Every year there’s a player or two that leap up draft boards at the NFL Scouting Combine. These “combine darlings” post absurd athletic testing scores turning heads across the nation, all searching for the next star.
After having the combine of his life, Pittsburgh interior defensive lineman Calijah Kancey is certainly one of these players.
Posting a ridiculous 4.67 40 yard dash at 6’1” 281 pounds, Kancey caused a stir at the scouting combine in early March with his quickness combined with his weight. Kancey ended up posting a 9.60 Relative Athletic Score, the best for a defensive tackle in the draft class.
Kancey grew up in the football haven that is the South, attending Miami Northwestern High School. Across his junior and senior year in highschool, Kancey posted a combined 200 tackles and was named to the first team All-Florida highschool football team in his senior year. Despite his success, Kancey was only labeled a three star college recruit. Kancey chose to attend the University of Pittsburgh, where he proved that his highschool success was no fluke.
In three years at Pitt Kancey posted 91 tackles and 15.5 sacks, including seven sacks each in his sophomore and junior seasons. In recognition of his impressive statistics, Kancey was named to the first team All-ACC in each of his final two collegiate seasons and was named an unanimous All-American after this past season. Kancey was also named the ACC defensive player of the year, an impressive feat for a mere undersized defensive tackle.
The disruptive Kancey projects well to the next level in terms of pass rushing, as Mike Renner of Pro Football Focus acknowledged. “There’s little doubt he (Kancey) is going to impact QB’s at the next level,” Renner said
Kancey knows exactly what he has to do to succeed as a smaller defensive tackle. “I want to say just playing with good leverage, playing violent, and just playing fast. I feel like that’s something that, as an undersized defensive tackle, I have to do; I have to be consistent, and I got to play with good leverage,” Kancey told Jacob Infante of SB Nation.
“With this game of football, you don’t play the game of football straight-legged, and then you don’t play the position in the trenches, which is the d-line and o-line, standing up. The lower man wins, and that’s something that I take very seriously.”
“I want to say just playing with good leverage, playing violent, and just playing fast. I feel like that’s something that, as an undersized defensive tackle, I have to do.”
-Calijah Kancey
His height at six foot one is a real problem for NFL scouts. Kancey is very undersized for an NFL defensive tackle, leading some to speculate that perhaps a position change may be helpful for Kancey at the next level.
That being said, there’s an easy NFL comparison to make for Kancey, another highly drafted undersized interior defensive lineman from the University of Pittsburgh. Aaron Donald. The future Hall of Fame defensive tackle weighs in at 284 pounds and six foot one inches. At his combine, Donald ran a 4.68 second 40 yard dash. The similarities on paper between the two former Pittsburgh Panthers are so numerous that it is almost eerie.
Although he appreciates the comparisons to the Ram’s Hall of Famer, Kancey is quick to say that he is his own man. “Oh, it’s great to be compared to a guy like Aaron Donald. From the things he accomplished, it’s definitely great to be compared to him,” Kancey told SB Nation. “But I’m Calijah Kancey, at the end of the day, and that’s who I’m going to make a name for… I’m just going to be myself and not Aaron Donald.”
“I’m Calijah Kancey, at the end of the day, and that’s who I’m going to make a name for… I’m just going to be myself and not Aaron Donald.”
-Calijah Kancey
Donald was drafted 13th overall by the Rams in the first round in 2014. Kancey almost certainly won’t go that high – but where will he go?
Calijah Kancey is one of the true wildcards of the 2023 NFL draft, another fascinating storyline to watch unfold come April 27th.