I watched Lee Hunter against BYU in the Big 12 Championship. It probably wasn’t the ideal evaluation game since BYU’s offensive line isn’t loaded with NFL talent, but it was still useful. I realized I had some incorrect impressions of Hunter going in. For whatever reason, I had pictured him as a big-bodied defensive tackle who flashed more as a pass rusher than you’d expect, but wasn’t a true force against the run. After watching this game, that’s not accurate. He is clearly a run-first player. He was also more versatile than I expected — I saw him line up at 0, 1, 3, 4i, and even 5 technique.
Run Defense: Hunter is a very good run defender. He has natural knee bend that allows him to consistently play with good leverage. His pad level was strong throughout the game. He faced roughly a dozen double teams and rarely got displaced. When facing down blocks and double teams, he does a nice job angling his body and dropping his inside knee to anchor. That technique is often referred to as a “knee drop” or “hip drop” anchor — essentially sinking your weight to absorb and split the double team. With that knee dropped and his leverage set, he can shed using upper-body strength alone. His upper body is powerful enough that once he’s anchored, he can separate late in the rep. He’s good at stacking and shedding. He also has an explosive first step, so when there’s an opportunity to penetrate, he can do that as well. He blew up several run plays in this game. Overall, his run defense was very impressive.
Pass Rush: There are flashes as a pass rusher, but not consistent production. One thing that stood out is that even in fairly obvious pass situations, there were reps where he seemed to be playing the run first. Instead of exploding off the snap, he’d engage and hand-fight more conservatively. On some second-and-long and even third downs, it felt like he defaulted to run-first mentality. That said, when he did turn it loose, there were promising reps. His go-to move appears to be the arm-over, particularly when aligned in 0 or 1 technique — basically “in a phone booth.” Combined with his explosive first step, it’s effective. I counted about four uses of it, and he won three of those reps. He also flashed some speed-to-power on maybe three snaps, and that was encouraging. On several reps where he didn’t explode initially, he still ended up forklift-style lifting the offensive lineman a second or two into the play. Nothing came of those reps because the push happened too late, but if he can trigger that power earlier and build a rush plan off it, there’s something to work with. From 5 technique, he got the tackle to overset and beat him inside with lateral quickness. Cory didn’t think he was particularly bendy, but for a 330-pounder, I thought his bend was actually pretty good. He’s clearly a very good run defender. As a pass rusher, you see flashes, but the consistency and pass-rush sequencing aren’t there yet.
Overall: To me, Lee Hunter looked like a first-round caliber player in this game. I would consider him in the late teens, though I doubt he ultimately goes that high. It would have been helpful to see him against stronger competition — BYU’s offensive line likely doesn’t have future NFL players — so there’s a chance this evaluation is slightly optimistic because of the matchup. Still, based on this tape, he looked like a dominant run defender with legitimate upside as a pass rusher if he becomes more aggressive and develops a more consistent plan.
Here is the first third to half or so of the video I wacthed...
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