College Football 2025 NFL Draft Stock Up Week 13: Pat Bryant, Ashton Gillotte & Devin Neal
Some new 2025 NFL Draft prospects make appearances on Week 13's edition of Stock Up
A chaotic Week 13 gifted us plenty of major upsets in the Big 12 and SEC. The weekend also paved the way for some new names to dominate this edition of Stock Up. Check out the 2025 NFL Draft prospects who helped themselves the most on Saturday, including Illinois wide receiver Pat Bryant, Louisville defensive end Ashton Gillotte, and Kansas running back Devin Neal.
Please keep in mind that consensus top prospects aren’t eligible for Stock Up because there’s not much room for them to improve their status. So players like Travis Hunter, Ashton Jeanty, and Tyler Warren won’t make appearances.
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Only draft-eligible players appear in this series. All heights and weights are unofficial and shared by football programs unless specified. Pressure data, targets, and snap counts are courtesy of Pro Football Focus. Sacks and other official stats are from publicly available box scores.
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Stock Up: Devin Neal, RB Kansas
Neal had the second-most productive game of his historic Kansas career as the Jayhawks upset Colorado. He carried the ball 37 times for 207 yards and three touchdowns and made four receptions for 80 yards and a score. Neal averaged 3.79 yards after contact on his carries and forced nine total missed tackles.
Neal’s build isn’t special, but he has the vision and light footwork to make sharp and sudden cuts in space that leave defenders grasping at air. He tempos his rushes to position his blockers and set up cutback opportunities. Neal uses his wiggle and dynamic cutting ability to make defenders miss in the hole. His footwork freezes defenders in place before he accelerates past them.
Neal lacks elite speed but bursts past the defense’s first and second levels. His acceleration stresses the angles of careless linebackers and safeties. Neal cuts back against the grain or sidesteps defenders at top speed and doesn’t lose speed coming out of his hesitation moves and jukes.
Neal also has enough power to absorb contact and finish falling forward in goal line situations. His balance and control have helped him score in short-yardage situations against loaded boxes plenty of times this season and throughout his career. Neal doesn’t get much credit for his contact balance, but he survives a surprising number of tackle attempts.
The earliest Neal comes off the board is likely the fifth round, but it only takes one team to fall in love with his career’s worth of impressive tape to change that.
Stock Up: Ashton Gillotte, Edge Louisville
Gillotte had his most productive game of the season as Louisville trounced Pittsburgh. He finished the game with seven total pressures, including two sacks, and an additional tackle for loss. Gillotte is now applying pressure on 15.88% of his pass rush attempts this season.
Gillotte is a verified 6-2 3/8, 269 lbs. with 32 1/4-inch arms and 8 5/8-inch hands. That’s a lot of mass packed into a short frame for an edge rusher, and it translates to knockback power in Gillotte’s hands. He frequently reduces from his usual 5-tech role to 4-tech and 3-tech alignments. His arm length and average bend are two of the more significant marks against his draft profile.
Gillotte builds his pass rush plan around his power rushes and motor. He drives linemen into the pocket when he accesses their chests, pries open the B-gap, uses a long-arm up the arc before spinning into the B-gap, and works a two-handed bull rush into a rip. He has nice closing speed on stunts and perseveres through contact on his rush path because of his powerful frame.
I view Gillotte as a mid-Day 3 prospect because of his physical limitations, but I don’t think his closing speed has received enough praise.
Stock Up: Pat Bryant, WR Illinois
Bryant caught seven of his 12 targets for 197 yards and a touchdown against Rutgers. He scored an amazing 40-yard catch and run to give the Fighting Illini the lead with less than five seconds to go. Bryant is a tall but lean receiver who covers ground quickly with his long strides.
Bryant doesn’t generate much separation with his athletic gifts, but defenders struggle to handle his route running. He manipulates leverage at a high level, dragging defenders inside before breaking across their faces into space along the boundary and vice versa. This showed up on tape against the Scarlet Knights a few times, including on a slant-out that went for 13 yards.
Bryant’s route salesmanship and head fakes fall short of elite but still open plenty of opportunities downfield for the senior. He created long touchdowns against Michigan State and Nebraska this year by crossing up cornerbacks early in the routes.
Bryant’s size and toughness help him generate yards after the catch. He had a 26-yard play to put Illinois in the red zone against Rutgers that was made possible by a stiff arm. Defensive backs catch Bryant from behind on long plays, but he’s a pain to deal with when he makes the catch in space.
Bryant’s long arms and natural size help him at the catch point. He tracks the ball well and only has one drop this season. His strong hands control the football through contact.
Bryant projects as an early to mid-Day 3 prospect. At best, he could be a late third round compensatory pick, but the fourth round is a more likely landing spot.
Stock Up: Hollin Pierce, LT Rutgers
Rutgers has a few NFL Draft prospects on its offense, including wide receiver Dymere Miller, running back Kyle Monangai, and Pierce. The hulking 6'8", 344 lb. (unofficial measurements) left tackle joined the team as a roughly 400 lb. freshman walk-on before developing into a legitimate Day 3 prospect.
Pierce has significant length, size, and strength advantages. He’s a mauling presence in the run game. Talented defenders, including Illinois’ Dennis Briggs Jr., Seth Coleman, and Gabe Jacas, struggle to maintain gap integrity when faced with Pierce’s power. The redshirt senior generates significant displacement but could be more consistent if he lowered his pad level.
Pierce’s size creates some limitations in pass protection, but he uses a long kick step to gain impressive width and depth. He plays with a high pad level and heavy feet, but there’s still only so much pass rushers can do against him. Pierce needs to drive power through his hands more consistently and prevent himself from drifting too upright. His pad level and limited range cause his footwork to break down and narrow his base.
Despite these concerns, Pierce drove Jacas up the arc and around the pocket several times. His natural anchor was more than enough to sit on and crush Coleman’s bull rushes too. Pierce has good vision to recognize and adjust for stunts quickly.
Pierce is still a toolsy, developmental player by NFL standards. Some teams are more willing to take swings on those prospects than others, so his grades will probably vary more than any other prospect in this column. I think his window opens once you hit the fifth round.
Stock Up: Jayden Higgins, WR Iowa State
Higgins hauled in nine of his 13 targets for 155 yards and a touchdown in a close win against Utah. At 6-3 3/4, 212 lbs. with long arms, he’s a terrific player at the catch point with dominant ball skills that have led to numerous contested touchdown receptions on red zone fades. Higgins projects as a late third to early fourth round selection.
Higgins makes quick cuts off his vertical stem for posts and slants. He’s less of a “home run hitter” and more of a “death by 1,000 cuts” possession receiver who provides a consistent option over the middle of the field and underneath. He doesn’t have bad speed and can stretch the field on back shoulder fades but lacks that next gear to really win over the top.
Despite his size, Higgins makes fluid cuts on intermediate outs that generate some natural separation. His wins deep downfield usually come as a result of double moves or defensive backs simply being caught flat-footed. Higgins tracks the ball well to make catches in stride over his shoulder on go routes, even if the cornerback is on his hip.
Stock Up: Oronde Gadsden II, TE Syracuse
Another week, another 100-yard game for Gadsden. The redshirt junior is now third among all FBS tight ends in receiving yards, only trailing future All-Americans Harold Fannin Jr. and Tyler Warren. Gadsden caught 11 of 12 targets for 103 yards and a touchdown against Connecticut.
Gadsden looks much more like a real slot tight end this year after he added weight over the offseason. Fortunately, he maintained his athletic traits when he bulked up. Gadsden has the route running savvy to play with tempo, break his route off sharply at the top of the stem, and get defenders to bite on fakes and double moves. Check out the double move he used to score on a slant-corner. That’s a thing of beauty!
Gadsden still isn’t a natural separator on a down-to-down basis, but that’s where his size and concentration at the catch point come into play. At a verified 6-4 1/2, 242 lbs. with 33 7/8-inch arms and 9 7/8-inch hands, Gadsden towers over defensive backs and has a massive catch radius.
Abdul Carter vs. Aireontae Ersery
Ersery (Scouting Report) faced one of his toughest challenges of the season on Saturday against Carter, who’s a consensus top ten prospect. Most analysts also view Ersery as a first round prospect, but some holdouts still believe he’ll drop to the second round as a long-term developmental option. The matchup against Carter was a final chance for Ersery to face a meaningful NFL prospect this season. He’s slated to attend the Senior Bowl in February.
The matchup largely ended in a stalemate, which goes down as a win for Ersery in my book. The left tackle allowed just one pressure throughout the game. Carter occasionally tested Ersery’s range with his speed rush but never landed a clean hit on quarterback Max Brosmer.
Carter countered into the B-gap a few times in the fourth quarter but only had one such rep where he got a good look at Brosmer. Meanwhile, Ersery caught Carter early in the game with a snatch-trap (he later got Dvon J-Thomas with a snatch-trap in the third quarter) and drove him up the arc and around the pocket a few times. Carter didn’t attempt to bull rush through Ersery’s frame.
Walking away from this game, I still feel good about both of these prospects going in the top 32 picks. Ersery’s foot quickness to match speed rushers at the top of the arc and redirect against B-gap counters is something athletic pass rushers can exploit. However, those types of rushers, including Carter, struggle when faced with Ersery’s powerful hands and quality anchor.
It’s also worth noting that Ersery got involved in the run game early. He put multiple Nittany Lions on the turf in the first quarter and had a particularly spirited rep against Carter that extended beyond the whistle.
Stock Up Week 13 Honorable Mentions
R Mason Thomas, Edge Oklahoma
Thomas is only a true junior, so he’ll likely return to school in 2025. He’s definitely a prospect to keep an eye on going forward following a four-pressure outing against Alabama that included a sack in the third quarter and a quarterback hit that led to an interception. Thomas is an undersized but explosive rusher with speed that Alabama’s large offensive tackles struggled to contain.
Thomas is one of the fastest edge rushers I’ve seen this cycle. He benefits from playing in wide alignments but has the bend to turn the corner and flatten his angle to the quarterback. Thomas uses rapid footwork to elude the offensive tackle’s punches and manipulate his rush angle. His pass rush plan is a work in progress but includes basic rips, chops, two-handed swipes, and swims. He also has flashes of converting speed to power.
Thomas is an electric player. I don’t see it happening this cycle, but this prospect has top 100 potential if he receives proper coaching.
Dorian Strong, CB Virginia Tech (Scouting Report)
Strong had his most productive game of the season against Duke. He intercepted two passes and broke up another attempt while surrendering just nine yards on seven targets. The Blue Devils cooked the other Hokie cornerbacks mercilessly. Strong was also one of the only Virginia Tech defensive backs that wanted to tackle on Saturday night.
Strong’s second interception required him to make a break on the ball, but it was an inaccurate throw by Maalik Murphy. His first pick was much more skilled. Strong lined up in press coverage and worked under the slant route to completely fill the throwing lane.
Strong smothers in-breaking routes, showcases an excellent understanding of leverage, and quickly gets in-phase in press-man before carrying the receiver downfield. He has extensive experience in man coverage, but some physical limitations, including hip tightness and a capped top speed, might make him a better fit for a zone-heavy scheme.
J. Michael Sturdivant, WR UCLA
Sturdivant entered 2023 with decent buzz, but UCLA’s turbulence over the past two seasons put his NFL hopes in jeopardy. The redshirt junior would be best served returning to school and transferring, but I still think he’d hear his name called if he declared for the draft because of his value as a height, weight, speed prospect.
Sturdivant caught five of six targets for 117 yards against USC, including a diving 45-yard reception against star cornerback Jaylin Smith. He came back later in the game with a beautifully tracked 25-yard fade that he caught over his shoulder while being held.
Sturdivant has impressive size at a verified 6-2 1/2, 202 lbs. with 33 1/8-inch arms. He covers ground quickly with long strides and reaches a top speed that threatens defenses over the top. Sturdivant makes the most of his catch radius by making difficult adjustments to the ball and converting catches outside his frame.
Oluwafemi Oladejo, Edge UCLA
Oladejo opened the season at off-ball linebacker before converting to edge rusher. He doesn’t have the developed pass rush plan yet, but he’s freaking explosive. Oladejo is a little too raw for me to grade higher than a fifth round pick, but I could see a team selecting him in the fourth round based on his tools and quick development.
Oladejo tallied seven tackles and five pressures, including a sack, against USC. He gets off the line with an impressive first step and continues building speed. He doesn’t have the pass rush plan to capitalize on this trait yet but already knows how to convert enough speed to power to blow the B-gap open. Oladejo can line up over the guard or in the A-gap as a mugged-up defender in a two-point stance and create an athletic mismatch against guards.
Oladejo is also a weapon against the run. He can stack offensive linemen before redirecting to the ball or blast into the backfield as a penetrating defender.
Additional Names to Know
Jacob Parrish, CB Kansas State
Parrish broke up three passes against Cincinnati, doubling his total ball production for the season. He’s an undersized outside corner who projects as a nickel at the next level. Parrish is an aggressive corner who re-routes receivers at the line of scrimmage with powerful jams. He triggers downhill quickly and jumps routes in off-man coverage. Parrish is an enthusiastic run defender and reliable one-on-one tackler.
Sai'vion Jones, Edge LSU
Jones recorded six pressures and a tackle for loss against Vanderbilt. The verified 6-4 3/4, 280 lb. long-limbed defensive lineman plays 5-tech and 4-tech for the Tigers. Jones plays with excellent effort and possesses unique closing burst for a lineman his size. He makes plays flying in off the edge or pursuing the ball to the sideline. Jones is a traits-based Day 3 prospect.
Heisman Ladder
1. Ashton Jeanty, RB Boise State
2. Travis Hunter, CB/WR Colorado
…
3. Cameron Ward, QB Miami
4. Dillon Gabriel, QB Oregon
…
5. Shedeur Sanders, QB Colorado
6. Omarion Hampton, RB North Carolina
7. R.J. Harvey, RB UCF
8. Harold Fannin Jr., TE Bowling Green
9. Kaleb Johnson, RB Iowa
10. Tyler Warren, TE Penn State