2023 NFL draft: 10 biggest defensive standouts from 2023 East-West Shrine & Senior Bowl weeks

#2. Dante Stills, West Virginia (Interior D-line)

West Virginia v TCU

This has been one of “my guys” for like three years. I first started taking note of Dante Stills when I was watching his brother Darius play alongside him on the WVU defensive line (who I liked quite a bit as well) and have been waiting on Dante to go pro since then.

Across the past four seasons, he has racked up 47.5 tackles for loss, 21.5 sacks and three forced fumbles, going from second-team All-Big 12 in the first two to first-team all-conference the latter two years.

After lining up at 4i- and 5-technique a lot for the Mountaineers due to his combination of size and length, Stills almost exclusively played three-technique throughout East-West Shrine week. And let's just say it as it is, this guy was unblockable!

Early on day one, he had a pass-rush rep, where he cleanly beat the Oregon guard across his face with a swim move, where it wasn’t even a contest. His ability to win up the gap with a quick club-rip combo, stay on track through contact as he was cornering his rushes and then win cross-face (when guys started oversetting him) was crazy to watch. That’s along with having the power at nearly 290 pounds to ride blockers into the depth of the pocket, if they decide to give him ground.

Yet, Stills might’ve been even more impressive in the run game. Routinely, he would win his gap and own his space, while locking out with one arm, to shut down one-on-ones prematurely. There was a sequence on day two, where he just threw the Grand Valley guard Quinton Barrow (trying to reach-block him) to the turf as he caught the blocker (pulling the back-leg through) trying to bring his base around.

Then on the re-do, he back-doored that guy, which I’m not sure is how they’re supposed to drill it, but the cat-like quicks where impressive nevertheless. Stills showed his disruptive skills in team run drills as well, crashing through the shoulders of zone blockers and flashing from the backside. This, along with arm-over and back-dooring a couple of times to force quick cutbacks as well.

He didn’t really allow combos to form, knocking away the help-hand of the man trying to peel off and not wasting time with the guy trying to bring his hips around. I feel pretty certain that Stills led everybody in tackles for loss on each of the first two days.

Teammates recognized him as the IDL of the Week on the East side. In the actual game, he swum over and created a TFL on his first series, before getting another one on the last defensive play for the East.