NFL Draft
11/11/24
7 min read
Tetairoa McMillan 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Arizona Wildcats WR
Height: 6050 (unofficial)
Weight: 212 (unofficial)
Year: Junior
Pro Comparison: George Pickens
Scouting Overview
Arizona Wildcats wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan has a prototypical X-receiver skill set for the passing game. He’s physical at the catch point, long, and difficult to play through with his length and catch radius.
McMillan has the kind of hands that a quarterback will come to love. He’s effortless with how he plucks the ball away from his frame, vacuums in passes quickly, and converts into a run-after-the-catch athlete. McMillan is a successful target in all three levels of the field, too.
This boosts his outlook for immediate impact, although he does have room for growth in his release package vs. press and his route savvy to create extra separation. Teams that run a lot of 3x1 with isolation on the back side should have an eye toward McMillan’s game, particularly if they are more of a vertical-oriented passing attack.
2025 NFL Combine Results
TBD
Positives
- Arrogant hands
- Three-level threat in the passing game thanks to a variety of skills
- Massive catch radius and strong ball skills at the catch point
Negatives
- Room for growth in release package vs. press
- Is typically not an active & involved member in the run scheme as a blocker
- Created separation against man coverage illustrated room for route mastery
Background
McMillan was born in Waimanalo, HI, and moved to California with his family when he was an adolescent. He played his high school football at Servite HS in Anaheim, CA. He was a 3-sport standout with the program, playing football, basketball, and volleyball thanks to his height and length.
On the gridiron, McMillan rolled in the accolades. He was Gatorade’s 2021 National Football Player of the Year finalist, the California State Player of the Year in 2022, and was invited to play in the 2022 All-Amiercan Bowl and the 2022 Polynesian Bowl while recording more than 2,600 yards and 34 touchdowns as a highly coveted recruit.
McMillan was ranked as a high 4-star recruit (247 Sports) and pulled offers from programs like Oregon, Arizona State, Miami, LSU, Colorado, Penn State, Texas, Notre Dame, USC, and more before committing to Arizona.
McMillan became the highest-ranked recruit to commit to the program. His arrival coincided with that of his quarterback, Noah Fifita. The two played high school football together at Servite, and both enrolled at Arizona together. McMillan set a program record for most receiving yards by a true freshman in franchise history (702) in 12 games and eight starts with the program in 2022.
He was a permanent fixture in the starting lineup by 2023, posting monster numbers with a dominant showing — his 1,402 yards and 10 scores challenged program records. He was granted Second-Team All-PAC 12 for his performance.
McMillan then started his 2024 season off with a bang amid high expectations as a consensus first-round prospect, breaking the program record for receiving yards in a game (304) in the season-opener.
Tale Of The Tape
McMillan has the traits that you’d expect to find for a dominating presence at wide receiver. It is easy to fall in love with the profile of a receiver with the size and stature to win physically on the outside but simultaneously offer smoothness and wiggle to create with the ball in his hands. The Wildcats have fed McMillan the football since his arrival on campus, and his consistent production is a testament to these qualities.
McMillan is a catch-point monster who makes it extremely difficult to undercut his targets. Not only does his size offer him leverage as the ball arrives, but his length and confidence in his hands further steepen the angle a defender must take to play the ball in the air relative to once it’s into his frame.
And if McMillan gets hands on the ball, forget about it. He’s got great strength to squeeze the ball and ensure there’s no punch out late in the process of the catch. If granted space, he’s still confident in how he plucks the football before converting up the field — he logged single-digit drops across his first 300+ targets with the program and carried a drop percentage in college of approximately five percent.
There’s not really a change in his effectiveness relative to his orientation as a route runner, either. Whether he’s working over the shoulder on downfield targets, peeling back late for a back shoulder throw, sitting down with hitches against free access, or running horizontally across the middle with pace. The hands are easy.
That variety of usage is worth shouting out, too. He has predominantly been a volume route runner with go balls and hitches — they make up approximately 40 percent of his career routes at Arizona. However, there’s healthy variance and balance among crosses, slants, digs, out routes, and posts to compliment his core usage. It affords him opportunities to all three levels as a target.
Make no mistake, this is not a perfect player — although he has the tools to be a well-rounded target to justify featuring. McMillan is more successful playing through contact down the field and often was granted respect at the line of scrimmage with his size and vertical speed, which is good but not NFL jaw-dropping.
He’ll run plenty fine to alleviate concerns about whether or not he can stack vertically in the pro game. However, the lack of consistency in seeing press coverage yielded some interruptions getting through the initial route stem when he did catch contact, and corners that he simply couldn’t physically overwhelm did offer some stickiness in man coverage. His successful target rate is about 10 percent lower vs. Cover 1 than it is against Cover 3, which are the two most prominent coverages he’s seen across his three seasons with Arizona.
This isn’t to say that McMillan can’t win vs. man coverage, but the nuance of routes to beat man coverage outside is an area of his game that I would consider to have room for growth. He can be more creative and deceptive at the top of the break for more separation. Additionally, he could do more to win leverage early in the rep if facing disruption in the contact window, especially with how big and physical he has shown to be capable of being.
That same core concept of playing to his size can be applied in the run game. There are some energy conservation efforts with the Arizona offense and backside opportunities that you understand why McMillan isn’t always involved in the run core.
Still, when runs carry his direction, the effort, the sustainability of blocks, and the frequency of getting down into the box on linebackers and safeties were fairly irregular. I would consider this to be a missing link in his game that can further expand his capability of being a centerpiece of an offense.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
McMillan has so, so much potential. Teams looking to work the ball down the field will find his ball-tracking ability, catch radius, and ability to win vertically attractive, and this does feel like his most immediate impact to success.
As he develops more as a route runner, McMillan could become a featured centerpiece of a passing offense — although that development feels like it could unfold across his first few seasons. He should still be considered a Day 1 starter coming into the league.
Grade: 83.00/100.00, First Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
