Too Deep 96 #76-#85: Welcome to the Round of Fun

Get to know SMU RB Brashard Smith, TCU all-purpose frog Savion Williams and other fun third-round gadgets for the team that has everything.

This installment of the Too Deep 96 is loaded with offensive playmakers. But we kick things off with yet ANOTHER Buckeyes defender.

#77 Lathon Ransom, Safety, Ohio State

Ransom is a combination slot corner and free safety. He can be very effective as a force defender on the edge of the formation or in coverage against top receiving tight ends. He whiffs on tackles now and then – a 13.3% broken/missed tackle rate in 2023 and 2024 – but he’s also more willing then most safeties to take on ballcarriers between the tackles.

Like many of the 2024 Buckeyes, Ransom was a three-year starter at the program. That actually makes him a tricky evaluation. On the one hand, there’s lots of tape of him covering Brock Bowers-types effectively in big games. But the safety on the back end of an outstanding defense spends a lot of time watching his teammates blow up plays, and everyone on the Ohio State defense was playing his assigned role to perfection by 2024. Ransom is obviously good – his anticipation and field speed pop on film – but he may be more of a nickel specialist than a Pro Bowler.

Ransom ran a 4.51-second forty at Ohio State’s Pro Day. That’s not bad, but it may limit his ability to handle speed in the slot. I’m erring on the side of “nickel specialist,” though a useful one.

#78 Ahmed Hassanein, Defensive Line, Boise State

Hassanein was born in Florida but moved to Egypt to live with his father when he was six years old. He participated in CrossFit, wrestling and other sports in Egypt, but life in Cairo came with some vaguely-described troubles. He moved back to the U.S. as an older teen to live with his much-older brother, who introduced him to football.

“My brother saved me,” Hassanein told Dan Albano of the Orange County Register in 2020. “I was in Egypt acting one way and I came here and my life and personality changed. I’ve been grinding and working. I’m blessed.”

Hassanein grew into a two-time All Mountain West defender. He finished fifth in the nation with 47 pass pressures in 2024. He recorded sacks against Oregon and Penn State, though his high-pressure-total games came against lesser competition like Georgia Southern (8 pressures) and San Diego State (6). Hassanein also posted impressive Combine workout numbers.

The film shows a high-energy 267-pounder who is more of a defensive end than a nifty, balletic edge rusher. Hassanein is a tough hand fighter who can rock his blocker backward on first contact. He lacks finesse and ultra-elite traits, but he passes all the big/strong/fast/ornery benchmarks.

It feels like Hassanein has gotten a little lost in a deep defensive line class. He was not highly recruited. He’s not flashy. He played for the powerhouse of a forgotten conference. His tape is good-not-great. But the combination of workout numbers, accolades and production, coupled with that good tape, suggests an NFL starter. Hassanein will never lead the league in sacks, but don’t be surprised if he’s still playing long after some of the bigger names in this draft class have flamed out.

Random Fact: Hassenein shares his name with a courtier to King Farouk, who ruled Egypt from 1936 to 1952. The other Hassanein also represented Egypt in fencing in the 1924 Olympics. They do not appear to be related.

#79 Quinshon Judkins, Running Back, Ohio State

Judkins’ ceiling is Melvin Gordon: a sturdy, serviceable grinder in a committee backfield. His floor is any of dozens of high-mileage major-program workhorses who max out as RB3-types in the NFL.

Judkins led the SEC with 1,567 rushing yards and 16 rushing touchdowns as a freshman for Ole Miss in 2022. He backslid a bit in 2023, then portalled to Ohio State, where he shared the backfield with TreVeyon Henderson; both backs rushed for over 1,000 yards for the National Champions.

Judkins is a no-nonsense between-the-tackles runner who is at his best when throttling down in the backfield until holes develop, then hitting the burst button. He accelerates into second gear quickly and sometimes steamrolls his initial tackler. He has some quick-cutting ability in the open field and is a useful screens-and-flats receiver.

Judkins initiates a lot of contact with defenders. Too often, his go-to move is to just lower his head and try to smash through the tackle. His breakaway speed is ordinary; he was chased down from behind in the National Championship game. He had lots of unimpressive games in 2024, and not always because Henderson was performing much better or the Buckeyes were clobbering their opponents. A hand injury might have limited his 2024 effectiveness, but that brings us back to Judkins’ habit of initiating contact.

Judkins might be the sort of running back who peaks in college. He’s worth a pick in the third or fourth round, and could rush for 1,000 yards in the right circumstances, but if you are reading this profile you are probably aware that rushers like Judkins are often easy to find and can be almost interchangeable.

#80 Elic Ayomanor, Wide Receiver, Stanford

Full disclosure: I am biased against Stanford wide receivers. Specifically: tall Stanford wide receivers with gaudy forty times (4.44 seconds at 6-foot-2) who never appeared to get much separation on the field. J.J. Arcega-Whiteside broke me forever.

Ayomanor has a lot of Arcega-Whiteside traits. He wins contested-catch jump balls and is capable of the occasional Odell Beckham-level leaping highlight. But his ratio on 50-50 balls is more like 35-65, he dropped seven passes, and he’s forever tangled up with cornerbacks that he should have been able to beat.

As usual for a Stanford receiver, there’s a so-so quarterback and a scuffling program to bear much of the blame for the number of jump balls Ayomanor is forced to shag. But there’s also a lot of footage of Ayomanor not adjusting to catchable deep balls or letting a contested catch clang off his hands.

Ayomanor may be most famous for catching a touchdown pass by reaching over Travis Hunter’s helmet in 2023. Ayomanor went 13-294-3 in that game, including a 97-yard slant-and-run touchdown on which his defender (not Hunter) slipped. So he has the highlights and traits of a Day Two pick. His upside is higher than that of Michael Wilson, the Stanford receiver who has become a decent starter for the Arizona Cardinals. His downside is as a guy who tries to bulk up and move to tight end in three years.

#81 Benjamin Morrison, Cornerback, Notre Dame

Morrison looked great against Marvin Harrison Jr. in 2023. He maintained outstanding positioning on the former Ohio State superstar throughout the game. He allowed one catch (and drew a penalty) in one-on-one coverage but also had a critical pass breakup in the end zone on the final drive.

Morrison’s film against other opponents in 2023 was similar. He turns and runs well in man coverage and does a fine job squeezing his receivers against the sideline on deeper routes. He gets huggy and pushy when the ball arrives, but that’s a common problem for collegiate cornerbacks. He’ll gamble and freelance in zone coverage, but he once baited Caleb Williams into throwing a perfect strike right to him.

We’re focused on 2023 film because Morrison played just six games before suffering a hip injury in 2024. There are questions about his pure speed, and we don’t have Combine results to work with.

Morrison may not match up well with elite route runners or the niftiest jitterbugs. But he can be a solid #2 cornerback with the size, technique and enough speed to cover most NFL receivers.

Personal Note: Morrison’s father Daryl played in the NFL for Washington in the 1990s. His four siblings are/were collegiate athletes. His sister Naomi helped Michigan win a National Championship in gymnastics.

#82 Caleb Ransaw, Cornerback, Tulane

Ransaw is a toolsy slot tough guy and force defender on the edge. He reads plays in front of him very well and appears to relish run support. American Conference opponents avoided him when possible: just 24 targets (11 completions) in 254 coverage snaps. This is a conference that LOVES slot screens, mind you: Ransaw was often turning a top “get him the ball in space” playmaker into a decoy.

Ransaw was charged with four pass interference penalties in 2024. He loses a step when turning and running in man coverage, and he often ends up hand-checking his receiver, whether in transition or when the ball arrives. I also hoped to see more block-shedding and general thud against Army and Navy, when Ransaw knew he would be in run support all game. Someone who is going to be a slot corner in the NFL should not get wired to a Midshipman so easily.

Athleticism and aggressiveness will make Ransaw a useful NFL player. If he improves his turn-and-run technique, he can be a quality slot defender.

#83 Brashard Smith, Running Back, SMU

Smith is a former University of Miami wide receiver turned jittery, wiggly running back. He generally operated behind the quarterback out of the Pistol for the Mustangs, allowing him to read blocks, gather up some steam and string together economical little cuts in search of a path through the defense. He broke out the trickier combo moves in the open field.

Smith ran a 4.39-second forty, and his background as a wide receiver is evident on film: he’ll work to get open in underneath zones and can make difficult catches (including a highlight-reel touchdown catch near the left pylon against Pitt). Smith also finishes his runs hard, which is surprising for a 194-pounder who started as a receiver. He’s no Derrick Henry, but he knows where the first-down marker is and will work to get there.

Smith returned a kickoff for a touchdown for the Hurricanes in 2023 and has returned 53 career kickoffs, plus a few punts. That experience matters again in the NFL, which boosts Smith’s ranking a bit.

It also leads us to our next profile.

#84 Savion Williams, Wide Receiver, TCU

Somewhere on the continuum between Cordarrelle Patterson and Jalen Hurd lies Savion Williams, a video-game Create-a-Player brought to life:

• Former high school quarterback (recruited as an ATH, for those of you playing Dynasty Mode).

• 6-foor-4, 222 pounds.

• A 4.48-second forty at the Combine.

• A customized package of Wildcat plays called “Frog” designed to use him as a rusher, receiver and passer.

Williams switched places with Horned Frogs quarterback Josh Hoover to explore a deep bag of option/misdirection tricks, completing three passes in 2024. He also caught a lot of screens and such: 23 receptions for 152 yards on targets at or behind the line of scrimmage. (He went 60-611-6 overall.) When not catching screens, Williams was often running end-zone fades or jump-balls: four touchdowns on nine end-zone targets, usually against a cornerback at least four inches shorter.

Williams dropped five passes last year. His drops tend to clang off his hands like bricked free throws on what should be short, easy receptions. He’s not a great ball tracker, and he’s inconsistent when adjusting to poorly-placed passes.

Williams turns 24 in November and spent several seasons slow-cooking in TCU’s system. For all his tools, he played second-fiddle to Jack Bech in the Horned Frogs passing game, and he actually finished fourth on the team in receiving yards, though second in scrimmage yards.

You know who Cordarrelle Patterson is. Jalen Hurd was a 6-foot-4 all-purpose gadget guy from Baylor (by way of Tennessee). The 49ers picked him in the third round of the 2019 draft, just after Deebo Samuel, in their quest for a specific type of playmaker. Deebo became Deebo. Hurd had all sorts of injury issues and lacked the rare alchemy that turns an “ATH” into a Patterson, let alone a Deebo.

Williams returned kickoffs way back in 2020. If he can reprise that role for an NFL team, it will keep him on a roster while coaches figure out if he’s some sort of slot/Wildcat superweapon or just a barrel of Saturday-afternoon fun.

#85 Charles Grant, Offensive Tackle, William & Mary

Oh no. William & Mary? Won’t do.

(That was the obligatory Steely Dan reference of the Too Deep 96. Cut things a little close, didn’t we?)

Grant has 34.75-inch arms and quick feet. He was an FCS All-American in 2024 and first-team All Colonial Conference for two years. What tape I scrounged of him showed a lineman who could punch FCS defenders before they could get close to them and extend his arms to turn the trip to the quarterback into a $20 Lyft.

(That was the obligatory Joel Buchsbaum tribute of the Too Deep 96. Though technically we kicked off with one.)

I have no idea how to project Colonial Conference left tackles into the NFL. But Grant has the traits of an NFL left tackle, and some big-time draft experts have signed off on him. He’s the sort of player Andy Reid would stash on the bench for a year or two in his heyday; Reid now tries to insert such linemen into the lineup immediately, with suboptimal results. A team that’s a year or two away from really needing a tackle would be wise to invest in Grant sometime in the third round and see what happens.