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Princely Umanmielen, EDGE, Ole Miss (Senior)

Picture of Rayane M

Rayane M

The 2025 NFL Draft is fast approaching, and despite an initial impression that this year's class might lack talent, The Trick Play team has once again delved into the tapes to bring you scouting reports on the players who will soon wear the jerseys of your favorite franchises.

From Quarterback to Safety, including the trenches where Offensive Linemen and Defensive Linemen engage in a relentless battle, Rayane and Valentin will walk you through the new faces of this 2025 draft class while everyone is excited about the coming NFL Draft


Strengths :

  • Pass rush
  • Pass rush plan
  • Stutter Step

 

Weaknesses :

  • Explosiveness
  • Power
  • Run stop
  • Leverage
  • Reading ability 
  • Coverage abilities
  • Stance
  • Motivation

TTProfil


Princely Umanmielen, a former Florida Gator whom I've had the chance to watch quite a few games from, was already on my scouting list even before he chose, to my delight, to spend an additional year in College Football. The question now is whether this season has ultimately been beneficial for him—let’s dive into that today.
 
To start, we need to talk about the area where Princely excels the most: Pass rush. While he doesn't have an exceptional array of moves, his toolkit is still solid. Princely relies on three moves that he has mastered well: a solid Rip move, an excellent Chop technique that he uses to combine with other techniques to create different sequences, and, since we're talking about combinations, I'd add a very nice Spin move that he integrates perfectly with the rest. This becomes particularly lethal when he decides to use it as a counter move.
 
Watching Princely play, one thing immediately stood out to me: he knows how to set up the use of a technique in advance. He is one of the college players who has understood the importance of a Pass rush plan, and believe me, that's rare enough to be highlighted. This is especially evident in the game against Georgia, where he successfully executed his Spin move several times in the second half after having set it up well by heavily selling his Chop in the first half. So, he would just throw the Chop to get the blocker fully engaged in the block, then directly combine the Chop with his Spin to open the path for the sack or pressure. A pass rush plan that is still developing, but already present—this is a very good sign.
 
We’ll revisit this in just a moment when we look at Umanmielen's weaknesses, but it's clear that he’s not the fastest player in the draft class. To counter this little issue, Princely has developed a solid Stutter Step that allows him to play with his change of pace, and it's really effective. He also has a very nonchalant and hard-to-predict way of moving. By breaking up this slow movement with more erratic rhythm changes, Umanmielen becomes very difficult to read and, therefore, to block.
With that being said, Princely Umanmielen doesn't have anything else in the strength section
 
To continue on what I mentioned in the last strength, Princely, in my opinion, has a significant lack of explosiveness and burst in his game compared to other pass rush specialists. Due to this lack of explosiveness, his takeoff is sometimes sluggish, which doesn't help him keep his matchup in a constant state of stress that could easily lead to mistakes that Princely could then take advantage of.
I was actually surprised to see that many draft experts consider Umanmielen to be quite explosive, especially on his first step, because having watched Princely for two seasons, that’s clearly not what I’ve seen.
We could even go further, as according to the tests conducted during the Combine, Princely does seem to have the potential for good explosiveness (demonstrated by the vertical jump and broad jump tests). However, this doesn't translate onto the field, as Princely is just above average on his 40-yard and 10-yard splits, and he's actually quite poor in the 3-cone drill, which may indicate that his explosiveness doesn't translate into acceleration capability.
 
If this lack of speed can sometimes be accepted in certain power rushers, it's because they often compensate for this flaw with significant power, something that Princely lacks, as he struggles with a slight lack of power. This is especially noticeable when Umanmielen has to defend against run situations. His coaches at Ole Miss quickly realized that Princely's strength was clearly chasing the quarterback, not being an exceptional run stopper. As a result, he was generally preserved in the rotation when it came to run defense.
 
As you can understand, Princely is not going to be the best run stopper in this draft class. His lack of power, both in his upper and lower body, prevents him from effectively battling against double teams or even maintaining enough separation from his blocker to close the gap in one-on-one situations. It's a shame because Princely seems to have long arms and could be much stronger in run defense if he improved his technique.
 
And speaking of technique, despite a good descent on his technique moves in pass rush situations, his leverage capability is just not up to par. Given his level both as a pass rusher and a run stopper, improving his leverage could definitely make a huge difference.
On the run defense side, playing lower could help him fight more effectively, thereby masking some of his lack of strength and power. On the pass rush side, this would allow him to improve an aspect of his game that is already his biggest strength. In other words, improving his leverage could lead to a significant improvement in his game in the short/medium term, and it should therefore be a key focus in his training, in my opinion.
 
Another issue that hinders Princely both in run defense and when he has to drop into zone coverage is his reading ability, which is unfortunately too slow and static. Additionally, despite the slowness and static nature, he still makes too many mistakes. I often emphasize this, but players with good reading skills can really anticipate certain things, making them appear faster than they actually are. A player like Princely would greatly benefit from this, given his lack of acceleration. 
 
Given the previously mentioned points, such as a lack of acceleration, slow and immobile reading skills, and a slight technical deficiency, it won’t be surprising to see a Princely Umanmielen who is far from extraordinary in pass coverage situations.
Once again, it’s quite unfortunate considering the type of player Princely seems to be—a pass rush specialist who is likely to interest defensive coordinators who favor 3-4 fronts and prefer having a true pass rush specialist placed as an OLB far from the box and directly on the edge. In this role, he is sometimes asked to drop into coverage, and given his level in this area, Princely may lose value in the eyes of some teams.
 
Similarly, many teams like to see their pass rush specialists start from a 2-point stance, and what can be said about Princely's stance, if not that it is completely ineffective.
I know that for some of you who have never played or haven't specifically looked into this, the choice of stance can seem unclear, but yes, there are reasons beyond "the player just chooses the stance they want to use." In this particular case, Princely will need to rethink his stance once he gets to the pros because it's just not going to work.
As it stands, in his 2-point stance, Princely is already too high, which means he loses the leverage battle even before the initial contact. His foot base is far too narrow, putting him in an immediate position of imbalance on his first step if the OL comes to engage him — for example, on a running play. And finally — though this is purely subjective and just my opinion — his stance is ugly and doesn’t look like anything. Jokes aside, having a stance like his, which lacks structure, also affects the psychological impression he gives off — that of a non-dominant player. Some players have that aura about them just by getting into their stance. That’s not the case with Princely.
 
Finally, his biggest flaw in my opinion — and I could be totally wrong because of his very nonchalant way of moving — is the question surrounding his overall motivation. As mentioned earlier, I could be completely mistaken, but this thought has been lingering in the back of my mind, and with each additional tape I watched, it became more deeply rooted. You just have to observe his attitude, his body language, and simply his level of involvement depending on the plays or the games.
There’s already a clear difference between Princely in run situations and Princely in passing situations. The gap in effort, activity, and pursuit during the play is striking. But there’s also a huge difference between the plays where Princely makes a big move and the rest of the time. It’s as if he randomly picks a rep during the game or the drive where he decides, “On this one, I’m going all in,” and it shows. On those reps, Princely looks faster, more explosive, more engaged — and therefore, inevitably, more impactful.
While that could be seen as a positive sign for his future development, it could also be viewed as a red flag regarding his overall commitment — and unfortunately, that’s how I see it. I’d rather have a guy who gives 100% effort consistently than a player who clearly has it in him but needs to be pushed just to want to become that version of himself. This is the NFL we’re talking about, and many coaches don’t have time to deal with that.
 
 
 

In the end, Princely Umanmielen holds the keys to his future career in his own hands. While we’re looking at a player who clearly has qualities that could earn him a spot on an NFL roster — even if only as a pass rush specialist — we shouldn’t let stats alone dictate his value.
Princely is not an excellent technician; his decent move set was enough at the college level but could quickly become ineffective in the pros, and his motivation, as I mentioned, leaves me puzzled. His level of play against the run would by default make him a situational player, which would directly limit his playing time, and his age could also slightly hurt his value.

So, if we take stock, it's easy to see Princely as nothing more than a rotational player at best once he reaches the pros — and yet, the potential remains intriguing for one clear reason: his areas for improvement are as clear and straightforward as they come. Everything is already there, and as the saying goes, all that's left is to get to work!
Which brings me back to the first line of this conclusion: Princely holds the cards to his future career. It’ll be up to him to put in the work to become a more complete player, capable of taking on the responsibilities of an NFL starter.

As for me, for all the reasons we've covered in this report, I’m placing Princely Umanmielen in Tier 4 among the Edge prospects. This is my personal opinion, but I wouldn’t consider drafting him before the 3rd round. Taking him any earlier represents a significant risk I’m just not willing to take.

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