NFL Draft
1/26/25
6 min read
Zy Alexander 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For LSU Tigers CB
Height: 6010v
Weight: 192v
Year: Redshirt Senior
Pro Comparison: Michael Ojemudia
Scouting Overview
LSU Tigers cornerback Zy Alexander projects as a developmental starter at the NFL level. He’s got the right aggressive demeanor and enough physicality to play on the perimeter. Alexander is at his best playing with his eyes back to the quarterback where his instincts and feel for route development can help him leverage routes.
Alexander is a taller corner with sufficient long speed, but his transitional quickness and hip fluidity are a blend that may leave him vulnerable if left on islands on the perimeter. With his tackling ability from depth and his zone feel for spacing, Alexander projects as a viable zone-scheme defensive corner who could eventually develop into an NFL starter.
Man-heavy schemes will be banking on completely reworking his hand usage and press technique to pull him into a different stratosphere in the contact window.
2025 NFL Combine Results
TBD
Positives
- Boasts good length and physicality to punch and attack the ball at the catch point
- Offers the right appetite for playing a support player in both the run game and rallying to underneath ball carriers
- Reliable wrap-up tackler thanks to wingspan and quick demeanor to trigger and fill
Negatives
- Transitional quickness and hip fluidity are modest as a bigger corner, which can expose technique lapses
- Injury history is worth noting, with ACL injury in 2023 and a concussion in 2024 that both contributed to missed time
- Lacks positional versatility and should be considered a perimeter-exclusive cornerback
Background
Alexander is from Loreauville, LA, and played high school football for Loreauville HS. There, he was a multi-position athlete who starred at quarterback, wide receiver, and free safety while also lettering in baseball as an outfielder. Alexander went unranked through the recruiting circuit and enrolled at Southeastern Louisiana to open his college career.
He started four games as a true freshman in the spring of 2021 and was named an FCS All-American during his second season in the fall of 2021. He led the league in interceptions with six. Alexander finished his SE Louisiana career after the 2022 season. He started all 13 games and posted two pick-sixes before entering the transfer portal and enrolling at LSU.
Alexander started all eight games to open the 2023 season as a fourth-year junior before suffering a season-ending knee injury (ACL) against Army. He returned again in 2024 in Week 2 and started 11 games, finishing his LSU career with 19 starts with the program.
Alexander attended the 2025 East/West Shrine Bowl to kick off his pre-draft process.
Tale Of The Tape
Alexander is a toolsy talent with some obvious instincts that make him an intriguing talent to roll the dice on. His leap from the FCS level to playing at LSU was fairly seamless, although he was tested at times by more dynamic talents on the perimeter.
Alexander is at his best playing in zone coverages. His background as a former quarterback and wide receiver appears to boost his sense of feel and spacing for the offensive concepts he’s being attacked with. He compresses vertical routes effectively from zone and flips the switch to convert into tracking the football when he’s given opportunities down the field.
Alexander’s recognition of flight path is one of his stronger qualities, and as a result, he’s an active presence at the catch point. He offers enough length and physicality to compete for real estate and disrupt the framing of a receiver on both static targets and working down the field.
This is a talent whose physicality isn’t applicable equally in all situations, however. He’s not a powerful striker as a tackler, but he is a consistent wrap-up tackler who posted a missed tackle rate below 7.5 percent for his college career across nearly 2,500 defensive snaps. Alexander is not afraid of challenging smaller backs, and receivers head up with tackle challenges as a fit tackler against closed formations or runs that bounce to the perimeter. But he isn’t a booming presence and often will prefer to wrap or go low instead of trying to ego pop the opposition.
As a man coverage defender, Alexander has sufficient long speed to play on the outside, but his transitional fluidity leaves his ceiling and floor in question. In off-man, he shows some hip constrictions and struggles with dynamic burst at the top of routes or when needing to flip and carry speed vertically and stay plastered to the receiver.
In press, Alexander’s hand usage is irregular and can leave him susceptible to being stacked early in the route. Teams will likely have the best chance to improve his profile by continuing to master his press technique.
The other missing element to Alexander’s profile is versatility. He’s played a total of 13 kick coverage snaps in the punt and kick game in college and none since 2022. As a developmental talent, his value may be diminished on the immediate returns he can offer to an NFL roster if deemed unfit to suit up in an unideal system. Alexander is a good enough tackler to play on these units, but teams will need to reconcile the lack of workload here if they’re going to draft him and develop him into a press or man-heavy scheme.
In all, Alexander is a player who boasts obvious appeal as a big corner who finds the football. However, his short-term returns will be different for each team and scheme, leaving him as someone whose draft projection in the middle rounds is a little less predictable.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Alexander projects best as a developmental starter in a Cover-3 zone-heavy defensive scheme. He’s got length and combativeness at the catch point, but his ability to transition and play with vertical speed on the boundary will leave him at risk of some explosive plays.
He’d be better served playing leveraged over top of routes as a deep zone defender.
Grade: 74.00/100.00, Third Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
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