Top Interior OL in NFL Draft: Robert Hunt

Louisiana-Lafayette right tackle Robert Hunt ranks No. 3 among this year’s interior offensive line prospects.

Louisiana-Lafayette right tackle Robert Hunt ranks No. 3 among this year’s interior offensive line prospects.

The accidental NFL prospect was an accident, period.

Robert George Washington Handy Hunt was the unexpected sixth child for his mother, Kathi Handy. She had cervical cancer and was using contraceptives. One day, she was bleeding and feared the cancer had returned. Instead, her son arrived.

Hunt was uprooted first by Hurricane Rita in 2005 and a fire in 2010. At Burkville (Texas) High School, life wasn’t much easier – at least on the football field. With a roster as small as 14 players, the team won two games in two seasons. Blowout losses were commonplace.

Video: Our Top 10 interior line prospects

“It was tough. I hate losing. There was a lot of losing,” Hunt said at the Scouting Combine. “I mean, you can’t dwell on it. We tried to get better. In that process, I learned that people have got to actually want to be good to make a good team. So, you’ve got to actually want ballplayers who want to play ball and be a good team. … God has put me in spots I never imagined in my life.”

Talented players on bad football teams tend to get overlooked. That was the case for Hunt, who was deemed only a two-star recruit despite his hulking 6-foot-5, 330-pound frame. He considered giving up football until a coach from Louisiana-Lafayette invited him to a camp. Hunt attended and was offered a scholarship.

“I committed on the spot,” he said. “After that everything else worked out.”

Worked out, indeed. Hunt (6-foot-5 1/8, 323 pounds; 33 1/2-inch arms) became a four-year starter. He started at guard as a freshman and sophomore and at right tackle as a junior and senior. He was first-team all-conference and was picked for the Senior Bowl following a dominant senior season. Driving a physical, run-first attack, Hunt allowed one sack and two total pressures for a pressure rate of just 1.0 percent. Runs behind him had a 63 percent success rate and the backs averaged 4.1 yards before contact, the best marks among our top 22 interior-line candidates.

What we like

There’s no reason why Hunt can’t play right tackle. With 33 1/2-inch arms, it’s not as if he lacks the length. Of four scouts who were surveyed, two liked Hunt better at guard and the other two said they’d at least start Hunt at tackle. ULL ran zone 79 percent of the time, so there’s plenty of good film of him working on the move. He has one heck of a mean streak.

What we don’t like

Hunt missed the second half of his senior season, the Senior Bowl and didn’t test at the Scouting Combine because of a groin injury that required surgery, so there are no testing numbers. Technically, he’s got some work to do but that’s hardly unique. Pad level was sometimes an issue, a fact that could be exacerbated at guard.

Bill Huber’s Interior O-Line Profiles

No. 1: Michigan’s Cesar Ruiz

No. 2: LSU’s Lloyd Cushenberry

No. 3: Louisiana-Lafayette’s Robert Hunt

No. 4: Temple’s Matt Hennessy

Nos 5-13: Wisconsin’s Tyler Biadasz leads best of rest

Bill Huber’s Offensive Tackle Profiles

No. 1: Louisville’s Mekhi Becton

No. 2: Iowa’s Tristan Wirfs

No. 3: Georgia’s Andrew Thomas

No. 4: Alabama’s Jedrick Wills

No. 5: Louisville’s Josh Jones

No. 6: USC’s Austin Jackson

Nos. 7-14: Cleveland, Niang, Peart part of best of rest

SI.com: O-Line U