INDIANAPOLIS — When NFL teams meet with draft prospects at the scouting combine, they'll generally ask those prospects to either detail their favorite plays, or go up on the whiteboard (or the iPad in the modern day) to go through specific plays that matter to the evaluators.
It's a great way to see if a prospect is on the same page with a team — athletically, schematically, and temperamentally.
We at Athlon Sports are not in charge of an NFL team, so we can't get those prospects in a room for 15 minutes at a time to go through their All-22. But what we can do is run around the podiums and tables during media availability session, and ask as many prospects as possible for the plays they'd want to show to NFL teams as the plays that best personify their collegiate efforts, and NFL potential.
So, that's what we did. And we began with five linebackers — Ohio State's Sonny Styles, Oklahoma's Kendal Daniels, Utah's Lander Barton, TCU's Kaleb Elarms-Orr, and Cincinnati's Jake Golday.
Sonny Styles, Ohio State
Styles needs no introduction if you're well into the draft; he's often compared to Fred Warner, the NFL's best linebacker, and most mock drafts have him going in the top 15 at worst. Last season for the Buckeyes, Styles totaled 71 solo tackles, 47 stops, two sacks, 15 pressures, seven tackles for loss, one forced fumble, and in coverage, he allowed 29 catches on 34 targets for 183 yards, 129 yards after the catch, one touchdown, one interception, three pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 86.6.
When I asked Styles for his best college plays, he immediately went back to the 2024 season, and the sack he had of Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers. Note to his eventual NFL team: This is a guy who misses rushing the passer!
"One of my favorite plays from ’24, got a chance to rush the edge against Texas, [and] got a strip sack.” he said. "I would show that play just to show, despite me not rushing the passer this past year, there is some upside there. Obviously with the way our team was this year, that wasn't my role. But just to be able to show there was some upside there."
There certainly was — on just 78 pass-rushing snaps in the 2024 season, Styles had six sacks and 19 pressures.
When I asked Styles for his best play as an off-ball linebacker, he came back to 2025 against the Miami Hurricanes for that one. In the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal, Styles blew up a jet sweep attempt from quarterback Carson Beck to receiver Malachi Toney for a six-yard loss. The Hurricanes love to get Toney out in space in as many ways as possible, and Styles was having none of it.
"I think the key part of being a great linebacker, especially in the NFL, is being able to watch film, being able to anticipate what's coming. And that's what happened for me right there. Saw it in the film room, came to the field, made a good play."
Kendal Daniels, Oklahoma
Like Styles, Daniels is one of the new breed of safety-turned-linebacker guys who can patrol the whole field. In 2025, his first season with the Sooners after three at Oklahoma State, he had 38 solo tackles, 27 stops, 10 tackles for loss, and in coverage, he allowed 21 catches on 31 targets for 139 yards, 92 yards after the catch, one touchdown, no interceptions, two pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 88.0.
In 2025, Daniels was particularly effective with his tackling acumen and demon speed against the Michigan Wolverines. He got a lot of praise for the highlight slam he put on running back Justice Haynes for a five-yard loss with 1:49 left in the first quarter, but the play Daniels preferred happened with 7:24 left in the first quarter, which resulted in a one-yard loss.
"Yeah, I would say the Michigan play. I know everybody thinks the Michigan was the big hit that I had, but the play, the series before that, I had a play, I was at 12 yards [deep]. And I really showed, I mean, it was one of the first plays in my Oklahoma career that I really showed my skill.
"I was supposed to be in the half [field coverage], and I dropped back to 13 yards, and I came up to make a good play on the third down. We had a good corner trigger, so it made it easy for me, and it made my job a lot easier. I was 12 yards deep, and I got the tackle for loss for two.
"Another play would be the Ole Miss play, the one where I [did the] coffeehouse [blitz]. They ran the screen just, that shows film study, just be able to... [Oklahoma head coach Brent] Venables, Coach Venables helped us in a way that I haven't been helped before. And he showed me what type of plays they like to run, and the back flared [out from the formation].
"So I knew it was coming back."
I then asked Daniels to explain the coffeehouse stunt.
"You just stand straight up, and you just look like you're dropping, and then you come back, and you're supposed to blitz. But once I did it, I saw the guard slap [another player's] back, and you don't slap a guy like that back when he's going after your quarterback.
"So, I knew it was something."
Daniels believes that he's entering the NFL at the ideal time for his multiple skill set, and the tape seems to back it up. NFL defensive coordinators want linebackers who can make up for light boxes and help in coverage.
"I feel like it would be perfect in that type of scheme — a lot of teams are moving to that, and be able to play dime and base with the same guys on the field, I feel like that's great. And to be able to do that really helps my case."
Jake Golday, Cincinnati
Golday may be a smaller-school guy, but his knack for making plays as both an off-ball linebacker and as a true pass-rusher has a lot of late first-round talk around his name. In 2025 for the Bearcats, Golday had 70 solo tackles, 43 stops, four sacks, 18 total pressures, four tackles for loss, a forced fumble, and in coverage, he allowed 25 catches on 35 targets for 217 yards, 121 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, no interceptions, three pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 106.5.
When I asked Golday to detail a favorite off-ball play, and another that focused on his abilities in space, he drew both times from Cincinnati's season opener against Nebraska. Golday's team lost, 20-17, but he was all over the place.
"So, we'll just go to Nebraska," he said. "I had, at the end of the game, fourth quarter, I had a good rush when I was on the edge. Went speed-to-power, made a play on the quarterback, [and it] became third and long. We got off the field, gave our offense an opportunity to score.
"And then also earlier in that game, I had another opportunity. I was playing out in space, came down, condensed the formation, got off the block, made a TFL."
If the likes of Ohio State's Arvell Reese is too rich for your blood in a draft capital sense, but you still need a two-level linebacker as a focus of your defense... well, you could do a lot worse than Mr. Golday.
Lander Barton, Utah
The younger brother of Tennessee Titans linebacker Cody Barton, Lander Barton said during his Wednesday media session that he would love to play with his brother in the NFL, but one never knows about that. What one knows about the younger Barton is that he has the skills to be a linebacker in today's league with the required versatility.
In 2025, the four-year Ute had 36 solo tackles, 18 stops, two sacks, 19 pressures, two tackles for loss, and in coverage, he allowed eight catches on 13 targets for 65 yards, 66 yards after the catch, one touchdown, one interception, one pass breakup, and an opponent passer rating of 67.8.
Before Barton got into his favorite play, he made it clear that he's very interested in selling NFL teams on his diverse skill set.
"Looking back to this [past] year, there's definitely a few plays that I thought I really demonstrated my capabilities. And I mean, I've played a variety of positions on defense. So there's multiple games where I thought I kinda showed all that variety in one game, and there's some plays where it's a big third down stop versus quarterback run game where I thought I made a good read, was able to defeat a blocker, and make a good play.
"And I mean, I like to cover, too. I cover a lot of tight ends. That's what was asked of me at Utah. Looking at West Virginia, BYU, ASU, really any big 12 personnel team [two tight ends], that's what I was doing most of the game.
"Just throw on the tape, and I feel like it will speak for itself."
Verily. Barton then said that I should throw on the tape of his tackle of West Virginia quarterback Jaylen Henderson, a fairly estimable runner.
"I would say the play that sticks out to me this year, we're playing West Virginia, maybe the second or third series. There's a big third down right around the 50. So we know that's four-down territory. We know they're a big quarterback run team. So they're gonna run the ball right there. I mean, there's no question about it.
"And they ran a quarterback, we called it lead zone. So the back's leading up [blocking] for [the quarterback]. And I thought I made a good play, kind of tracking the ball and a good strong tackle. And that was one play I was really proud of this year."
Kaleb Elarms-Orr, TCU
Finally, we turn our attention to TCU's Kaleb Elarms-Orr, who had his best season to date in 2025. The 2024 Cal transfer totaled 89 solo tackles, 53 stops, four sacks, 25 pressures, seven tackles for loss, and in coverage, he gave up 25 catches on 35 targets for 237 yards, 188 yards after the catch, one touchdown, no interceptions, two pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 99.3.
Pursuant to his versatility, Elarms-Orr discussed one play in which he showed his stuff, and one game where he basically couldn't be stopped.
"Okay, I would say I had a play versus Houston. It was a 3x1 set. They ran a speed option, and I just blew it up and made a tackle for loss. So I'd probably say that's one of my best ones. It was late in the game, like fourth quarter.
"And then, not a specific play but [against] Arizona State... I mean, I was all over the field. Just sideline to sideline in the blitz game, in the run game. So I'd probably say that whole game.
I also asked Elarms-Orr how he thinks his attributes transfer to the NFL, and what linebackers are required to do these days.
"I think it translates in a lot of ways. I'm smart, I'm fast, I'm physical, athletic... I'm an all-around player. I feel like I can do everything — blitzing, coverage, run game, leadership, I feel like I can do it all."
Tape never lies, and it's always great when you can go through tape with the guys actually making all those plays.