NFL Draft
3/17/25
6 min read
Nohl Williams 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For California Golden Bears CB
Height: 6000 (verified)
Weight: 199lbs (verified)
Year: Redshirt Senior
Pro Comparison: DaRon Bland
Scouting Overview
California Golden Bears cornerback Nohl Williams is a competitive ballhawk who has appeal as a physical man cornerback at the NFL level. Williams boasts tremendous ball production and illustrates competitiveness at the catch point and as a tackler.
With sufficient length and a good ability to locate the football in zone coverage and with his back to the quarterback, someone will gladly bet on Williams' upside to potentially provide game-changing plays.
2025 NFL Combine Results
| Position | Name | School | 40-Yard Dash | 10-Yard Split | Broad Jump | Vertical Jump | 3-Cone Drill | 20-Yard Shuttle | Bench Press |
| CB | Nohl Williams | California | 4.5 | 1.54 | 120 | 33.5 | 19 |
Positives
- Ball skills are through the roof in all types of scenarios and opportunities in coverage
- Possesses a likable play demeanor and gets chippy throughout the game
- Has comfort playing inside and attacking within the contact window
Negatives
- Only a modest functional athlete who gets by more with instincts and efficient spacing than raw athletic ability
- Posted nearly a 20 percent missed tackle rate in 2023 in first year after leap from UNLV to Cal
- Can be a bit overaggressive with his hands in transition or at the top of the stem
Background
Williams is from Oxnard, CA, and played high school football for Pacifica HS. There, he was a three-way athlete who played offense, defense, and special teams as a standout talent. Williams played defensive back, wide receiver, and served as a returner for Pacifica, eventually being named a consensus 3-star recruit.
He committed to UNLV as a member of their 2020 recruiting class and played three seasons with the program. Williams started from the jump at UNLV, starting all five contests for the Rebels during their 2020 COVID-19 season. Due to the pandemic, he retained his fourth year of college eligibility. Williams was named Honorable Mention All-Mountain West honors for his play as a junior in 2022 and entered the transfer portal after the season.
As a 4-star transfer (247 Sports), Williams enrolled at Cal and started 13 games as a senior in 2023 before earning First Team All-Big Ten honors for his play during his 2024 encore year. He posted a monster season with seven interceptions and came up just two short of the program record for most interceptions in a single season.
Williams accepted an invitation to the 2025 East-West Shrine Bowl.
Tale Of The Tape
Ballhawks usually don’t wait long to get their name called on draft weekend. Williams may wait longer than some due to some of the physical limitations of his athletic profile, but his instincts and ball skills make him an easy sell job for defensive coaches looking for an impact player to acquire in the long term.
Williams has been a steadily ascending talent throughout his career. Across his five years of play, he’s posted big-time ball production in the Mountain West and Big Ten. He’s achieved massive numbers thanks to his good ball skills and instincts in coverage.
He has the inherent quality of being at the right place at the right time with quarterback overthrows and has made opponents pay when these instances arise. He also undercuts throws with good coverage and showcased an ability to flip his eyes back to the quarterback downfield on the stem before running down footballs. His background as a two-way player is apparent when he has to flip his eyes back and find the ball.
Williams plays well from the trail position in man coverage. He’s physical to reroute within the contact window and uses his physicality to disrupt timing while he transitions himself to carry routes up the field. He’s reactive to the eyes of wide receivers and times his hands well to extend and disrupt the catch point effectively.
His feel for route breaks from playing in this position allows him to stay sticky and anticipate breaks, which puts him in a position to take sharp angles and undercut the route to get his hands on more footballs.
Impressively, Williams’ Cover-1 snaps are nearly equal to his Cover-3 snaps during his past two years at Cal — he’s taken 309 coverage snaps in Cover-1 vs. 322 in Cover-3.
His foot speed, hip fluidity, and transitional burst should all be considered sufficient. This isn’t an explosive athlete who wins with elite reactive suddenness or long speed, nor does he win with elite length. However, he should be considered viable for such opportunities at the NFL level. He boasts sufficient levels of all the traits and has the instincts and IQ to maximize what he’s been blessed with.
As a run defender, Williams improved in 2024 vs. his first season at Cal. He has likable aggression and physicality despite not being the biggest player. His tackling habits were much cleaner and allowed him more consistency chopping down or striking ball carriers to minimize additional yardage.
The tackling consistency is something to watch that could derail his consistency or cause him to fall out of favor with a coaching staff. But he was credited with three missed tackles this year in his last season at Cal, plus he was only credited with three missed tackles in 2022 during his last season at UNLV.
With more than 600 career special teams snaps and experience returning kicks, Williams offers special teams value that should get him on the field regardless of how well his leap in level of competition goes as a rookie in 2025. As a result, this is a game-day contributor, and the question is simply whether you want him handling returns.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Williams projects as a potential scheme-specific starter. He’ll be best served playing in a physical press-man-heavy scheme to play matchups with opposing receivers.
Williams should be considered a developmental talent, given the leap in competition and the margin for error required for playing in a high-stress island in coverage — but he’s worth the investment given his ball skills.
Grade: 74.50/100.00, Third Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
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