Tonka

Hemingway

Hemingway’s intriguing inside-outside alignment profile fits nicely in today’s pass-heavy NFL. The five-year player and three-year starter stands 6’3/284 with 33-inch arms. He leaves South Carolina having logged 1,108 defensive tackle snaps, 690 EDGE snaps and 184 nose tackle snaps. The former all-state high school basketball player possesses “athletic feet,” per NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein, and South Carolina credits Hemingway with swatting 11 pass attempts on the gridiron. Hemingway can struggle to anchor in run defense and, worryingly, averaged a 19.0 percent missed tackle rate over the last three regular seasons but tied for top-five SEC marks, positionally, in solo tackles (56) and stops (48). Hemingway is likely best suited to an early-down EDGE role with the ability to kick inside on passing downs. He totaled 23-to-25 quarterback pressures and 2-to-4 sacks in each of his last three regular seasons. He earned nine combined All-SEC awards for his performance on the field and in the classroom.

Hemingway (6'3/285) was also seriously considering North Carolina, Wake Forest, Duke and Vanderbilt. Per 247Sports’ John Del Bianco, the Tar Heels were the runner-up in this race. On the field, the Conway, South Carolina, native has visited USC thrice during the offseason, most recently in June, when he took an official visit to HC Will Muschamp’s stomping grounds. Hemingway possesses impressive athleticism, as he plays both basketball and baseball in edition to football. The 247Sports composite board sees Hemingway home as the No. 306 overall prospect in the 2020 class.

Despite narrowing down his list to five schools, Rivals believes there’s a really high chance he will go to South Carolina. The four-star recruit is the 19th ranked defensive tackle and 5th ranked player in South Carolina.