The University of Miami (FL) saw its formidable pair of pass rushers fly up draft boards in its run through the College Football Playoffs, and Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor — the Hurricanes’ two highest-rated defenders, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required) — are projected Day 1 picks as a result. Miami’s third highest-rated defender has also flown up draft boards recently as nickelback Keionte Scott looks to begin his NFL career.
An unranked recruit out of Helix HS (CA), Scott turned to junior college to continue his football career. Twice earning JuCo All-American honors and getting named a team captain in his second year at Snow College, Scott committed to Auburn as a JuCo recruit. Working primarily in the slot, Scott showed immediate promise with the Tigers. His contributions came all over the field as he registered 53 tackles, four tackles for loss, a sack, an interception, and four passes defensed. He showed more of the same in 2023, though some injury trouble limited his time and production a bit.
After initial rumors that Scott may transfer, he announced he would return for a third year at Auburn, but injuries limited him severely throughout the year, and he officially entered the transfer portal in 2025. After initially transferring to Houston, Scott quickly re-entered the transfer portal and found his way to Coral Gables. Healthy again, Scott not only returned to the promising levels of play from his early time at Auburn but also took his play to another level for the Hurricanes.
In his lone year at Miami, Scott looked dominant for the Hurricanes early and often. Roaming around in his nickelback role, he made plays all over the field, recording 37 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, three sacks, a pick six, four passes defensed, and a forced fumble in the Canes’ first nine games. It was announced that Scott would miss the rest of the season with a right foot injury, but when the Miami extended its season by sneaking into the College Football Playoff, the extra weeks of rest allowed him to return for the team’s run to the National Championship. The impact of his return to the field was immediately felt in College Station, where he tortured the Aggies with three tackles for loss, two sacks, and a forced fumble. In the next round, Scott made the play of the game against Ohio State when he returned an attempted screen pass 72 yards for his second pick six of the year.
There’s a lot to like about Scott’s game because its versatility offers so much. His all gas, no brakes playing style guarantees some flashy playmaking where he may blitz out of the slot, blow up runs or screens behind the line of scrimmage, or ambush screen passes. At the Miami Pro Day, that all gas speed was clocked at an unofficial 4.33 seconds in the 40-yard dash. He finds success with such aggressive play due to elite instincts and quickness. His energy and tenacity help him play much bigger than his size as he disrupts in the box like a linebacker and tackles with pop when he can square up.
As a traditional cornerback, Scott is not as strong in man coverage, though he can still generally stick with guys. He can also struggle in contesting catches with taller, longer receivers. After two years of JuCo and four in the NCAA, Scott will be an older rookie at 25 years old, and his injury history is certainly worth keeping in mind. I’m not quite sure what this says for him, but his three-game absence after a season-ending diagnosis this year was not a first. In his second year at Auburn, Scott required tightrope surgery for a high right ankle sprain but somehow only missed three games after a speedy recovery.
After his recent rise in draft stock, Scott has been projected as high as the second round, though age, injury, and limited usability could certainly cause him to slip into the third or fourth round. At the moment, though, his stock is hot as Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network ranks him as the 44th-best overall prospect in the class. Dane Brugler of The Athletic slots Scott in at 53rd overall, and Todd McShay of The Ringer puts him at 52nd. Both Jeremiah and McShay list him as the seventh-best cornerback of the class, while Brugler classifies him as the fourth-best safety.
While Scott’s versatility likely won’t allow a team to stick him at outside cornerback or deep safety positions at length, it can allow him to excel in a very specific role. Last year, the Super Bowl champion Seahawks saw rookie second-round safety Nick Emmanwori excel in an extremely similar type of role as what Scott held in the Hurricanes’ defense. If there’s a team in the NFL looking for a player to fill that particular role, they could look to strike gold by selecting Scott sometime in the first two days of the draft.