Florida's Princely Umanmielen an NFL Draft prospect generating buzz
Each week during the season, On3’s Matt Zenitz catches up with Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy to identify 2024 NFL draft prospects whose draft stock is on the rise. This week, eight players generating buzz among Nagy and the Senior Bowl staff coming out of Week 4 were showcased — and Florida Gators junior edge Princely Umanmielen was one of them. (Full article HERE)
Here’s what Zenitz wrote about Umanmielen: “Umanmielen has eight tackles, three tackles for loss and two sacks through Florida’s first four games. Umanmielen, who has verified measurements of 6-foot-3 6/8, 249 pounds, recorded a sack and four additional quarterback hurries during the Gators’ win over Charlotte on Saturday.”
Princely Umanmielen has seen his stock rise of late
Now, here are Nagy’s comments: “Has made a jump on tape so far this year compared to his junior stuff we looked at over the summer. Made a couple nice chase plays in pursuit on Saturday against Charlotte and that was not part of his game in past years. Flashes elements of both speed and power to his rush game and had a sack against Charlotte. Bit of a tweener but came away from this live exposure thinking he’ll fit better as 3-4 outside linebacker than a 4-3 defensive end at the next level. Has improved his draft stock this first month of season and could see him working his way into Day 2 conversation if he continues on this trajectory.”
Last week, Umanmielen made the On3 Top 25 edge rankings. He checked in at the No. 25 spot after having been unranked the previous week.
Umanmielen switched from defensive end to outside linebacker this year, changing positions before spring ball. He excelled with the move and dominated during fall camp, making a pick-six in the final scrimmage.
“I love it,” Umanmielen said of his new position in August. “I always felt like my body type and how I play football, I was going to end up being an outside linebacker, even though these past years I was playing four eyes and hand in the dirt. (And) I always felt like I had the athletic ability to drop into coverage. But I think me changing my body physically was just to be a pro, just to make myself a better football player.”
Many projected him to have a strong season
Expectations were high for Umanmielen heading into this fall. He was named to PFF’s preseason All-SEC first team, along with watch lists for the Chuck Bednarik Award and Lombardi Award.
Umanmielen’s new position coach, Mike Peterson, wouldn’t let the hype go to his head.
“He talks to me about it every day,” Umanmielen said. “He just always pulls me to the side and lets me know; he says things like, ‘It’s a lot of people talking to you right now. Don’t buy into it, you just got to keep working hard every day. You can’t buy into the hype just yet.’ Some people do that and it makes them big-headed, and then they feel like they don’t have to work no more. So, he just tells me to make sure I keep working.”
