Mason McCormick NFL Draft 2024: Scouting Report for Pittsburgh Steelers IOL

HEIGHT: 6'4"

Weight: 310

HAND: 9⅝"

ARM: 33¾"

WINGSPAN: 82⅜"

40-YARD DASH:

3-CONE:

SHUTTLE:

VERTICAL:

BROAD:

POSITIVES

— Thick through his chest and core with good arm length.

— Has solid square power and grip strength to quickly dissipate force, latch and hold the point against defenders attempting to work through him.

— Does his best work on the mover as a puller where he can deliver jolt to create immediate displacement on smaller targets.

— Clear eyes to recognize and sort basic line games and stunts.

— Plays with a physical, aggressive mentality to finish through the echo of the whistle.

NEGATIVES

— Upright playing style with rigid, disjointed redirect skills leave him high and easily manipulated out of position in space.

— Struggles to keep defenders centered and controlled late in the rep.

2023 STATISTICS

— 15 starts at left guard

— Team captain

— AP FCS All-American first-team selection

NOTES

— Born May 25, 2000

— 0-star recruit from the 2018 class, per 247Sports

— Competed in track and field, placing second in the discus and fifth in the shot put at Class AA state meet as a senior in South Dakota

— 57 consecutive career starts at left guard

— 2022 and 2023 AP FCS All-American first-team selection

— Three-time team captain (2021, 2022, 2023)

— Accepted invite to the Shrine Bowl

— Training for the combine under Duke Manyweather in Frisco, Texas

OVERALL

Mason McCormick is a four-year starter inside South Dakota State's run-heavy (61 run-pass split), multiple run scheme centered around A-gap power, G-lead and zone runs. McCormick is thick through his chest and core with good arm length and solid athletic ability.

McCormick has a thick build with good length and solid square power that he uses to hold the point on angle-drive blocks and deliver immediate displacement on smaller targets as a puller. He finishes through the echo of the whistle, looking to bury his opponent whenever possible. While he has impact blocks as a puller, his upright playing style and lower-half stiffness make it a chore for him to stay attached and sustain against shifty, elusive defenders, which results in his falling off too many blocks clean.

In pass protection, McCormick excels using jump sets where he can establish first meaningful contact, get rushers squared up and tie them up. He is also proficient at handling basic line games and stunts. He will struggle redirecting and mirroring wider rush alignments, has very little exposure to quality interior rushers and is coming from a run-heavy system.

Overall, McCormick's size, length, square power and demeanor can help him stick in the NFL as a backup in a conservative, downhill, gap-based run scheme. But his middling sustain skills cap his ceiling as a depth interior piece.

GRADE: 6.0 (High-Level Developmental Prospect — 5th Round)

OVERALL RANK: 165

POSITION RANK: IOL25

PRO COMPARISON: Drew Forbes

Written by B/R NFL Scout Brandon Thorn

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