Rico McGraw recruit scouting report: Versatile defensive back

Defensive back Rico McGraw could excel at corner or safety.

Rico McGraw is one of the top secondary players in the nation, and has received high-level interest from major programs across the nation.

McGraw attends Nashville (Tenn.) Ensworth High School, and is listed at 6'0, weighing in at 190 pounds. He is projected to play either safety or cornerback at the next level -- 247Sports and Scout list him as a cornerback, while Rivals and ESPN project him to play safety.

McGraw is a consensus four-star recruit, receiving the rating from 247Sports, Rivals, Scout and ESPN. 247Sports is highest on the recruit, ranking him as the ninth-best player at his position in the class of 2015. The 247Sports Composite, which aggregates the ratings of all four major recruiting services, considers McGraw a four-star, ranking him as the 14th-best cornerback in the nation and the third-best player in the state of Tennessee.

McGraw claims offers from Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Georgia, Florida State, Ohio State, LSU and Texas A&M, among others. He can be found on Twitter @LoveHateRico.

Note: Recruits commit and decommit throughout the process. No effort is made to note commitments or decommitments in these scouting reports. All we note is claimed offers at the time of evaluation.

McGraw has excellent size at the cornerback position, and his stock has risen as the premium of size at the position has been emphasized more and more of late. It appears that he has the frame to eventually play North of 200 pounds.

McGraw does not seem to have elite track speed, but he does have enough to remain at cornerback at the BCS level of play, given his size.

What really jumps out to me when watching McGraw are his instincts. He is able to key the quarterback and the receiver while in zone coverage, or freelancing, and break on the football. When he breaks on the ball, he typically is able to make a play on it, showing good hands to come away with interceptions, or delivering a blow to the receiver.

McGraw does not have the best hips and feet, however, and is not a great player mirroring in man-to-man coverage. This is backed up by some of his plays with the ball in his hands on offense in which he fails to make defenders miss.

But that may be an element that can be improved by coaching at the next level. And if McGraw can become better in press coverage, he won't have to turn and run with the receiver quite so quickly. Given his size, it is almost assured that McGraw will be asked to press a lot more in college.

McGraw is also an aggressive, physical run-defender. He takes on blocks and comes up to make the tackle pretty well.

McGraw profiles as a player capable of being a multi-year starter for a BCS program.

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