Marvell

Tell III

Tell (6’2/198) started for three-plus years in the Trojans’ secondary, tallying 13 career pass breakups and five picks and earning second-team All-Pac 12 in 2018. Tell crushed pre-draft workouts with 4.57 speed, a 42-inch vertical, 11-foot-4 broad jump, and scintillating 6.63 three-cone time. A free safety for nearly his entire college career, Tell was widely viewed by NFL scouts as a candidate to be converted into a press-man cornerback in the Richard Sherman mold. Indy also added projected shutdown-corner Rock Ya-Sin to start the second round on Friday.

Tell has been in the “draft circle” news lately, as reports from NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah state that some teams view the former Trojan as a press corner. At 6-foot-2, 198-pounds, Tell certainly has the size to do so, as Zierlein notes. He also lined up over slot receivers at USC, and he has the ability to “glide” with receivers. “His lack of physicality and consistency as a tackler could be a long-term concern and the same could be said about his hustle, which must improve,” Zierlein writes. “His coverage traits are appealing, but his floor might be lower than teams would like.”

After testing through the roof at the NFL Scouting Combine, NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah reported that some NFL teams view Tell (6'2/198) as a press corner, but Brugler argues that his elite-level athleticism (42-inch vertical) didn’t translate to the field enough to warrant an upgrade to corner. If a team is convinced that he can transition to corner, Tell may be drafted earlier than expected, but it’s uncertain if there’s actual interest or if teams are just doing their due-diligence.

This is rare. Usually, we see corners transition to safety after not testing quick enough but Tell (6'2/198) was so explosive that some teams now view him as a corner. Tell posted a 42-inch vertical jump while dealing with a slight ankle injury, an injury that kept him from running the 40-yard dash. Meanwhile, Tell’s teammate Iman Marshall may have to transition from corner to safety after so-so numbers at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Tell (6'2/198) did not run at the combine because of his high-ankle sprain, but it didn’t affect his ability to jump. On the contrary. His verticale was second to all defensive backs to Virginia’s Juan Thornhill (42), and his 136-inch broad jump was also second to Thornhill (141). Tell will likely run at his Pro Day, but we certainly saw that he’s an explosive athlete on Monday.

Tell (6'2/195) is working his way through a high-ankle sprain sustained at the end of the 2018 season. While he is going to hold off until his pro day to run the 40-yard dash (and, oddly, do the bench press), we’ll receive a testing taste from the Trojans safety upcoming, as he does plan on going through the broad jump, vertical jump and short shuttle, as well as position drills. But no bench press. Strange times are here. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport relays that Tell is “close to being 100%.” Draft Analyst’s Tony Pauline currently hits up Tell with a third-round grade.

Tell (6'2/195) has fans in the evaluating community, but there’s some amount of mixed opinion on the Trojans safety. Back in September, for instance, Draft Analyst’s Tony Pauline threw water on the view of Tell as a potential first-round pick, writing that there was “nothing special” in Tell’s game that would warrant a top-32 selection. Just how low is Pauline on Tell? Draft Analyst currently grades him out as a sixth-round prospect. Based on our general sense of matters, that evaluation might be a tad conservative, but even so, a strong predraft process is going to be a must.

Tell’s absence will have a noticeable impact on the USC secondary, as the team was already light from a numbers standpoint at the safety position. And that’s not a good position to be in when considering the fact that the Trojans are facing one of the best teams in college football. Tell missed time earlier in the season due to a neck stinger.

Not having Tell available hurt USC’s depth at safety, and the situation got even worse as freshman Talanoa Hufanga suffered a broken collarbone on the game’s final play. Without Tell the Trojans have just one scholarship safety, so they’ll need him to get back to full strength in short order. USC returns to action November 3 at Oregon State.

Pauline isn’t as high on Tell as some, and wrote in his previous reports that he doesn’t see anything about his game that suggests he’s a first-round pick. He does say, however, that many have Tell (6'2/195) as the top senior safety in the class, and Saturday will be a tremendous test for him. " Tell is methodical and efficient and, while he doesn’t have a lot of flash in his game, he gets the job done,” he writes. This should be a must-watch game.