Notre Dame Corner Prospect Khamauri Rogers Is One Of The Nation's Best Cover Players

Notre Dame is pushing for one of the nation's best cover corners, Mississippi star Khamauri Rogers

Notre Dame is pushing for one of the nation's best cover corners, Mississippi star Khamauri Rogers.

KHAMAURI ROGERS PROFILE

Hometown: Lexington, Miss.
High School: Holmes County

Height: 6-1
Weight: 165

IB Grade: 4.5 (Top 50 caliber prospect)
Upside Grade: 5.0

Offers: Notre Dame, LSU, Florida, Oregon, Auburn, Miami (Fla.), Ole Miss, Tennessee, Missouri, Cincinnati, Nebraska, Mississippi State, UCF, Kentucky, Georgia Tech, Indiana, Vanderbilt

Recruited By: Mike Mickens, Marcus Freeman

RECRUITING RANKINGS

Rivals: 4-star - No. 47 overall - No. 6 cornerback
ESPN: 4-star - No. 56 overall - No. 6 cornerback
247Sports: 4-star - No. 117 overall - No. 13 cornerback
Composite: 4-star - No. 65 overall - No. 7 cornerback

FILM ANALYSIS

Rogers is one of the premier cover players in the country, and part of what makes him the top corner on my board is that he's still a relatively raw player in many ways. What he has, however, is the athletic tools, ball skills and football IQ you want and need in an elite cover player. He's not quite elite yet (most players aren't as juniors), but he's close, and the tools are all there.

At 6-1 and 165 pounds, Rogers is a long and very thin cornerback. He is not only tall, but he has long arms, and he knows how to use that length to his advantage during routes and when defending throws. Rogers plays the football extremely well, both when he drives on routes and when covering downfield. The Holmes County cover man makes fast reads, his anticipation is top notch and his ability to mirror routes is exceptional. You can see this in game film and in 7-on-7 situations. 

Rogers is a smooth and fluid athlete with loose hips. His long strides mask his speed a bit, but I have yet to see a wide receiver outrun him on a vertical route. Despite being so smooth, Rogers shows suddenness as an athlete, possessing exceptionally quick feet and explosive change of direction ability. His technique is still underdeveloped, but he's so athletic that he's able to quickly recover with ease and drive on routes.

When I talk about him being a high IQ player you can see it with how he plays the ball as well. He takes tremendous angles when breaking on routes, and he constantly beats wideouts to the spot, which helps him get his hands on a lot of throws and he forces a high number of incompletions. MaxPreps has Rogers down for 38 career pass breakups and six interceptions in 31 games. 

Rogers also shows impressive feel for reading the eyes of receivers on deep throws, and he uses his length and fast hands to play the ball, making him hard to throw over the top against.

What keeps Rogers from being a five-star right now is his thin frame, lack of strength and lack of technique. The good news is most of that is correctable. He is willing to come downhill as a run defender and he's a sound tackler, but he needs to get a lot stronger and improve his block destruction ability. His lack of strength could also give him some trouble against bigger, more physical receivers. Once he adds more strength and cleans up his footwork I see Rogers jumping into five-star status. 

Check out some junior clips of Rogers:

GRADE KEY

5.0 - Elite player
4.5 - All-American caliber player
4.0 - Multi-year starter
3.5 - Key role player / Late career-starter
3.0 - Backup

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