Jaycee Horn, a cornerback out of South Carolina, has seen his draft stock rise significantly after his pro day. He successfully showed off his physical tools, and he impressed scouts in almost every single drill he did. Although the pro day numbers may be boosted slightly, scouts were still impressed and he has turned into a first-round cornerback on most draft boards. Horn’s pro day doesn’t tell the whole story though, as he showed skill in several areas such as his ability to cover the deep ball, his instincts and technique, and his ability to knock receivers off their routes from the press. His skillset is strongly catered towards the NFL, which has many scouts excited. Even with all his potential, Horn is not a perfect player by any means, as he has a tendency to get sloppy occasionally, causing unnecessary contact. Horn also can get handsy which led to him being flagged multiple times while he was in college.

Jaycee Horn Stats And Measurables:

College: South Carolina

Position: Cornerback

Number: 1

Height: 6’1″

Weight: 205 lbs

2018 Stats: 11 Games/45 TOTAL/30 SOLO/2 SACK/8 PD

2019 Stats: 12 Games/40 TOTAL/29 SOLO/1 SACK/2 FF/9 PD

2020 Stats: 7 Games/16 TOTAL/10 SOLO/2 INT/6 PD

Strengths:

1. Horn’s coverage ability on deep throws is almost unmatched by any cornerback prospect in this draft class. He shows great awareness and can identify the route extremely quickly allowing him to turn back to the quarterback or to the ball so he can make a play. He usually turns his head around at the right time which lets him read the quarterback without sacrificing his positioning to the receiver. He is very controlled while doing this, which is very important as losing control could cause the corner to lose the receiver, making him wide open. South Carolina’s scheme included a lot of cover one man coverage (one high safety), and Horn excelled without allowing many deep passes.

2. He also possesses extremely good instincts, and his coverage technique is praised highly by coaches and scouts alike. He rarely incorrectly identifies a route and almost never makes a wrong read in zone coverage. He is very fundamentally sound which is a huge part of his game as he is not broken down easily by opposing receivers. This is a very important skill at the next level as receivers only get more adept at manipulating cornerbacks into a bad position.

3. Horn is a very physical player as well, which allows him to knock receivers off of their routes on the press often, and also generates a lot of pass breakups. He frustrates receivers with his technique on the press, which delays their timing and disrupts the play. Horn was able to break up a lot of jump balls as well with his ability to knock the ball out of a receiver’s hands. Horn makes it extremely difficult for receivers to secure the ball when they are able to catch it, which he does by tirelessly swatting and punching at the ball which jars it loose most of the time.

Weaknesses:

1. While Horn’s technique is very solid, he struggles at recovering when put out of position whether it be off the press or during a route. When his press is broken he struggles to recover and usually fails to catch up to the receiver before they are ready to make a catch, which occasionally lets up lots of yardage. On the rare instance he is caught off guard on a route, he is usually unable to continue smoothly, which causes him to be sloppy drawing lots of flags. Once he is beat, he usually tries to pull on the receiver’s jersey to try to catch back up, which results in a penalty almost every time.

2. Horn also struggles when trying to break on the ball. The rare time the ball is thrown his way Horn sometimes becomes grabby which also draws a lot of penalties. He sometimes is caught grabbing on a receiver’s jersey to try to get to the ball. When receivers make their cuts on a route if Horn is out of position he can also become a bit handsy and grabs on the receiver for leverage. He paid the price for most of these mistakes in the form of penalties, which hurt the South Carolina defense a lot in some cases.

Closing Ideas:

Regardless of where he is selected, Jaycee Horn has the potential to be one of the better cornerbacks to come out of this draft class. His size and physical attributes combined with the skillset he showed at South Carolina has most scouts regarding him as a top-tier cornerback in this class. While he does have his flaws, they are not unfixable and are mainly bad habits albeit ones that are frowned upon by teams. His overall tools give him the framework of an elite corner that has the potential to be a real star in this league.