Notre Dame WR William Fuller Early NFL Draft Scouting
One of the best single seasons in Notre Dame history as a wide receiver put junior receiver William Fuller on the NFL map, and now he has a chance in his junior season to blow scouts away and put himself firmly in the NFL Draft discussion as a possible early entrant in 2016.
Fuller tied a Notre Dame record this past season with 15 touchdown catches, and led the team with 76 catches for 1,094 yards. Let’s take a very early look at Fuller and what he brings to the table, what NFL scouts will like about him, and how he’s going to help Notre Dame win a bunch of games in 2015.
Observations
- Fuller isn’t the biggest receiver. His body type (6-0, 180) sort of reminds me of a young Robert Woods at USC. He’s not going to blow anyone away with his physical stature, but he brings plenty to the table to cover that up. Still, I would like to see him bulk up to at least 190 to hold up at the NFL level.
- One thing that you notice about Fuller right away is that he racks up YAC, making plays in the short screen game and short-intermediate passing game. He has great vision with the ball in his hands.
- Fuller has excellent deep speed, and quickness in and out of his breaks. He isn’t a fully polished route runner by any means, but he runs pretty good routes and gets needed separation.
- Good ‘hands’ catcher. Doesn’t let the ball into his body all that often and snatches the ball out of the air.
- Does a good job making plays in the red zone with great field awareness to know when and where to get his feet down, as well as the ability to climb the ladder and win one-on-one jump ball situations.
Overall
I’m really excited to see how much Fuller can improve from his sophomore to junior season. His body type is not too dissimilar to Robert Woods at USC, and I think he has a lot of similar traits as a possession receiver who can also excel in the red zone, out of the slot, and after the catch. His size is something that NFL scouts are going to want to continue to evolve as he grows into his game, and perhaps the biggest obstacle he faces right now is adjusting to not having Everett Golson as the quarterback and moving to Malik Zaire, who is more of a running QB himself.
If there’s a step back in statistics in 2015, I wouldn’t be shocked because of the QB change, but Fuller is a top flight talent with the ability to jump to the NFL after his junior season.