DALLAS — Missouri Tigers defensive back and North Texas native Ennis Rakestraw Jr. was selected No. 61 overall in the second round by the Detroit Lions in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Rakestraw Jr. was among the top rated defensive backs in the 2024 class, with draft experts praising his toughness.
"Rakestraw plays the game with good physicality and a competitive tilt that defensive back coaches will enjoy. He’s strong but not as big or fast as teams usually like when picking within the first three rounds of the draft," NFL.com analyst Lance Zierlein said. "However, he’s hard-nosed in press and has the body control and anticipation to play a sticky brand of man coverage over the first two levels. He’s quicker than fast and does a nice job of breaking quickly on throws in front of him with well-timed challenges to knock the ball free. He intercepted only one pass during his college career, which could be a concern, but his willingness and toughness in run support work in his favor. Rakestraw could become a good backup with eventual starter potential in the right scheme."
Who is Ennis Rakestraw Jr.? Where is he from?
Rakestraw Jr. spent our seasons at the University of Missouri and came to the Tigers as a three-star recruit from Duncanville High School in Dallas, Texas.
Rakestraw Jr. helped Duncanville reach back-to-back state championship game appearances, winning one of those two matchups against Southlake Carroll in 2019. As a freshman, Rakestraw Jr. started all 10 games at cornerback, amassing 24 tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss, one sack and a team-best six passes broken up. He missed a majority of his sophomore season and reshirted due to a season-ending ACL injury, but returned to start all 13 games at cornerback in his redshirt sophomore season.
In 2023, his redshirt junior year, Rakestraw Jr. appeared in nine games and started eight. He logged 35 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, and four pass breakups.
Rakestraw Jr. says the "chip on his shoulder" was something engrained in him from birth. He was born pre-maturely by a couple months, and his mother had to spend days in the hospital. He's been told he's "too little" his entire life.
"In Pop Warner, my mom used to have problems with my coaches because they didn't want to play me," Rakestraw Jr. said. "They said 'he's too small to be on the field,' 'he's going to get injured.' They didn't know how my heart was."
Ennis Rakestraw Jr. NFL Draft profile
- Highly competitive with quality toughness at the position.
- Rough ride for receivers when he’s jamming them from press.
- Excellent body control allows him to stay in phase against comeback routes.
- Drives hard to the throw from off coverages and runs through targets.
- Uses well-timed punches and slaps to disrupt the catch try.
- Salty in run support with willingness to wrap and lift ball-carriers.
- Handsy play that will be flagged in the NFL.
- Won’t often get head turned to find the football on deep throws.
- Displayed some confusion from zone coverages in 2022.
- Recovery speed comes into question at times.
- Tore his ACL in 2021 and missed multiple games in 2023 due to groin injury.
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