Kellen Diesch NFL Draft 2022: Scouting Report for Arizona State OT
HEIGHT: 6'7 1/8"
WEIGHT: 301
HAND: 9 1/2"
ARM: 32 1/4"
WINGSPAN: 6'6 3/8"
40-YARD DASH: 4.89
3-CONE: 7.77
SHUTTLE: 4.43
VERTICAL: 32.5"
BROAD: 9'2"
POSITIVES
— Good foot quickness, body control and recovery balance to stay attached to blocks.
— Smooth mover on his climbs, pulls and leads in space to track, intersect, come to balance and fit on smaller targets.
— Shows above-average hand placement and grip strength to find his latch inside the frame of defenders and eliminate space through shed attempts to help clean up the read for runners.
— Does a nice job getting low at the point of attack and being thick on double-teams to create initial movement while overtaking smoothly to cover up color.
NEGATIVES
— Has an upkick out of his stance in his pass set that forces him to open his hips early against Wide 9 rushers to get to his landmark, sometimes resulting in a soft edge/short corner.
— Looks to have below-average length on film, which allows longer defenders to establish first meaningful contact and delay his ability to gain control quickly.
— Can shore up his timing on releases off combo blocks and take more precise angles to not get undercut and beat inside/underneath.
— Middling power on contact with his hips and hands, relying more on leverage and body positioning to generate movement.
2021 STATISTICS
— 12 starts at left tackle
— Second-team All-Pac 12 selection
NOTES
— Former 4-star recruit out of Byron Nelson High School in Trophy Club, Texas.
— Originally committed and played three years at Texas A&M with 22 game appearances and zero starts before transferring to Arizona State for the 2021 season.
— 16 career starts at left tackle
OVERALL
Diesch is a two-year starter with 16 career starts at left tackle inside Arizona State's pro-style, run-heavy offensive scheme.
Diesch has a tall, lean body type with marginal length. He has an upkick out of his stance that forces him to open his hips and shorten the corner against wide rush angles, but he manages to recover in time to intersect and cut off most rushers using good foot quickness, body control and recovery balance up the arc and at the top of the quarterback's drop.
His middling arm length causes him to run into issues at times with longer defenders being able to get into his chest quickly and press him off of blocks. However, he plays with good hand placement and grip strength to find his latch quickly to gain control of most opponents.
Diesch has adequate power at the point of attack but manages to be effective on double-team and down blocks with the pad level and aiming points to fit and cover up defenders consistently. He excels most on the move climbing and pulling to both sides, showing above-average athletic ability to track, line up and connect with smaller targets in space.
Overall, Diesch's athletic ability, body control, recovery balance and crafty use of hands allow him to stay attached to blocks at a high level. He will need to clean up his footwork in pass protection to play on an island, and his marginal arm length calls into question his ability to control blocks at the same level he did in college to become a starter at tackle in the NFL.
Diesch is inexperienced enough as a starter that he could continue improving over his rookie contract, but his ceiling is likely as a quality swing tackle.
GRADE: 6.9 (Potential Role Player - 4th Round)
OVERALL RANK: 119
POSITION RANK: OT12
PRO COMPARISON: Brady Christensen