LSU's 2025 season fell far short of expectations, but there were still plenty of bright spots up and down the roster. Of those, one of the program's biggest success stories came in the form of safety AJ Haulcy. A transfer from Houston, Haulcy quickly put himself on the map with All-SEC caliber play, and has emerged as a legitimate 2026 NFL Draft Prospect.
He began his collegiate career with the New Mexico Lobos, playing in one season before transferring to the Houston Cougars, where he spent the next two years. He wrapped up a successful four-year college tenure with his best and final campaign, starring in the Tigers' secondary and being acknowledged with All-American honors.
AJ Haulcy NFL Draft Profile:
Position: S
School: LSU Tigers
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 222 pounds
Hometown: Houston, Texas
Statistics:
- 2025: 89 Tackles, 3 INT, 4 PBU, 1 FF
- Career: 346 Tackles, 4 TFL, 10 INT, 17 PBU, 4 FF
Strengths:
- Incredible timing and ball skills, especially when exerting his body to break up passes away from his frame.
- Strong base through his stick tackles, drives through ball carriers, and holds his ground through his lower half.
- Great “read and react” skills in the flat, especially against QB runs; will plant and position himself well to break up potential open-field scrambles.
- Re-centers his base smoothly and quickly, drops into his hips, and stays within his frame to surround and bring down a ball carrier.
- Impressive lateral functional strength, can shed pulling blocks and work to the outside to drive out and finish off runs.
- Shows advanced discipline and instincts in zone coverage, will test QBs' patience and force them to take the checkdown by placing himself between multiple assignments.
- High effort sideline-to-sideline tackler, will break away from his alignment to run down ball carriers moving laterally after the catch.
- Really impressive coverage instincts, especially when working the QB's eyes; breaks off onto routes quickly and breaks up plays before they can develop.
- Crashes onto comeback routes well in zone coverage, knows when to break, and can get a beat on WRs to close windows.
- Great open field pursuit routes at times and lays the wood when he makes contact, especially on the sideline.
Weaknesses:
- Looks definitely stiff in his hips when working deep and trying to rotate, doesn’t look fluid, and will get taken advantage of by multi-cut deep routes.
- Stays a bit high in his base with his backpedal, doesn’t sink into his hips, and can get caught flat-footed through transitions.
- Needs to be more comfortable with his eyes as a deep safety, will get too locked in on the QB's eyes, and can get dragged off of an open receiver moving downfield.
- Lower fluidity gets tested by quicker compact movers, can overset himself even without trying to, and doesn’t have the length to make up for it.
- Burst and top speed aren’t elite, won’t be able to track ball carriers down, and can get beat on some tight windows near his zone alignment.
- Will try to stay too disciplined at times in man coverage, gets into his heels too much, and can get beat on quick in-line cuts.
- Needs to let his physicality loose more often; he has the strength and instincts to impact plays, but chooses to be cautious at times.
- Needs to improve his analysis of ball carrier routes, will often position himself in front of the first cut, and doesn’t have the movement skills to work through multiple cuts.
- He lets his eyes drift too far into the backfield, will get thrown off by blockers, and can get himself into traffic without realizing it.
NFL Outlook:
Haulcy is one of the best safety prospects in the 2026 class, and it all starts with his instincts. He excels in zone coverage, especially when navigating multiple assignments in his vicinity, and he has the quick trigger and well-timed ball skills to be a playmaker at the catch point. His stocky frame and below-average top speed make him a difficult projection as a deep safety, but he should find vast amounts of success working in mid-level alignments with occasional looks close to the LOS. Haulcy comes with limitations in his athleticism and overall fluidity, but has the technical skills and instinctual prowess to become a valuable piece to any team’s secondary for years.
NFL Player Comparison:
Haulcy doesn't have the pure athleticism coming out of college, but there's a plethora of parallels with his profile and that of Michigan Wolverines legend Jabrill Peppers during his tenure with the New England Patriots. Peppers was a consistently above-average defender in the Patriots' secondary for multiple years, and wreaked havoc as a hard-hitting, quick-twitch safety who excelled across the middle of the field. Haulcy could very well become that type of player, and he could see himself quickly become the heartbeat of a franchise's secondary.
Prospect Grade:
- Late 2nd Round