2023 NFL Draft Player Profiles: TCU OL Steve Avila

From now until the 2023 NFL Draft takes place, we hope to scout and create profiles for as many prospects as possible, examining their strengths, weaknesses, and what they can bring to an NFL franchise. These players could be potential top 10 picks, all the way down to Day 3 selections and priority undrafted free agents. Today, we’ll be profiling TCU OL Steve Avila.

#79 STEVE AVILA/OL TCU – 6031, 332 pounds

Senior Bowl Participant

MEASURABLES

THE GOOD

— Solid frame for an interior OL with a lot of mass in both his upper and lower body
— Plays low with good natural knee bend
— Solid first step out of stance with little wasted movement
— Keeps good pad level, generating solid play strength with leverage
— Good contact balance, uses short choppy steps to stay upright and square to defenders
— Good anchor against power in his pass set when he can keep defenders away from his chest
— Good inside hand placement with his two-hand strike
— Does not give ground against the run big-on-big
— Good latch strength to stick on blocks
— Very durable with no injuries of note through 46 games
— Positional flexibility between all three interior OL spots

— Just adequate at moving in space
— Marginal mental processing, doesn’t see the field well on the move
— Play speed is adequate, not quick enough to consistently pull or move in space
— Doesn’t reset his hands well with marginal independent hand usage
— Lacking competitive toughness to finish blocks to the whistle, caught looking back at the play at times
— Anchor falls apart when defenders get to his chest
— Late to blocks when climbing to the second level or moving in space
— Doesn’t generate a ton of displacement when run blocking

BIO

— From Arlington, Texas
— Four star recruit out of South Grand Prairie High School
— Redshirt Senior prospect, played in the Senior Bowl
— 23 Years old
— Started one season mostly at center (2021) and one mostly at guard (2022), also started some games at tackle.