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Walter Nolen, IDL, Ole Miss (Junior)

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 :

  • explosiveness
  • Good Takeoff
  • Violent player
  • Has solid moves
  • Dangerous in 1v1
  • Powerful player
  • Impressive cardio
  • Huge potential as a gap shooter

 

Weaknesses :

  • Lower the head too much
  • Violent player
  • Really average at gap control
  • Tweener profil
  • Mediocre separation
  • Often off-balance
  • Average leverage
  • Too late on his moves
  • Counter moves
 

TTProfil

 

Rather productive with Texas A&M for two seasons, it was this year, after joining the Ole Miss Rebels, that Walter Nolen truly revealed himself to the general public. Whether in terms of his statistics or the eye test, Walter managed to shine this season.

If Nolen was able to shine, it’s no coincidence. First, he can rely on impressive explosiveness to make plays. His explosiveness is evident not only in his takeoff but also when he goes in for a tackle. Since we’ve mentioned his burst off the stance, it’s important to point out that Walter’s strong takeoff isn’t just due to his athletic abilities—it’s also because he rarely reacts late to the snap. He is often already well-positioned, focused, and just waiting for the snap to explode forward. This is worth highlighting, as it’s not always the case for every prospect. 

Another key aspect to highlight about Walter Nolen is the raw aggression that radiates from his game. He plays with violence, which is a great trait for players battling in the trenches—especially when paired with intelligence. However, intelligence isn't always something that can be fully assessed through game tape. From what I’ve seen, Walter's aggression is expressed through his football—his technique execution, movements, and physicality against blockers and ball carriers. I haven’t (or at least not too much—we’ll revisit this later) noticed unnecessary dirty plays, but rather a controlled violence that is highly desirable in a Defensive Tackle. Walter seems to understand this well.
 
Beyond his explosiveness and aggression, Nolen also possesses an impressive technical repertoire, which he effectively uses to create chaos at the line of scrimmage and pressure opposing quarterbacks. In the games I’ve watched, Walter has successfully drawn from both the Power Rush arsenal—with moves like Rip, Bull-rush, Push-pull, and Club—as well as the Speed Rush techniques, utilizing Swim moves, Stutter Steps, and some well-executed Chop moves.
Above all, Walter remains a real wrecking ball whose rush style tends much more towards the power rush.
 
The term "wrecking ball" is particularly fitting because, while Walter can be dangerous even when facing a double team, he becomes a true menace to the offense in one-on-one situations. If I see him as a wrecking ball due to the previously mentioned attributes, it’s even more justified by the main factor that allows him to create chaos in the box—his ability to generate immense power against much larger opponents.
This power is evident in both his upper and lower body and appears fairly consistently. However, despite this solid strength, it is not utilized in the most optimal way due to minor technical issues, which we will address in the weaknesses section.

A surprising trait for a Defensive Tackle but still worth highlighting is Walter's excellent endurance. He has great cardio, allowing him to stay on the field for long periods without his level of play declining. This is another strong point in his favor.
 
Finally, the last strength I can highlight about him is his development potential for a team running a 1-Gap defensive scheme, which could be truly significant. Thanks to his skill set, Walter could become an excellent Gap shooter and shine brightly in this type of defense.
He is also extremely useful in the various types of stunts that can be called, thanks to all the points we’ve mentioned. It’s not uncommon to see him completely blow up blocks on the interior of the offensive line or even pancake blockers who have made a technical mistake—very impressive.

 
 
For all the qualities Walter possesses, as you might expect, there are also some weaknesses in his game. The first thing that stands out on this side of the balance is probably the fact that Walter drops his head far too often when playing football. Whether it's when engaging with blockers or making a tackle, this is a recurring issue that will need to be worked on and corrected for two major reasons.
The first reason is his own health. In a league that is increasingly emphasizing player safety, particularly regarding concussions, I hope this message will resonate with Walter. He needs to understand that, no, the best thing for his brain is not to collide headfirst with offensive linemen 80% of the time.
The second reason is simply the risk of penalties if Walter lowers his head too much when tackling. Between the danger of ejections, fines, and the loss of valuable yards, I once again hope that this will push Walter to focus more on his technical work and slightly rein in this aggressive tendency.
 
That provides a perfect transition to briefly address this issue: it will be important to keep an eye on Walter’s aggressive playing style, which, as we’ve just seen, could backfire on him. One play that comes to mind is from the game against Georgia this season, where Walter showed excellent pursuit. However, instead of using his strength to assist in bringing the ball carrier down when he saw his teammates struggling, he opted for a borderline late hit—leading with his helmet straight into the opponent’s back, almost like a "Rocket Man" tackle.
This kind of play could cost him dearly, both in disciplinary terms and for his own health, so it's important to keep this in mind.
One of my all-time favorite defensive tackles is Ndamukong Suh, and he built his entire career on a reputation for being a violent and feared player. While this may have somewhat hurt his legacy in the eyes of the general public, he never put his own physical integrity at risk. This is something Nolen will need to understand.
 
Another area where Walter will really need to improve is his run-stopping ability, particularly his effectiveness in gap control situations. While he excels at creating chaos and performs much better when asked to attack a gap directly (as mentioned in the strengths section), things become significantly more difficult when he has to hold his position and secure his assigned gap while reading the play's development.
In this situation, Walter Nolen is very average, and this poses a real problem for me, given his physical and athletic profile, which would seem to be ideal for a defensive end on a front 30.
In this situation, Walter Nolen is very average, and this poses a real problem for me, given his physical and athletic profile, which would seem to be ideal for a defensive end in a 3-4 defensive front.
 
This brings me to the next point: his "Tweener" physical profile, which doesn't quite match his style of play. For those unfamiliar with the term "Tweener," it refers to a player whose size or traits don't perfectly fit one position but also aren't ideal for another similar position. This places him in between the two roles, though it can also mean he could play both positions in certain situations.
For Walter, for example, this means that he's too heavy and lacks certain qualities to play EDGE, but he's also too light and missing some traits compared to more traditional 3-Tech defensive tackles. To put it bluntly, a Tweener is a player who is "stuck between two chairs."
That being said, if we look at the glass half full for Walter, it also means that in certain situations—like on the Goal Line—he could be placed as an EDGE to strengthen run defense and take advantage of a favorable power matchup against the opposing tackle. Conversely, in clear passing situations, his Tweener profile could work wonders if he were positioned as a 3-Tech or even a 1-Tech, creating a favorable matchup where his speed and explosiveness could challenge powerful but not necessarily agile or technically refined interior offensive linemen.
That's why Nolen's size could be perfect as a front 30 DE, so we can have this point on the side of strengths or weaknesses.
For my part, I chose to place him as a weak point because Walter, despite his profile, is more of a basic DT Tech-3 archetype, given the way he plays and his skillset.
What could be a strength given his hybrid profile has not been worked on and Walter has been left in his comfort zone by his coaches since he was performing well, unfortunately we end up with a lightweight DT Tech-3 that lacks certain fundamentals essential for the position.
 
To begin with, the separation he is able to create is just mediocre, and this is absolutely not a matter of strength or power—quite the opposite. Time and time again on tape, Nolen shows that he is capable of completely destroying blocks with his strength. It’s just a matter of willingness or coaching. Walter constantly attacks his opponent or his gap by charging in and making contact—whether with his head, shoulder, chest, or fists—but he almost never extends his arms to create separation and give himself an opportunity to disengage from the block. This is largely why his gap control abilities are lacking. It’s extremely frustrating.
 
This brings us to another major weakness in his game. Despite having fairly decent footwork, Walter’s tendency to constantly charge into the opposing line often puts him in situations of imbalance. As a result, his power and explosiveness—both of which are clearly present in his lower body—are not fully utilized due to this specific issue.
It’s not uncommon to see him fall because his foot base narrows too much in his eagerness to penetrate the opposing line quickly. Additionally, his failure to extend his arms does nothing to help him maintain balance by leveraging against opposing offensive linemen. This further reinforces the impression that he’s merely a wrecking ball designed to smash through the interior line and create chaos—yet it also prevents Walter from truly elevating his game.
 
The previous point directly affects his leverage, which becomes quite average due to his narrowing foot base. This forces him to stand up immediately to avoid falling, even though he often initiates contact lower than his opponents.
It's a pity not to take advantage of this good basic leverage because of too much haste.
 
Finally, to close this weak points section, I think Walter Nolen still has room for improvement in his pass rush skills, notably because despite a rather good palette for a DT, Walter takes a long time to pass his technique, and that's when he decides to pass one.
Similarly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Nolen use a counter move. In the vast majority of his reps, he simply sticks indefinitely to the move he initially chose. If he gets blocked by the offensive lineman, he just keeps fighting for several seconds, trying to break through with sheer force—which, I assure you, rarely works in those situations.
It's a real shame, especially when you consider his number of sacks over the year. If he improves in this area, he could quickly become extremely dangerous in passing situations.
 
 

To conclude on Walter Nolen, we have a player with a lot of talent but one who will require significant development to even scratch the surface of his potential. This makes his draft selection a real risk, in my opinion—especially when considering his physical profile and player archetype, which don’t necessarily align perfectly. As a result, he’ll need to be used intelligently within a defensive system to maximize his impact.

Walter still has significant room for improvement despite already having a solid floor. However, what worked well for him in college football may not be as effective in the pros, where opponents are just as strong and powerful but often far more technical and cunning than what he faced in the CFB.
Nolen will have a significant amount of technical work to do to remain dominant in a 4-3 front, but just as much to avoid being overwhelmed in the run game if a team drafts him to play as a defensive end in a 3-4 scheme.

In either case, Nolen will need to develop his technique to establish himself as an undisputed starter and consistently dominate his matchups. The good news is that he's still young and appears eager to improve. I rank him just below my top tier—Tier 2—projecting him as an early-to-mid second-round pick. If he gets selected in the first round, it could make sense, but expectations should be managed carefully, and he’ll need to be placed in the right system to maximize his potential.

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