NFL Draft
2/13/25
6 min read
Jacob Parrish 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Kansas State Wildcats CB
Height: 5097 (verified)
Weight: 196lbs (verified)
Year: Junior
Pro Comparison: Byron Murphy
Scouting Overview
Kansas State Wildcats cornerback Jacob Parrish projects as a starting cornerback with some scheme versatility at the NFL level. He’s a highly proficient man corner with an effective punch and transitional quickness to play in press.
He’s built compact but still offers passable length to play on the perimeter as a hands-on cornerback. Yet, his frame offers a center of gravity that allows for sudden deceleration and transitions when playing isolated in space or overtop of routes. Parrish plays the game with an edge and physicality that you’d typically expect from a bigger corner and boasts an effective appetite for supporting the run, as well.
2025 NFL Combine Results
| Position | Name | School | 40-Yard Dash | 10-Yard Split | Broad Jump | Vertical Jump | 3-Cone Drill | 20-Yard Shuttle | Bench Press |
| CB | Jacob Parrish | Kansas State | 4.35 | 1.51 | 129 | 37.5 | 12 |
Positives
- Combative press-man corner who is well adjusted to playing on an island against receivers when tight to the line of scrimmage
- Angles out of the break often put him in a position to undercut throws that break in or outside
- Very likable tackler who cut his missed tackle rate in half in 2024
Negatives
- Lacks truly elite stature and length, which can show up in the margins when defending the catch point
- Modest ball production in 2024 and failed to convert multiple interception opportunities
- Aggressiveness at the top of the route can get the better of him on whips & double moves
Background
Parrish is from Olathe, KS, and played high school football for Olathe North HS. There, he was a multi-position weapon who played running back, wide receiver, and defensive back while also participating in basketball and track & field (10.47s 100m personal best). Parrish was ranked as a 3-star athlete who collected offers from FCS powerhouses North Dakota State and South Dakota State, plus service academy programs like Army and Air Force. He ultimately committed to Kansas State and quickly found the field.
Parrish played in 14 games as a true freshman in 2022, split between special teams and as a defender. Entering his sophomore season, he assumed a full-time starting role with the Wildcats and started every game until the end of the regular season of his junior year in 2024. Parrish was named Honorable Mention All-Big 12 in both 2023 and 2024.
Parrish, as an underclassman, accepted an invitation to participate in the 2025 Reese’s Senior Bowl.
Tale Of The Tape
Parrish is a scheme-diverse talent with a strong profile to play in either man or zone-heavy schemes at the NFL level. His exposures to high-difficulty and isolated assignments bode well for a transition to the pros — Parrish played more reps in Cover 1 man than any other coverage in 2024. His frequent play in press has honed and developed a skill set that should transition and allow him to disrupt the timing of opposing offenses and receivers in their releases.
Parrish, as a man coverage defender, is physical with his press technique and capable of completely smothering route releases vs. stale athletes at the line of scrimmage. Thanks to his compact frame, he boasts a lot of punch power to offset an initial burst off the line.
When flipping and carrying routes within the contact window, Parrish shows strong pressure and displacement ability to re-route the stem and further disrupt the landmark timing of breaks. Parrish possesses smooth hips and the ability to quickly gather in off-man when playing soft coverage and leveraged overtop of the break. There are times when he looks to trigger and explode across the face of the break, and he can be baited into a double move or whip/return. These reps force him into recovery and test the fringes of his tackle radius if the ball is targeted promptly off the pivot.
On the body of receivers, Parrish is fairly disciplined in staying well positioned on the inside shoulder. He isn’t often caught too far on the upfield half and protects himself well to leverage the boundary as an extra defender to further squeeze the catch point.
Parrish could see more ball production and generate more turnovers if he was more consistent with flipping his eyes back to the quarterback and locating the ball in flight. As is, he’s much more likely to find a pass defensed by playing leveraged overtop of the route break and trusting the burst in his feet and initial acceleration to run through the catch point and undercut a pass.
He’s done this on a number of occasions, and it also illustrates the awareness of keying the quarterback in shallow zones as a clouded flat or hook defender, sinking into intermediate throwing lanes to break up passes.
Parrish has the plant-and-trigger ability to play in zones underneath, and he’s also been charged with inverting as a motion check to rotate high and play in the deep post. He offers nickel versatility thanks to his physicality and processing. There’s no shortage of ways this player can be maximized in a coverage scheme, and Parrish is potentially a matchup player in man-to-man coverage roles as well.
Parrish plays well from a side saddle technique when asked to invert to a deep half or play a deep third coverage while stemming his coverage from a pre-snap press look.
As a run defender, it is easy to love the appetite for contact. He’s a physical run insert player and when playing to the run strength or fitting as motion away puts him as a D-gap defender. Parrish is unafraid of contact and even triggered in the hole to make a competitive tackle challenge on Cam Skattebo in a short-yardage situation for minimal gain. He is combative and offers enough length to punch and jolt receivers who are attempting to seal him on the perimeter. He is swift enough to step up and square along the perimeter.
In all, Parrish has the ability to be an impact NFL starter. He’s already groomed for the high-stress life of playing in a pressure scheme, and he boasts the play demeanor of a quality starter who can check most of the boxes. He misses NFL prototype measurements, which may hurt him in the eyes of some as a perimeter player, and his overaggressiveness and lack of consistent ball identification loom as areas of growth. But on the whole, this is one of the best cornerbacks eligible for the 2025 NFL Draft.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Parrish projects as a man-coverage scheme cornerback at the NFL level. His stature may project him more favorably to play inside in the nickel — and his run-defense demeanor and tackling would support the role.
However, his press technique, length, foot speed, and transitional ability would be hard to turn down in a role on the perimeter. Parrish should be expected to compete for a starting role quickly upon entry to the NFL.
Grade: 79.00/100.00, Second Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
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