USC's Leonard Williams Could Be the 2015 NFL Draft's Top Defensive Prospect

A high ankle sprain nearly kept Leonard Williams out of USC’s marquee Pac-12 matchup with Stanford last Saturday. It didn’t stop the Trojans junior defensive lineman, who played through the injury instead, from proving himself to be one of the best players eligible to declare for the 2015 NFL draft.

Before the start of Saturday’s game, ESPN analyst Robert Smith tweeted that Williams “looked terrible in warm-ups.”

“He'll be limited if he plays at all,” Smith said.

When Williams came off the field and sought attention from a trainer early in the game, it appeared as though Smith would be right. Yet even with an injury that was evidently inhibitive, Williams not only played the rest of the game, but stood out, as he led the Trojans with 11 total tackles, including one sack.

Williams had a game full of disruption and production that would have been impressive for any defensive lineman in any circumstance. His ability to have that performance against a high-caliber opponent without being fully healthy made it clear how spectacularly talented he is.

A Potential Star for Any Defensive Scheme

Williams is the type of strong, athletic and versatile defensive lineman that every NFL defensive coordinator, regardless of the scheme each runs, should want on their team.

Listed at 6’5” and 300 pounds by USC’s official athletics website, Williams has great size for an interior defensive line, and he combines that size with terrific all-around athleticism.

Williams lacks the exceptional burst that many great pass-rushers have, but he moves well upon acceleration. He had an impressive display of athleticism in the following clip against Stanford, proving he could close with speed even on an ailing ankle.

Screenshot via Noonkick

Although Williams (No. 94) wasn’t able to finish that play with a tackle, he made the 16-yard tackle for loss happen for his teammates by exploding toward Stanford receiver Ty Montgomery and forcing Montgomery to run right into the teeth of the defense at the end of a botched Wildcat play.

There aren’t many 300-pounders who could chase down Montgomery, a speedy offensive playmaker who ranked second in the Football Bowl Subdivision in yards per kickoff return in 2013, even when they are in prime condition. For Williams to be able to do so with an injury shows how well he can move for a man of his size.

Have a broken play against the USC defense, and it’s likely that Williams will make you pay.

Another example of that came last season against Utah, when Williams went right around a guard from the defensive tackle spot to chase down Utes quarterback Adam Schulz for a 15-yard loss.

Gus Ruelas/Associated Press

Williams closes rapidly enough to be a dangerous player going downhill, as evidenced by his 27 tackles for loss in 28 career games. Where Williams stands out from an average 300-pound defensive lineman, however, is in his range to chase plays out towards the sidelines and to go downfield.

Having already accumulated 156 total tackles in his USC career, Williams has consistently shown an unusual excellence in covering ground. It’s not just his closing ability, but also his fluidity in changing directions, that enables him to make plays in space that aren’t within the typical realm of an interior lineman.

The following two clips—the first of which comes from this year’s game against Fresno State and the second taken from last year’s USC loss to Arizona—demonstrate how Williams’ region of impact is not limited to small spaces.

As much as Williams’ athletic ability stands out, he’s just as impressive, if not more so, in winning battles of leverage at the line of scrimmage. He maintains gap control effectively and consistently shuts down running plays that come his direction.

Williams rarely gets pushed off the line of scrimmage. He is skilled at sliding off of blocks laterally and making tackles himself, but he also impacts many plays outside the stat sheet by redirecting runs and occupying blockers that free up his defensive teammates to make stops.

The following example from USC’s 2013 game against Notre Dame is a textbook example of Williams stacking and shedding a guard to make a run stop around the line of scrimmage.

It’s a bit of a stretch to call Williams the next J.J. Watt, but the versatile defensive end has also shown the pass-batting ability that Watt has made famous for the Houston Texans.

In Williams’ season opener this year, he recorded three passes defensed against Fresno State, including an interception and the swat-down above. He has eight total passes defensed for his career.

Williams’ venerable set of traits and skills gives him great versatility. As he is now playing for his third defensive coordinator in as many seasons, that versatility has been on full display throughout his Trojans career.

Projecting to the next level, Williams’ frame makes him ideally cut to be a two-gap defensive end in a 3-4 defensive front.

That said, Williams’ experience and skill set could make him a very valuable asset to a 4-3 or multi-front defensive scheme. He can line up as a penetrating one-gap defensive tackle inside while he also has enough athleticism to play as an edge-defending defensive end, though he’s a bit miscast as a pass-rusher in the latter role.

No Weaknesses Williams Shouldn’t Be Able to Overcome

Williams must expand his repertoire of hand skills to be a regularly impactful pass-rusher at the next level. While he has the power to win as a bull-rusher and can clearly take advantage of free rush lanes, he has not demonstrated many moves that enable him to get off and around a pass-blocker once he is engaged.

Taller than many defensive tackles, Williams also gets exposed at times for playing too high, allowing guards to get into his pads and drive him off the line of scrimmage.

Technical imperfections, however, shouldn’t cause Williams’ draft stock to plummet. It’s already been evident through just two games this season that Williams has improved from last year—despite the inconsistency in coaching and schematics he has had to deal with.

At just 20 years old, Williams is a malleable talent with all the physical capabilities to suggest he can be an elite-level interior defensive lineman in the NFL.

His first-step quickness is not above average by professional standards, but he makes up for that with his agility, balance, length and strength.

The one potential red flag on Williams could be injuries, as he is currently fighting the aforementioned ankle issue while he also underwent shoulder surgery this past offseason.

It’s a great sign for Williams that he has shown, both this past Saturday and when he had a torn labrum last season, that he can play through pain and remain highly productive. Still, he will be examined closely in the predraft process for any potential long-term issues that could arise from the injuries he has dealt with.

Where Will Williams Be Picked if He Declares?

To this point, Williams has made no indication as to whether he will declare for the 2015 draft or return to USC for his senior year. During Pac-12 media days this summer, Williams said he doesn’t pay attention to the draft hype and was focused “on having a great season this year,” according to NFL.com’s Bryan Fischer.

That said, he could be hard-pressed to pass upon going pro if he continues to play as well as he has thus far this season, as he looks right now to be the best defensive player in college football.

According to former NFL scout and current 95.7 The Game radio host John Middlekauff, Williams had already emerged as a favorite in scouting circles before the USC-Stanford game.

Even so, TFY Draft Insider’s Tony Pauline believes the gutty performance Williams had Saturday “is one scouts will point to during the pre-draft process.”

Meanwhile, ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. cited Williams’ most recent game in his decision to elevate him to the No. 2 slot on his “Big Board” for the 2015 draft earlier this week.

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He was so special against Stanford, playing through an injury with barely any drawbacks. If Williams doesn't wow you with quickness on the edge, realize he's 290-plus pounds and won't get pushed around even if he moves inside. At his size, he's a special athlete who could line up as a defensive end and drive a tackle back or line up on the outside shoulder of a guard and create problems with power and quickness, as well. He's the kind of disruptive, versatile lineman who can succeed in any system. A potential No. 1 pick.

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Kiper, Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller and ESPN’s Todd McShay (subscription required) all believe Williams is the second-best prospect eligible for the 2015 draft—each of them ranks Oregon redshirt junior quarterback Marcus Mariota at No. 1—while CBS Sports’ Rob Rang puts Williams third, behind Mariota and Texas A&M senior offensive tackle Cedric Ogbuehi.

There’s still plenty of time for star prospects to emerge, but no other defensive prospect is held in the same regard as Williams at this point. A top-five overall draft choice looks to be warranted by Williams’ talent.

The draft trends of recent years, however, have not been good to players similar to Williams. No interior defensive lineman has been a top-10 pick since Marcell Dareus out of Alabama in 2011; the top interior defensive linemen selected in each of the past two drafts, Sheldon Richardson out of Missouri in 2013 and Aaron Donald out of Pittsburgh this past May, each went No. 13 overall.

It’s arguable that Williams, considering his strength, versatility and career production, could be a better prospect than Richardson and Donald were. That said, Richardson and Donald both possess the outstanding first-step quickness that Williams lacks.

Precedent shows that despite how impressively Williams has been playing, his draft value could be hampered slightly by playing a position that has been seemingly de-emphasized in comparison to quarterbacks, offensive linemen, exterior pass-rushers and even wide receivers and cornerbacks in recent drafts.

Williams might have enough talent, nonetheless, to buck that trend and be a very high selection in 2015 or 2016.

All GIFs were produced at gfycat.com, using game videos from DraftBreakdown.com and Noonkick.com. All statistics courtesy of USC's official athletics website, unless otherwise noted.

Dan Hope is an NFL/NFL Draft Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow @Dan_Hope