Dane Brugler's The Beast 2025

[*Synric*]

The Beast is finally here.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6259709/2025/04/09/nfl-draft-2025-the-beast-pdf-version/


Character concern for Walter Nolen mentioned is changing schools.

Quote:BACKGROUND: Walter Nolen, the oldest of three boys, grew up in the Memphis, Tenn., area with his parents (Walter Jr. and Yolunda). He started playing football at age 5 and developed an immediate connection with the sport. Nolen continued playing in Pop Warner and middle school and started to gain attention on all-star teams. His younger brothers (Warren and Waylan) also have futures in college football. Warren Nolen was a three-star recruit in the 2025 class and signed with Arkansas State as an interior of f ensive lineman.

Walter Nolen started out at Olive Branch High in northern Mississippi. As a freshman, he was part of a varsity team that won 12 games (he also competed on the powerlifting team). Nolen had his breakout season in 2019 as a sophomore defensive lineman (92 tackles, 26 tackles for loss, two sacks and two forced fumbles). He earned first-team all-metro honors and skyrocketed up the recruiting rankings. With the spotlight on him, Nolen transferred midway through his sophomore year (Feb. 2020) to IMG Academy, the football powerhouse and boarding school in Bradenton, Fla. However, he returned home to the Memphis area after just four months (June 2020), because of his mother's desire to have him close to home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before his junior year, Nolen enrolled at St. Benedict at Auburndale, a Catholic school in Memphis, where he was coached by Marlon Walls, who had played defensive line at Olive Branch and Tennessee (2009-13). But St. Benedict managed only two wins in 2020 and fired Walls (former Memphis tight end Joey Magnifico replaced him). For his senior season, Nolen transferred to Powell High, which is 10 miles north of Neyland Stadium and the Tennessee campus. Despite joining the team late, he helped Powell to a 13-2 record and the 2021 5A state championship. Nolen finished his final season with 93 tackles, 33 tackles for loss, 17 sacks and six forced fumbles, which earned him several state and national awards, including Defensive Player of the Year by USA Today. He also played basketball at St. Benedict.

A five-star recruit, Nolen was the top-ranked defensive lineman in the 2022 recruiting class (one spot ahead of Mykel Williams) and the No. 1 recruit in Tennessee. He finished as the No. 2 recruit nationally, behind only Travis Hunter. During the spring of his freshman year, Nolen impressed at several camps and earned his first of f er from Tennessee, followed by of f ers from Georgia, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri and Ole Miss (April 2019). The of f ers continued to pour throughout his breakout sophomore season, and it was clear that Nolen would have his choice of colleges. The summer before his senior season, Nolen announced a final five of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Michigan and Tennessee, but a month later, Texas A&M shot to the top of his list. He ultimately committed to head coach Jimbo Fisher and the Aggies in November 2021 and headlined the famed "best recruiting class ever," which included eight five-star signees (five on the defensive line).

After two seasons in College Station, following Fisher's dismissal and defensive line coach Elijah Robinson's move to Syracuse, Nolen entered the transfer portal. He was the third-ranked player in the portal and committed to Ole Miss in December 2023. Nolen skipped his senior season and entered the NFL Draft. He accepted his invitation to the Senior Bowl.

STRENGTHS:
● Explosive first step with equally explosive hands
● Has initial movements to cross face, shoot gaps and live in gaps
● Weaponizes length to stab and flashes a twitchy slap/arm-over move
● Relies on get-of f quickness as his source of power to create push at contact
● Rangy athlete for his size, with the secondary quickness to finish behind the line of scrimmage
● Quick to find his balance to react to the ball carrier and get him on the ground
● Strong tackler in close quarters (rarely missed tackles)
● Able to plant his post leg and hold his own against doubles
● Plays hard, and his ef f ort doesn't see major dips snap to snap
● Production improved each season — finished top three among FBS interior defensive linemen in tackles for loss in 2024 

WEAKNESSES:
● Can do a better job staying square when moving laterally down the line
● Reacts first and reads second, leaving him out of position at times 
● Rush plan is based more on activity than cohesion
● Improving his lock-out will help keep his eyes elevated to find the football
● Personal foul on the 2024 Arkansas tape for extracurricular ef f orts
● Disappears on some tapes; averaged only 2.7 pressures per game in 2024
● Attended six dif f erent programs over the last seven years, so interview process will be crucial to his final grade

SUMMARY: A one-year starter at Ole Miss, Nolen played three-technique tackle in defensive coordinator Pete Golding's 4-2-5 base scheme, occasionally lining up over or outside the tackle. A consensus top-five recruit out of high school, he played two mediocre seasons at Texas A&M before transferring to Oxford, where he had his best season in 2024, joining Patrick Willis as the only consensus All-Americans from the front seven in school history. 


With his length and surge of f the ball, Nolen creates immediate force and can be a play-wrecker with how quickly he penetrates gaps (the type of leverage that creates holding calls). He doesn't rely on just quickness to win, but there are inef f i ciencies in his attack, especially when he is late to read the play. Overall, Nolen has areas of his game that require maturing, but he flashes big-time disruption in his initial burst and fast, physical hands to regularly af f ect the backfield action. He will be attractive for NFL teams looking for an active gap-shooter with high-end upside.

 GRADE: 1st-2nd round (No. 31 overall)