Q1 Stock-Risers: Defensive Linemen on the Rise

With the season concluded, we've updated our rankings. We didn't do a complete overhaul of the 2025 rankings, but there are still several players that made big moves. These guys have huge upside and finished their senior year with positive momentum. Here, we're focusing on the big guys, looking at the defensive linemen who impressed.   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Breaking Down the 2025 Defensive Line Stock-Risers</h2>    Hill is an old-school run-stuffer and he plays that role well. He was often double-teamed, and yet he still made 43 tackles this season. Grimsley's linebackers are undersized, but roamed freely all season because Hill was eating up blocks and stopping interior linemen from climbing to the next level. That inhibited opposing rushing attacks and changed gameplans. Whichever team gets Hill will benefit pretty quickly.     Webster has a first-step quickness that you just don't often see from interior defensive linemen. That helps him both shoot gaps and blow offensive linemen off the ball. Webster was productive as both a run stopper and a pass rusher and his upside is as high as any defensive lineman in the class. He has room to add some weight and expand his pass-rushing arsenal.     Owolabi was new to the North Carolina area in 2025 and did not disappoint, having a great year as a senior. A smart player, he can both one-gap and two-gap and that intelligence extends beyond the gridiron to the classroom. He's a Dartmouth commit and has great leadership qualities. I was told when he transferred in that he'd be good and that turned out to be accurate, so we're bumping him up as we didn't initially rank him high enough.     Farmer has room to add weight to his frame at the next level, but he's been productive at the high school level. He's at his best as a two-gapping 3-technique, but he's flashed as a pass rusher as well. That's probably the place he could improve the most as his athleticism and strength suggest that's a part of his game that can get even better. Right now, he's a really good player with the upside to be great.     Sullivan has a great combination of size and speed and thought he raw pass-rushing numbers dipped as a senior, he's a dangerous threat to quarterbacks. He missed a couple of games, but still had three sacks and pressured quarterbacks when he was healthy. He's great at chasing down plays from the back side and has a relentless motor.

With the season concluded, we've updated our rankings. We didn't do a complete overhaul of the 2025 rankings, but there are still several players that made big moves. These guys have huge upside and finished their senior year with positive momentum. Here, we're focusing on the big guys, looking at the defensive linemen who impressed.