NFL draft preview: Florida State's well-traveled Jared Verse headlines DL class
Jared Verse had zero FBS offers coming out of high school, and looking back, he understands why.
“I was undersized out of high school, there was no doubting that,” the Florida State defensive end said at the NFL combine. “I was 200 pounds, 6-3, I wasn’t some monstrous force. If you looked at me in high school and looked at me today, you would probably be like, ‘What the …?’”
Today, Verse is 6 feet 4, a rocked up 254 pounds and one of the best pass rushers in this year’s NFL draft. He had 18 sacks the past two seasons at Florida State, and in many ways is a testament to perseverance and hard work.
Verse signed with FCS Albany in 2019 and redshirted his freshman year while making a position switch from tight end to defensive end.
IN THE TRENCHES: OL at No. 29 might make most long-term sense for Lions
He moved home when COVID hit in 2020 and spent months in the makeshift weight room his father set up at his house. When he returned to Albany that winter for a four-game spring season in 2021, Verse had packed on nearly 40 pounds and was a terror on the field.
He won Colonial Athletic Association Defensive Newcomer of the Year, had another 9.5 sacks in 11 games that fall and he hit the transfer portal in 2022 as one of the most coveted players on the market.
“Albany helped me flourish, they helped me grow,” Verse said. “Going to Florida State was something that changed my life for the better and ultimately being in this position today, being around all these athletic guys, being (at the combine) is just something I dreamed of. Kind of knew it was coming, but I just had to stay focused.”
Verse credits his family and the coaching staffs at both schools he attended for helping fuel his rise.
He told ESPN in 2022 that he ate between 4,000 and 5,000 calories a day during COVID, stuffing himself with large breakfasts and home-cooked dinners of tuna casserole and steak.
“They knew how much work I put in,” he said at the combine. “They knew how I was sacrificing going to parties or going to this, going out, going to social outings just to work out, just to watch some more film, just to hit the field. And it’s cause, them seeing all of that kind of put more belief in me. I never had any doubt in myself. They never had any doubt in me, and when you have a support system such as that it’s nothing to worry about.”
Verse said Albany first opened his eyes to what he could be as a pass rusher; as a freshman, he sat behind Eli Mencer, a converted running back who had 14.5 sacks in 2019.
And when he had a chance to leave school early last winter, he decided instead to stay for one more season at Florida State to polish up his pass rushing game.
HITTING THE LINKS: The 10 best golf courses to play near Detroit during 2024 NFL draft
“Coming back and learning that little bit more, it’s made me so much better of a player,” he said. “I don’t think I could even compare to the player I was in 2022.
“I feel like I was a good player. I was big, strong, fast, but it was the small things. the technical things, the little details, minute details that it wouldn’t matter in college football but when you’re in the NFL, when you’re going up against 10-year vets it’s going to matter.”
Verse is projected as a top-20 pick in a draft that’s light on difference-making defensive lineman.
Alabama edge rusher Dallas Turner, coming off a 10-sack season, and UCLA’s Laiatu Latu, who had a nation’s-best 23.5 sacks the past two years, also project to go high in Round 1, though Latu’s draft stock could be affected by medical concerns after he was forced to retire by doctors in his first college stop at Washington.
Texas’ Byron Murphy and Illinois’ Johnny Newton headline an even lighter defensive tackle class, and Missouri’s Darius Robinson, a Michigan native who played at Canton, and two more players with ties to Western Michigan, Braden Fiske and Marshawn Kneeland are potential top-50 picks.
Fiske transferred to Florida State last season, where played tackle alongside Verse.
“I spent five years in one program at Western Michigan and having to make that transition was kind of the beginning of understanding of how the transition might be for the NFL,” Fiske said at the combine. “You go from learning one system for five years from the same coaches, so having to make that transition to a whole new system, I think kind of prepared me for this opportunity coming up next. And just overall the exposure I got to get from Florida State and it was just the opportunity to play in front of that many fans and bigger crowds and just those different players and everything it was awesome.”
NFL MOCK DRAFT: Lions stick with OL; who trades up for Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy?
Verse called his decision to transfer “world-changing,” but said he wouldn’t change anything about his college journey because his time at Albany gave him the work ethic and drive he needed to potentially be the first defensive lineman taken in the draft.
“At the end of the day, I was never supposed to be in this position,” he said. “I wasn’t even supposed to be at Florida State, I was never supposed to be standing here in front of you today. That was never, if you asked anybody in high school, I’m not supposed to be here today, so being the first pass rusher would mean the world to me but at the end of the day it’s not the end of the world. I’m still going to be working no matter what position I’m taken in, whether I go first round, second round, really all the way down to the seventh, I’m still going to give it everything I have.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
NFL draft: Defensive line preview
Edge rushers on the roster: Aidan Hutchinson, Josh Paschal, John Cominsky, James Houston, Mathieu Betts, Mitchell Agude. IDL on the roster: Alim McNeill, DJ Reader, Levi Onwuzurike, Brodric Martin, Chris Smith.
Dave Birkett’s top 3 Edge prospects: 1. Jared Verse, Florida State; 2. Dallas Turner, Alabama; 3. Laiatu Latu, UCLA. Top 3 IDL prospects: 1. Byron Murphy, Texas; 2. Johnny Newton, Illinois; 3. Braden Fiske, Florida State.
NFL DRAFT HISTORY: Look back at event's evolution from decades back all the way to Detroit
Other players with Michigan ties: Edge: Darius Robinson, Missouri (Canton); Marshawn Kneeland, Western Michigan; Jaylen Harrell, Michigan; Braiden McGregor, Michigan; Ovie Oghoufo, LSU (Farmington Hills Harrison); Brandon Wright, Michigan State. IDL: Kris Jenkins, Michigan; Ruke Orhorhoro, Clemson (River Rouge); Justin Rogers, Auburn (Oak Park); James Ester, Northern Illinois (Detroit Cass Tech); Jalen Sami, Michigan State.
Day 3 sleeper who could interest Lions: Edge: Myles Cole, Texas Tech. IDL: Khristian Boyd, Northern Iowa.
Recent Lions draft picks at Edge: 2023 — none. 2022 — Aidan Hutchinson (first round); Josh Paschal (second round); James Houston (sixth round). 2021 — none. 2020 — Julian Okwara (third round). 2019 — Austin Bryant (fourth round). Recent Lions draft picks at IDL: 2023 — Brodric Martin (third round). 2022 — none. 2021 — Levi Onwuzurike (second round), Alim McNeill (third round). 2020 — John Penisini (sixth round), Jashon Cornell (seventh round). 2019 — P.J. Johnson (seventh round).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: NFL draft preview: Florida State's Jared Verse headlines DL class
