Add another SEC player to the list of Seattle Seahawks official pre-draft visits.
Edge rusher Princely Umanmielen may have spent the majority of his collegiate days at the University of Florida, but he had his breakout season at Ole Miss and enters this year’s NFL Draft as a likely Day 2 pick.
Here’s the skinny on the 6’4, 244-pound Umanmielen from The Athletic’s Dane Brugler:
A one-year starter at Ole Miss, Umanmielen was a stand-up boundary edge rusher (mostly on passing downs) in defensive coordinator Pete Golding’s 4-2-5 base scheme (Umanmielen’s fourth different defensive coordinator in five years). After starting two seasons as a 4i defensive end and edge rusher at Florida, he was a hot commodity in the transfer portal and played his best football with the Rebels during the 2024 season, setting a career best with 10.5 sacks (only Kyle Kennard had more sacks in the SEC).
Umanmielen has only average force behind his hands as a pass rusher, but he is at his best from distance, where he can bend and use his movement skills to turn the corner on his way to the quarterback (his number of pressures created increased each season). He has gotten bigger/stronger and is better equipped to hold up against the run, but he still needs to play with more violence and refinement with his shed hands. Overall, Umanmielen won’t easily dismantle NFL tackles or tight ends at the point of attack, but his edge speed, body control and flexibility make him a dangerous two-way pass rusher. All the tools are there for him to become a productive designated pass rusher in the NFL.
There’s one weakness listed in Brugler’s scouting report that caught my eye: “Late reading pass-run and mesh points.”
Weaknesses can always be corrected but that is not promising.
Umanmielen was All-SEC First-team after his lone year at Ole Miss, upgrading from Second-team in his final season with the Gators. He’s not considered one of the absolute best edge rushing prospects compared to Abdul Carter, Shemar Stewart, Mykal Williams, Donovan Ezeiruaku, and others with no worse than likely first-round aspirations, but he’s in that second tier of edges who may be chosen in Rounds 2-3.
As a little fun fact, the Seahawks have only drafted three players from Ole Miss in franchise history. DK Metcalf was obviously the most recent selection in 2019, but the other two were center Chris Spencer in the first round of the 2005 draft and cornerback Ken Lucas in the second round back in 2001.
