Scouting Combine Defensive Line: Baylor’s Lynchpin

Part 3 of our three-part series on the 25 defensive linemen includes an All-American who wishes he could have dinner with Genghis Khan, a one-star fullback and a 10-year high school letterman.

Part 3 of our three-part series on the 25 defensive linemen includes an All-American who wishes he could have dinner with Genghis Khan, a one-star fullback and a 10-year high school letterman. (Underclassmen are noted with an asterisk.)

James Lynch, Baylor* (6-4, 295): Lynch had a prodigious final season with 13.5 sacks, 19.5 tackles for losses, five passes defensed, three forced fumbles and two blocked kicks to be a unanimous first-team All-American and the Big 12’s Defensive Player of the Year. His three-year totals were 22 sacks and 33.5 TFLs.

Lynch loves sacks. “You really can’t explain that feeling,” Lynch told the Waco Tribune. “That’s a feeling of a lifetime when you get the whole team cheering for you when you make a play and you’re celebrating with your teammates. You can’t really beat that at all.” If he could eat dinner with any four people in history, he would choose Ndamukong Suh, Abraham Lincoln, Genghis Kahn and Al Capone. Why Genghis Kahn? “He was the emperor of the Mongol Empire,” Lynch said in a Q&A with Statesman.com. “After he created the empire, he started the Mongol invasions and conquered most of Europe and Asia. They took over everything, dominated like savages. It’s just a topic I find interesting.” His dad, Tim, played football at Nebraska. That’s why Lynch’s middle name is “Husker.”

Justin Madubuike, Texas A&M* (6-3, 300): Madubuike had three productive seasons. After posting 5.5 sacks and 10.5 tackles for losses as a sophomore, he had 5.5 sacks and 11.5 tackles for losses as a junior. He also forced five fumbles and blocked two kicks in his career.

As a first-time starter in 2018, he had a facemask problem. “It was, ‘Oh, I’m starting. I’m just so jittery. I’m trying to make this tackle any way I can,’” he told the Express News. “It was, ‘I don’t care how I’m going to get him down — I’m going to get him down.’ Obviously, it doesn’t work like that.” He was the biggest recruit ever from his high school and took note of the helicopter the Aggies used to recruit him. Coach Jimbo Fisher pushed the right buttons to get the best out of his talented big man. “Do you want to win the SEC, win the National Championship, or do you want to be in the Hall of Fame?” Fisher told Southern Pigskin. “There’s a mentality where certain guys can look past just making it. He’s learning how to drive and work and learn the off the field things. When he gets on the field, he plays his tail off, but he’s learning how everything you do has to have a championship mind-set to it. It sends a message, it creates a habit of who you are. Who we are is what our habits say we are, what we do daily -- myself included. I’m trying to get him to think like that. Not to think like a great player, to think like a champion.”

Larrell Murchison, North Carolina State (6-3, 291): As a senior, Murchison led N.C. State with seven sacks and 12 tackles for losses. His sack total was seventh-best in the ACC, and he ranked 11th in TFLs. Of the lack total, 3.5 came against Florida State.

A one-star recruit after being a Wing-T fullback in high school, Murchison spent his first two seasons at Louisburg, a junior college. He dominated as a sophomore with 17.5 tackles for losses. Being an under-the-radar recuit has driven him to new heights. “I think about it every day,” Murchison told Greensboro.com. “It kind of brings me to tears. I’ve come a long way but I’ve still got a long way to go.” He’s also drive by his twin brother, Farrell, is a running back at Winston Salem State. Farrell was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2018 but was back on the field in 2019. “When he hurts, I hurt,” Murchison told Rivals. “Everything about him inspires me. Him beating cancer inspires me to this day.” He dreamed of having the ball in his hands as a kid. “I was always watching football on TV and playing ‘Madden’ with my brother,″ Murchison told FayObserver.com. “And I had good hands when we played backyard football. I had some juke moves. So when I started in flag football I thought I was going to be a receiver.″ The twins were honored in a Christmas parade.

John Penisini, Utah (6-2, 333): Penisini’s junior and senior seasons were mirror images with two sacks and seven tackles for losses among 38 tackles. He earned second-team all-conference both seasons. He was an underrated part of stellar Utah fronts. “I want John to have the same recognition as me and Leki because the guy is a hard worker,” Bradlee Anae, a top edge rusher in this draft class, told Deseret News. “He hustles to the ball every play. There’s not one play where he takes off. He’s built like a brick house.”

He spent his freshman season at Snow Junior College. “It’s a blessing to make it this far,” Penisini told KSLS. “I think it was a humbling experience especially coming from being the guy in high school and then not really making it to a bigger school so I had to go the junior college route. I handled business there (at Snow) and grew up there.” His love for football was born in a house full of cousins. "I play football mostly for my parents,” he told the school athletics site. “My mom and dad worked so hard to get me here, bringing me from California and raising me here. I'm grateful for my parents and everything they've provided for me. I'm just finding a way to give back to them."

Malcolm Roach, Texas (6-3, 290): In four seasons, Roach piled up eight sacks and 22.5 tackles for losses. He saved his best for last, with career-high marks of three tackles and nine tackles for losses among 40 stops as a senior team captain.

Roach was coached by his father, Mike – an All-American linebacker at Southern and a former coach at Grambling – at Madison Prep in Baton Rouge, La., where he was an all-state linebacker. "Growing up, I had no idea what they were talking about," Roach told the Advocate. "I hear the terminology now, and it's the first thing I think about. I heard that when I was 3-years old, 4-years old (I was in there), not even knowing what I was around." His first high school was Southern Lab, a kindergarten-through-12th-grade school where his father coached. He was offered a scholarship by Grambling while a freshman. He played his first varsity snaps while in fourth grade. Roach organized a shoe drive in Baton Rouge. “It was really just a life-changing experience,” Roach told Hookem.com. “I come out here on Saturdays and make a lot of people happy and things like that, but at the end of the day, football is going to stop and I know that. Just being able to make an impact in my community with this platform, it was very, very big for me. That’s something I’ll never forget.” He wore Cedric Benson’s No. 32.

Jason Strowbridge, North Carolina (6-5, 285): A three-year starter, Strowbridge was third-team all-ACC as a senior with three sacks, 6.5 tackles for losses and two blocked kicks. He had career highs of 5.5 sacks and 7.5 TFLs as a junior. He had a strong week at the Senior Bowl, being labeled a “man among boys.”

Broderick Washington, Texas Tech (6-3, 305): Washington finished with a flourish. He had three sacks and 6.5 tackles for losses as a junior and 2.5 sacks and 5.5 tackles for losses as a senior to earn honorable-mention all-Big 12 both seasons. He was a team captain as a junior and senior.

Redshirting in 2015 was a challenge. “I’m not going to lie, my redshirt year almost broke me because I wasn’t really used to sitting out and not playing,” Washington told TylerPaper.com. “It showed me that sometimes you got to sit back and wait your turn. It taught me patience really. That patience, it made it me realize that I don’t know everything and you can always learn something new. That’s what I did, I took it, soaked up all the information I could and as you’ve seen over the last couple years, it’s been shown on the field.” He played on the offensive line at Longview (Texas) High School. “I feel like it’s a great opportunity for me,” Washington said before the 2017 season. “The transition from offensive line to defensive line, it was kind of tough, but I worked at it every day and got better. There’s still room for improvement, but it’s a great opportunity.”

Raequan Williams, Michigan State (6-4, 303): Williams closed his career with 42 consecutive starts and a pair of all-Big Ten first-team honors. For his career, he posted 11.5 sacks, 29 tackles for losses and three forced fumbles. He had five sacks and 7.5 tackles for losses as a senior.

Williams’ path to the NFL was almost derailed by the murder of a cousin and his younger brother in separate shootings in Chicago in 2016 and 2017. “It’s a hotbed of crime in the city,” his high school basketball coach told the Lansing State Journal. “Gang factions are not down the block, they are literally across the street. They can just shoot across the street. It’s crazy, just crazy. If there is a shooting, it’s usually in one of three areas and Rae is from the heart of it. He has seen a lot at an early age.” Somehow, Williams escaped the circle of violence, refused to seek revenge, and kept his eyes on a brighter future. “I feel like you got to make the right moral decision every single day if you want to make it from where I came from,” he told the Detroit News. “Where I came from, you can just say yes to a situation and end up dead, so that is crazy. “But how, honestly, I don't know. The more I think about it, the more I realize how I'm very blessed to make it from the place where I come from.” His mom and a third-grade teacher, MacKenzie Hyde, played instrumental roles in Williams’ success story. “His mother and I came to a consensus that logistically it made the most sense,” said Hyde, a senior attorney, told DNAInfo.com. “And we all became sort of an unconventional family over the years. It's been a wild ride.”

Rob Windsor, Penn State (6-4, 285): Windsor earned all-Big Ten third-team honors each of his final two seasons. As a senior, he tallied 3.5 sacks and five tackles for losses.

Windsor was a success story after a redshirt season and then barely playing the following two seasons. Part of it is diet. “He sacrifices daily,” defensive tackle PJ Mustipher told the Post-Gazette. “Like each day — for instance, we could be out at lunch, and we go to this place where we get burgers. And I'll get the burger, but he'll get the one with the lettuce on it. It's a healthier option because he says like that's the key to success, and that's what's going to take you from good to great.” His goal was to be the best defensive tackle in the nation, he told Centre Daily. “I go to Sam’s Club and I pick up 10 pounds of ground beef. I cook it all at once. My roommate calls them meat bowls because I put a bunch of meat in a bowl and put some cheese in there and melt it. I mix it all up with barbecue sauce and hot sauce, and that’s my favorite meal. It’s the most convenient.” That he adds cheese is a natural. Windsor, a native of Fond du Lac, Wis. He graduated in December 2018 with a degree in telecommunications. 

Introducing the 25 Defensive Linemen

Part 1: Auburn duo and dynamic twins

Part 2: Kinlaw and SEC stars

Part 3: Baylor's defensive lynchpin

Introducing the 20 Tight Ends

Part 1: Kmet, Moss and the Bryants

Part 2: Small-school stars Trautman and Taumoepeau, and five SEC standouts

Introducing the 25 Offensive Tackles

Part 1: Becton, D-III stud Bartch and Charles

Part 2: Jones and plenty of NFL DNA

Part 3: The Big Three of Thomas, Wills and Wirfs

Introducing the 17 Guards

Part 1: Bredeson, Hunt, Jackson and Lewis

Part 2: Stenberg, Simpson and Throckmorton

Introducing the 10 Centers

Big Ten’s Biadasz, Ruiz Lead Way

Introducing the 55 Receivers

Part 1: Aiyuk, Bowden did it all

Part 2: Duvernay, Edwards and Gandy-Golden

Part 3: LSU's Jefferson among TD machines

Part 4: Lamb, Jeudy top receiver class

Part 5: Mims leads Texas trio

Part 6: Ruggs, Shenault produce big plays

Introducing the 30 Running Backs

Part 1: Cam Akers, Eno Benjamin and J.K. Dobbins

Part 2: Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Zack Moss

Part 3: D’Andre Swift and Jonathan Taylor

Introducing the 17 Quarterbacks

Part 1: Burrow, Eason, Fromm

Part 2: Gordon, Herbert, Hurts, Love

Part 3: Tagovailoa and two Wisconsin natives