Top 5 interior defensive linemen in college football for 2019

#5 Raequan Williams, Michigan State

I already talked about the best defensive lineman on Michigan State in Kenny Willekes, but when it comes to potential Williams is at the top. The 6’4”, 305-pound tackle has received the MSU Iron Man of the Year award in each of the last two years now. In 2018 he recorded 10.5 tackles for loss, a couple of sacks and five passes knocked down.

Williams can anchor against and stand up single blockers with the best of them. You see him pull cloth to disengage or even knock his guy backwards at times to force the running back to slam into that guy’s behind. He also flashes the flexibility to work around offensive linemen and get underneath them in the passing game.

Williams is probably at his best at shade nose or true 0-technique, where you see him just drive centers backwards off the snap at times and then has the long reach to catch ball-carriers on their way by. However, I think the talented D-lineman needs to do a better job fighting over the top of some blocks when the offense runs out wide away from him and he is caught off guard at times when teams use double-teams against him and then loses his leverage quickly.

Just outside: Justin Madaubuike (Texas A&M), Leki Fotu (Utah) and Javon Kinlaw (South Carolina)

Edited by Raunak J