Sophomore Spotlight: Scouting top 2027 defensive backs
It’s never too early to begin looking at the next stars of college football, so welcome to the Sophomore Spotlight. Each week Rivals national data analyst Austin Cochran has highlighted a number of prospects from each position who made our initial 2027 Rivals250.
We conclude the series this week by looking at defensive backs.
Player comp: Jaire Alexander
Dopson’s film is clinical. He has excellent technique and good athleticism to always keep his man blanketed. He has a lightning-quick break out of his backpedal and comes downhill hard and fast to make plays on quick hit plays and runs.
The four-star prospect has very smooth and quick hips to flip and run on deep balls and stay in phase on in and out breaking routes. He is also great against the run.
Dopson put together a very impressive season and has picked up offers from Miami and Nebraska in the past month. He also has offers from Colorado and Florida State among others.
Player comp: Sauce Gardner
Finney has all the tools you want in a cornerback. He has great size, length and athleticism, not to mention he’s a dynamic returner as well. The four-star prospect is elite in man coverage. He has great speed and reactive athleticism to stay in the receivers pocket. Finney is a very smart player who sees the field very well and does a good job in zone coverage. He had a great season this season with four interceptions and he led his team in PBUs with 16. The next step in his development will be to turn some of those PBU’s into more interceptions as he continues to develop and get better with his technique.
With 17 total offers so far, Finney has drawn lots of interest from, seemingly, all the big dogs including Georgia, USC and LSU. He also took a visit to LSU a couple of weeks ago to watch the Tigers play Alabama.
Player comp: Jabrill Peppers
Handler is an extremely gifted athlete who excels at both sides of the ball. He is second on his team in receiving touchdowns with eight, and third on his team in tackles with 44 to go along with 5 TFLs. He plays everywhere on defense: safety, corner, slot and in the box. Hadnely has great cover skills and does a great job shadowing the receiver to stay locked to him. He has very long arms and uses his length well.
With 20 total offers from programs like Alabama, Florida and Ohio State, Handler is the kind of athlete that you just get on campus at all cost and then you figure out where to play him later.
Player comp: Derwin James Jr.
Snell is a big-bodied athlete who loves to play downhill. He has a quick trigger and comes downhill extremely hard and fast and hits like he’s a semi truck, causing more than a few fumbles. He also has good range on the back end to cover a lot of the field in zone and covering the deep ball. The four-star prospect has solid speed and good reactive athleticism to stay in phase on receivers when in man coverage as well.
Snell has offers from programs like SMU, Texas and Auburn. He also visited SMU earlier this season for its game against TCU.
Player comp: L’Jarius Sneed
Williams is a long, athletic, physical cornerback who is a lot of fun to watch. He does a great job in man coverage, particularly in press where he loves to play very aggressively. He uses his length very well to disrupt the receiver and stay in the pocket. The four-star prospect has very good read and react ability to be able to mirror the receiver as well as come downhill and make a play in the run game. As he continues to improve in his technique, he will only get better and become more of a playmaker.
Williams has offers Alabama, Georgia and USC, among others.
