{"id":242888,"date":"2026-04-10T01:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T01:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/242888\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T01:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T01:24:12","slug":"what-nfl-scouts-are-saying-about-texas-top-draft-prospects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/242888\/","title":{"rendered":"What NFL Scouts are Saying About Texas’ Top Draft Prospects"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 NFL Draft is all but here, and several Texas Longhorns <\/a>can only sit and wait to hear their names called. <\/p>\n

While it is impossible to know what will happen in the ever-unpredictable Draft, evaluators should have their minds made up about prospects at this point in the cycle. <\/p>\n

Here is what some of those evaluators think about Texas’ top draft prospects.<\/p>\n

Anthony Hill Jr. \"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. against the Clemson Tigers during the CFP National playoff first round | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Anthony Hill Jr.<\/a> is a thumping, playmaking linebacker who was highly productive across three seasons at Texas. <\/p>\n

The projected top-pick to come out of Austin this draft, here is what the Ringer’s Todd McShay had to say about Hill.<\/p>\n

“At his best, he\u2019s a downhill run defender who excels at shooting through gaps,” McShay said. “Hill is talented enough to develop into a starter early in his career, and he can make an immediate impact in sub-packages.”<\/p>\n

McShay has Hill as his second-best linebacker in the class and believes he is worth a second or even first-round pick. Other scouts do not feel as strongly.<\/p>\n

According to Bob McGinn, who canvases NFL scouts anonymously in addition to grading prospects himself, he thought Hill the eighth-best linebacker in his class. <\/p>\n

“He got a lot of hype off the body and the athletic ability. He was a 5-star, and you could probably say that about him now,\u201d one scout said to Bob McGinn. \u201cBut as an inside backer there isn\u2019t great take-on. As an outside backer, (he’s) not just a pure edge rusher. He\u2019s sort of caught between and not really great at either one.”<\/p>\n

Opinions shared privately are typically more negative, this scout is in an NFL draft room, so his opinion should be held somewhat seriously. <\/p>\n

It is safest to assume that Hill will fall somewhere in between both of those projections, being the third or fourth linebacker taken.<\/p>\n

Malik Muhammad\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas defensive back Malik Muhammad during the NFL Scouting Combine | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Malik Muhammad <\/a>is an experienced cover corner who excelled at the Combine and Senior Bowl, boosting his stock more than any other Longhorn has during the pre-draft process. <\/p>\n

Here is what the Athletic’s Dane Brugler said about the veteran defensive back. <\/p>\n

“Muhammad is a tall, skinny athlete with quality coverage-match talent,” Brugler said. “He doesn\u2019t consistently play up to his timed speed, but he does show lateral agility and strain to stay attached to routes.”<\/p>\n

Brugler’s comments about Muhammad’s ‘timed speed’ is based on the fact that Muhammad ran much faster at the Combine, a 4.42-second 40-yard dash, than he seemed to on tape. <\/p>\n

Still, Brugler held Muhammad as the 11th-best cornerback in the class and a third-round pick. <\/p>\n

McGinn was, once again, lower on Muhammad, but still had him in his top-14.<\/p>\n

“He\u2019ll probably rise because he is extremely intelligent and he\u2019s played a lot of football,” an NFL scout told McGinn. “He\u2019s not all that sudden or twitchy, but the guy knows football better than a lot of (players) I talked to this spring.”<\/p>\n

Muhammad’s knowledge comes with experience, as he played in 40 games at Texas.<\/p>\n

Sign up to our free newsletter<\/a> and follow us on Facebook<\/a>, X<\/a> and Instagram<\/a> for the latest news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 NFL Draft is all but here, and several Texas Longhorns can only sit and wait to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-242888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}