Marcus Gilchrist Scouting Report

Marcus Gilchrist spent his first two years at Clemson spending most of his time on special teams and occasionally filling in at cornerback when necessary. Yet, even back then he showed plenty of potential and was coming on strong before the end of the 2008 campaign. That set Gilchrist up for a huge 2009 season when he moved to free safety.

In 2009 Clemson sported a superb secondary that had two players who were drafted in 2010 and another who will likely be drafted in 2011. However, Gilchrist still made a name for himself by tallying 107 tackles and breaking up six passes. Others -- like DeAndre McDaniel who picked off eight passes -- may have gotten more national attention, but Gilchrist still proved to be a very important piece to the Tigers' defense and always seemed to be around the ball and get the job done. The bigger question for Gilchrist was heading into the 2010 campaign when not only did he have to hold down the secondary along with McDaniel, but Gilchrist also had to successfully make the move back to cornerback.

Gilchrist is obviously not making as many tackles as he did when he was at the free safety spot, but he is teaming up with McDaniel quite nicely and doing a relatively good job keeping the secondary productive. Through six games, Gilchrist leads the team with seven pass break-ups and has picked off one pass. He may not be the most athletic or physical corner in this class, but he is an experienced and versatile player who should be a solid third round selection.

3/22 Update: Gilchrist had a superb showing at the NFL Combine and his stock is slowly moving up. His ability to return kicks has separated him from some of the other cornerbacks in this class and that could be enough for Gilchrist to slip into the late second round. If not, he has certainly cemented his status as a third rounder.