NFL Draft
2/4/25
5 min read
Hollin Pierce 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Rutgers Scarlett Knights OT
Height: 6076 (verified)
Weight: 344lbs (verified)
Year: Redshirt Senior
Pro Comparison: Zach Banner
Scouting Overview
Rutgers Scarlett Knights offensive tackle Hollin Pierce is a player who gets drafted simply off his physical tools. He’s done a wonderful job during his collegiate career of remodeling his body and getting into a position to offer sufficient levels of mobility on the edge to complement his raw size and length.
Folks like this don’t grow on trees, and Pierce has a massive zip code worth of real estate on the edge that he’ll force defenders to navigate. He’s a developmental talent who must polish his play and remove some of the ugly losses that still exist on film, but he’s got a number of uncoachable variables in his corner.
2025 NFL Combine Results
TBD
Positives
- Boasts tremendous density throughout his frame to absorb power rushes
- Possesses top-flight length and reach to maximize his area of influence
- Has experience starting on both sides of the line at left and right tackle
Negatives
- Struggles greatly with fluidity and flexibility — tightness is prominent through the hips and trunk
- Burst out of the blocks is modest and will struggle to hit wide landmarks or reach blocks on the second level
- Has played heavy in the past and was listed at 378 pounds on his first official weigh-in at Rutgers
Background
Pierce is from Trenton, NJ, and played high school football for Trenton Central HS. There, he was a basketball and football player who went unranked through the recruiting process. Pierce continued his playing career at Fork Union Military Academy after finishing his high school career — a stop that helped kickstart a weight loss journey that has put him on track to make it to the NFL.
Pierce was listed on the Fork Union roster from 2019 at 390 pounds but reportedly weighed even heavier. It has been reported that, at his heaviest, Pierce was around 450 pounds.
Pierce did garner an offer from Morgan State after his one-year stop at Fork Union, but he ultimately walked on to Rutgers in 2020. Pierce made his debut as a starter in 2021 with 12 starts at right tackle before posting another 12 starts on the right side in 2022.
He made the transition to left tackle ahead of the 2023 season and started 13 games for the Scarlett Knights. He was named Honorable Mention All-Big Ten for his efforts and experienced his best season in his redshirt senior campaign in 2024 — with 13 starts at left tackle and earning Second Team All-Big Ten honors for his play.
Pierce accepted an invitation to the 2025 East-West Shrine Bowl.
Tale Of The Tape
Pierce is a mammoth of a man playing offensive tackle. He boasts top-tier size and length for the offensive tackle position and, accordingly, will likely be afforded several opportunities to make “the leap” as an NFL talent. He’s a developmental player as he continues to learn to play within his means athletically, but Pierce is a powerful talent who is worth monitoring and rolling the dice with.
Some of the raw power in solo drive blocks and down blocks at the point of attack is comical — he boasts enough raw power to effortlessly displace smaller defenders at end and tackle. As such, teams that run gap schemes will likely be drawn to his ability to reset the line of scrimmage, and teams that look to “establish the run” are likely to give him extra consideration.
His power isn’t always easily accessible, however. When he plays in space, he struggles to play up through the ground thanks to some tightness through his frame and his leverage issues as a tall-framed player. He’s often punching down at pass rushers and must rely on his lower-body strength to expand their rush. He doesn’t play with the kind of punch power that he seems capable of due to leverage at the point of first contact. A number of his pass protection lapses were due to hinging through contact on the arc, too.
Pierce does not possess great foot speed and struggles with vertical pass sets and wide-angled rushers with speed. He has enough length to steepen the arc, but those who have burst and bend will put him on the defensive quickly. Accordingly, he can be quick to bail and flip his hips as a means of riding rushers out past the top of the arc, but some of these reps are premature.
He can be prone to isolating himself against a two-way go. He lacks the redirection quickness and mirror speed to flash back inside against these inside counters. Pierce would benefit from living in short sets and would likely be a player who would benefit from some added outside support against certain matchups on the edge.
When he overcorrects, it usually snowballs for Pierce. His lack of fluidity, short-area agility, and change of direction skills are testy for an offensive tackle in reactive positions in pass protection. He’ll need to focus on how to maximize his prime real estate and trust his technique to neutralize rushers.
In all, this is a skill-specific talent that should be considered a developmental opportunity late in the draft.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Pierce projects as a developmental tackle in a gap, run-focused offensive scheme. His lateral mobility and range on the second level are modest, and he’ll be best served by churning out a reset of the line of scrimmage in the run game.
He should be considered a fringe 53-man roster player who may be worth stashing in hopes of pulling more functional athleticism and foot speed out of his foundational skill set into the future.
Grade: 69.00/100.00, Sixth Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
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