New York Giants Draft Preview: LB Tyrice Knight

Nick takes a look at a potential Day 3-UDFA linebacker prospect from UTEP.

Tyrice Knight of UTEP / Vasha Hunt-USA TODAY Sports

Tyrice Knight, UTEP

Height: 6’0”
Weight: 233 lbs
Arm length: 32 ½”
Wingspan: 80 ⅜”
Hands: 9 ¼”
Class: Super Senior
School: UTEP
STATS

MEASUREMENTS

40-yard-dash: 4.63
10-yard split: 1.59
Vertical jump: 34.5”
Broad jump: 9’11”
3-Cone: 7.25
20-yard-shuttle: 4.40
Bench press: 21 reps

Knight was a former three-star recruit out of Lake Gibson High School in Lakeland, Florida, where he was the 70th recruit from the state and the 12th ILB during the 2020 recruiting cycle. In 2020, Knight was a JUCO transfer; he spent two years at Independence Community College in Kansas, where he recorded 58 tackles, four for a loss, two fumble recoveries, four PBUs, and five interceptions in ten games. Before attending ICC, he was a zero-star recruit and only received FBS offers from Bowling Green and South Florida.

After playing well at the JUCO level, he took his abilities to UTEP where he started 43 of 45 games.
Knight was honorable Mention All-CUSA in 2021, second-team All-CUSA in 2022, and First-Team All-CUSA in 2023. He led his team in tackles in 2022 and 2023. Knight accepted an invitation to play at the 2024 Reese’s Senior Bowl.

Strengths

* Good muscular frame with 89th percentile wingspan
* Solid short-area quickness and burst
* Solid overall speed with good acceleration
* Opens stride length - good range
* Very good reactive quickness to adjust to slippery RBs
* Solid overall agility and COD in tight-confined spaces
* Gets low and skinny when penetrating
* Has quick trigger to fit and fill - bring good violence to the ball carrier
* Solid pop at the POA and explosiveness into contact
* Decisive and quick eyes to read keys and attack
* Very impressive eyes and judgment
* Excellent overall vision and feel in the box on direct rushing concepts
* Solid overall vision and feel on misdirection/lateral runs
* Quickly locates and positions himself well vs. counter runs
* Gets low around blockers in the gap
* Ford Automobile level production as a tackler
* According to Pro Football Focus, he led the FBS in tackles (2023)
* Played MIKE in 2023 - made defensive calls in a 4-2-5 base scheme
* Very good tackling form - had only an 8.3% missed tackle rate in college
* Had 95 tackles or more in three consecutive seasons
* Functional in coverage with bad intentions into the catch point
--Arizona Q2 9:09 3rd & 6
* Maintains eye contact with QB when in coverage - can lead to lapses, but does allow him to plant & drive when the QB declares his throw
* Short-area quickness and acceleration make him dangerous as blitzer/green dog pressure LB
* Very tough - did not miss a game at UTEP
* Special teams upside (although he did not play much of it at UTEP)

Weaknesses

* On shorter side for LB - 15th percentile
* A bit tight in his lower half to thrive as a man-coverage LB
* Will lose spatial relationship with receiver in coverage - peeks too often at QB
* Coverage recognition needs work
* Could get lower when absorbing blockers
* Relies a lot on avoiding OL rather than punching and shedding
* Must improve positioning/hand usage vs. OL at the second level
* Has to improve play strength to stack & shed
* OL tend to control him once they get hands on
* Will be a 24-year-old rookie

Summary

Tyrice Knight is a very productive linebacker with above-average eyes in the box and a solid feel for sifting through traffic to locate ball carriers for minimal gains. He’s a solid overall athlete who is a bit tight in his hips but sports impressive explosive ability when triggering downhill.

Knight was effective as a box LB and used his eyes and ability to dip around/under-blocking attempts from OL to tackle the running back successfully; he reacts quickly to his run keys, which helps him most of the time, but misdirections would lead him astray. Still, he didn’t lead the FBS with 75 STOPs (PFF) for no good reason - he hawks ball carriers down and finds ways to make difference-making plays for his defense.

Knight has to get stronger when stacking & shedding offensive linemen; once the OL gained his chest, Knight had no consistent answer to defend himself and was too frequently driven off his spot and eliminated from the play.

Knight is functional in zone coverage and maintained eye contact often with the QB, which allowed him to make plays on the football, but also led to slip-ups on the backend in the shallow and intermediate zones. Knight doesn’t have much special teams experience, but I still think there’s upside in that area.

The Giants had Knight in for a Top-30 visit, and I understand why. Michael Ghobrail will find a role for him on special teams, and the Giants need depth behind Bobby Okereke and Micah McFadden. Knight would push McFadden for snaps and offers a different skill set than the former Indiana Hoosier. Knight has questions about his game, and he’s an older prospect, but he has quality tape and traits that suggest he’s worth a day-three pick.

GRADE: 5.96

Nick Falato's Draft Grade Chart / Nick Falato

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