The Measurables

Dion Novil

DT – #91 North Texas

HT: 6006
WT: 308
WING:
ARM: 3318
HAND: 938
DOB: 11/30/????

Year: Redshirt Junior
High School: Wylie (Bilene, TX)
HS Rating: 2 star (0.7803)
Phil Steele: PS#434

Dion Novil Scouting Report

Not very fast, even for his position group. Speed is below average. Very limited athlete. Offers very little lateral quickness ability. Huge upper body. Very stout. Lower body is built, but struggles in run defending at times with surrendering ground. Looks like he should be a brute, but more average with his power. Better than average first step. Comes off the line with some intensity. Average explosion.

Very stiff athlete. Still does an excellent job splitting double teams. Very difficult to contain. Comes close to winning a lot in double teams, but doesn’t often. Good hand usage. Has a powerful swim move. Very decent tackling ability. Big body helps him tremendously. Could wrap up and hold on a little bit better. Crashes off the line well. Motor isn’t great. Will give up on plays he still has a chance in. Very consistent as a pass rusher. Has maintained that throughout his career.

What we want to see from Dion Novil in Orlando

• Dion Novil just has to come into Orlando and meet expectations. We’d like to see Neil dominate against the offensive linemen that come to play the game. His interior presence and gap skills are exemplary and we’d like to see him play his way into a later bowl game performance. That should be the expectation.

Pre-Hula Bowl projection

Dion Novil can fit in either a 3-4 front as a nose tackle or in a 4-3 front as a 3-tech. We’d feel like he can better fit in a 4-3 front where he can command double teams to effectively contain him. As a result, Novil best fits as a rotational gap defender that can hopefully develop into an effective high snap count player.

We like Novil as a fifth/seventh-round prospect. While we’re concerned about snap counts, it’s only because of the up in competition that we believe he may struggle with. Novil played the overwhelming majority of snaps at North Texas. We think teams will see the upside he presents and take the risk.