2019 NFL Draft Profile: Gerald Willis III a fit for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Putting himself back on the map in 2018

Many outside of the program were worrying about how he’d fair going from scout team to starter, but he once again proved doubters wrong. Willis came onto the scene early as a team voted captain and a force to be reckoned with on the field, going on to accumulate 59 total tackles, a massive 18 of which came behind the line of scrimmage, and four sacks while drawing double teams on most plays. While the stats do not jump off of the page, the film makes your jaw drop to the floor more often than not.

After his All-NCAA caliber season and exhausting all remaining eligibility Willis accepted the coveted Reese Senior Bowl invite in Mobile, Alabama. In bad news, however, shortly after accepting the invite news came out he played the majority of the season with a broken bone in his hand and would have to sit out the Senior Bowl to prepare for the NFL Scouting Combine; it turned out that his hand was still not healthy as he did not test at the combine either.

Outside of Kentucky’s Josh Allen, it would be extremely difficult to find another prospect who helped their draft stock tremendously by staying in school and dominating on the field in 2018 than Willis.