. His floor is high, but his ceiling is relatively low. Teams seeking versatility and upside should consider South Carolina’s bigger, faster, less-consistent Nick Emmanwori instead.

#48 Malaki Starks, Safety, Georgia

Starks is a familiar face to football fans. He started for the 2022 National Champions, sharing the secondary with Kamari Lassiter and Kelee Ringo and the defensive huddle with Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith, among many others, most of whom now play for the Eagles. He earned an All America selection in 2023. He’s known for twisting, high-degree-of-difficulty interceptions, but his best attribute may be his ability to get to the perimeter and make tackles for minimal runs on sweeps, receiver screens and misdirection plays. Starks can be effective in the box or deep and can handle simpler man-coverage assignments in the slot. He was rarely used as a blitzer.

Starks’ Combine results – a 4.50-second forty, jump and shuttle numbers that would get him ignored if he played for Toledo – don’t negate three years of SEC success. But they temper enthusiasm a bit. Starks has slid backwards with the Bulldogs defense a bit from the 2022 glory days, which can be a concern for a back-end defender. Starks’ lack of pure speed wasn’t as big a problem when a bunch of soon-to-be Pro Bowlers were cleaning up plays in front of him. He looked a little more vulnerable in 2024, particularly in coverage.

Starks sits atop a few media draft boards I have peeked at, probably because of his 2022-23 success. And he was by no means “bad” last year. But he’s a not-too-big, not-too-fast defender whose game has leveled off a bit, so I fear that he has a low ceiling.

#49 Jacob Parrish, CB, Kansas State

Parrish has three brothers: older brother Jevon and twin younger brothers Jason and Joshua. Jevon wrestled for Nebraska. The twins and Jacob ran track in high school, winning a myriad of Kansas state titles. The twins now run at Wichita State.

Parrish also wrestled in middle school. And at home. “When I was little, my dad would host wrestling tournaments at our house,” he said at the Combine. “We would wrestle each other, me and my brothers.”

And when the Parrish brothers showed up for pickup football or basketball in the playground? “A majority of the time, we won all the games.”

Sounds about right.

Parrish started his K-State career at 177 pounds but was up to 191 pounds at the Combine. He lined up both outside and in the slot for the Wildcats. Parrish’s measurements suggest an ornery slot ankle-biter, but he’s a long-armed 5-foot-10 and handles outside coverage against taller receivers well. His coverage figures on the outside are remarkable: just 16 completions on 44 targets for 133 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception and six passes defensed. Parrish is a shoestring tackler who can be easy to block in running plays, but he’s aggressive and gets himself involved.

Parrish projects as a versatile NFL starter. There’s a chance that he is still growing into his frame and has athletic upside.

#50 Jihaad Campbell, Linebacker, Alabama

South Jersey’s Campbell turned 21 two days before he spoke to reporters at the Combine. He started getting recruited at age 15. Not nibbles. Not visits. OFFERS. From Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Syracuse, Clemson and, eventually, Alabama.

Campbell chose the Tide after a brief commitment to Clemson. He developed quickly into a quintessential all-purpose Alabama linebacker and a better prospect than recent models like Christian Harris or Henry To’oTo’o.

Campbell is a well-chiseled athletic marvel with extend-o-arms. He’s a sudden blitzer who explodes when he sees a crease and can dip beneath his blocker’s shoulder when rushing off the edge. He’s rugged inside the tackle box and hard to root out of a hole. He’s a rangy open field tackler who can race out to impact plays on the perimeter. He handles routine middle linebacker coverage responsibilities well. Opponents rarely threw to receivers he was covering: 8 catches, 36 yards, one touchdown and one interception in 323 coverage snaps.

Campbell’s primary weakness is that he lacks top-tier soft skills. His eyes can get stuck on play-fakes, making him a half-step late to get to the ball. He runs around some blocks in pursuit that he should run through if he hopes to make the play. He can end up on the ground when his first pass-rush move is stymied.

Campbell also suffered an upper-body injury in Alabama’s bowl game and needed surgery to repair a torn labrum after the Combine. The late surgery will limit him throughout his rookie spring and summer.

Campbell ranks below UCLA’s Carson Schwesinger on the Too Deep 96 because Schwesinger looks like a much more polished, instinctive defender on tape. Campbell is more of a run fast/hit hard guy, and the shoulder injury could slow his development a bit. But Campbell is very young, athletic and aggressive, so his upside is precipitously high.