Lukas Van Ness

Pos: EDGE

School: Iowa

Ht. 6’5″ 

Wt. 272

Games Watched: Ohio State, Michigan, Iowa State

One Liner: Aggressive defensive lineman who wins with power, functional strength, and burst off the LOS

Strengths: 

  • Very good strength. Van Ness brings a ton of force and aggression to the POA and is known for having a great bull rush. He generates power from top to bottom, and has a great anchor that allows him to hold up well against double teams. He will be a reliable edge setter due to his contact balance and functional strength. 
  • Very good aggression/motor. Van Ness plays with a ton of violence and aggression, and constantly looks to find a way to get into the backfield. His motor allows him to keep churning at the POA, and Van Ness’s high effort makes helps him find a way to get to the QB much more often.
  • Very good frame. Van Ness possesses the ideal frame for a 5T or a 4-3 end. He has good height, weight and length, increasing his ceiling and making him a viable threat of the edge in the run and passing game.
  • Good burst. Van Ness gets off the line with some good urgency, and has a solid first step with good snap quickness. He uses this burst to generate some speed to power, but he will still need to improve in this area to maxmimze his get off. 

Weaknesses:

  • Marginal run/pass technique. As of right now, Van Ness wins primarily with physicality, and his frame. He is a really strong player, but his technique at the POA is lacking. He will need to refine this at the next level to really beat NFL offensive lines. In the running game, Van Ness can be easily neutralized due to pad level, and a lack of counters. 
  • Marginal rush counters. As a pass rusher, Van Ness wins solely with speed to power, or a bull rush. He will have to add more tools to his bag, especially because he lacks elite twitch or bend. As a bigger rusher, he will have to provide some display of swim moves and other push+pull moves that demonstrate some understanding of leverage in order to win at the next level.
  • Adequate athleticism. Van Ness isn’t particularly shifty, and doens’t have much twitch that makes him truly hard for offensive lineman to engulf. Because of this, it will be especially important for Van Ness to have go-to counters at the next level.

Overall Assessment: Lukas Van Ness is a well proportioned, strong 5t that will be a powerful 4-3 end at the next level. He has great strength, top to bottom, and has a powerful anchor that allows to rarely ever be fully neutralized in the running and passing game. He will rarely be seen on the ground, and has the upside to be a great power rusher. He is an aggressive player that has the motor and effort to be an every down, high intensity rusher. However, Van Ness is far from a finished product, and will need to work on his technique at the POA. He also lacks rush counters, which is crucial for him to develop especially due to his lack of athleticism and twitch at the POA. 

Scheme Fit: 5t/4i in an even front that can be reduced to 4i/3t in subpackages.

Pick Projection: Top 50

Grade: 6.38