Measurables
UNIVERSITY- NC State AGE- CLASS- Covid SO
HEIGHT- 6’4” WEIGHT-320 ARM LENGTH-
40 Time- 3 CONE- VERTICAL- BROAD JUMP- BENCH PRESS-
Overview
Nicknamed Ickey, Ekwonu is the son of athletes from Nigeria, his father played college basketball and his mother was a track star. Ekwonu played for prep high school Providence Day where he was used on both offensive and defensive lines. He also wrestled and was the anchor for their relay team in track. As a true freshman in 2019 he started 7 games at left tackle and was credited with 37 pancake blocks. In 2020 he started 4 games at OG and 6 games at LT, recording 50 pancake blocks and 22 knockdowns. He earned Third Team All-ACC honors at both positions. In 2021 he started in all 12 games at left tackle. He earned Unanimous All-American honors, First Team All-ACC and the Jacobs Blocking Award for the best Olinmen in the conference. Enwonu received very high academic honors throughout his collegiate career.
Strengths
Ikem Ekwonu is the football equivalent to the playground bully. The way this guy moves people is devastating. I’ll start this out by saying I would prefer to put him at guard in the NFL. Regardless if he’s playing tackle or guard though, Ikem has elite length. His size is also something to marvel at. Ikem’s power is top tier; he consistently drives edge defenders off the line and often has the ability to put them on their backside. He plays with a nasty mean streak and he appears to want to physically break his opponents down. His ability to finish blocks is outstanding. Despite his size, Ikem is excellent at moving out in space and does a nice job of keeping square to his targets in the outside running lanes. He then completely dismantles LBs and Lord help the DBs, it’s almost laughable how he tosses them around. I saw at least 1 unnecessary roughness called against him in the games I watched and I’m down for a little of that. Ikem seems to be an extremely smart player who still has a lot of room to improve. Which if you draft him at tackle that’ll give a team hope that he can get to that star level. You can see the athletic ability paired with the intelligence by his spatial awareness, he’s able to figure out various ways to get a man blocked without committing penalties. The athletic part of that shines by just his pure agility to contort his body and wall off defenders or even chop them down effectively when need be. His initial punch is impactful and consistently stonewalls edge defenders. You’ll have a difficult time trying to power through Ekwonu. As a pass blocker he shows good initial quickness out of his stance and shows more than enough lateral quickness to play guard or maybe even right tackle. Ikem is also a very good help defender in the pass game as he enjoys blowing up free rushers. What makes him incredibly intriguing is his youth paired with how much he has improved from his freshman year at NC State, he is dominant at times and that’s without perfect technique.
Weaknesses/Room for Improvement
As far as putting him at guard there aren’t really many concerning aspects about his game. However, many see him as a tackle in the NFL and that’s what he played in college primarily so I’ll go through reasons why he could struggle there. Most importantly being his lack of flexibility when squatting down in his stance. When you pair this with his lack of lateral quickness and redirection skills this can create a lot of issues for him trying to stay in front of the quicker edge rushers that he faces. Most speed rushers would be able to counter him inside, but also he struggled to gain depth and stay in front of guys outside. Perhaps he could start his career at guard and eventually work his way outside to play tackle but I would be afraid he might get my QB killed in pass pro. His lack of bend in the lower half of his body forces him to play a little high at times as he doesn’t fully maximize his leverage. His hand placement isn’t always perfect and can often drift outside the chest of his opponents. He seems to be a little over-eager for a pancake block at-times, which leads to him getting over-extended, fall off balance. I’m actually surprised many feel so confident with him at tackle, as he should become an instant star at guard.
Scheme Fit
I like him in a zone blocking scheme as a guard where he can get out on the move and destroy guys at the second level. He’s scheme flexible though.
Round Grade
Early First Round