Keenyi Pepe

Physical Profile

Rare frame for the position — 6-7, 330 with the length to win the corner and the mass to anchor, and, critically, he carries the weight like a 280-pounder. Ankle and hip flexibility are the separator: he sinks and redirects without the segmented, upright bending you normally see at this height, and he can climb to the second level and reach defenders in space. IMG head coach Greg Studrawa framed it exactly right — the size and strength are obvious, 'the real wow is his ability to move at that size.' Lincoln Riley echoed it in spring: 'He's not heavy footed, he's smart.' Nothing about the build requires a position change; he is a left tackle body, not a projection-to-guard body.

Play Style

A technician-first corner protector rather than a raw mauler. On film he wins the rep at the point of contact — heavy independent hands, resets them well, and once he's locked on he leans and grinds the defender out of the play. In pass pro he's a patient, posture-controlled protector who mirrors rather than chases; the failures come when he anticipates and reaches instead of letting the rush come to him. In the run game he's a positional, angle-oriented blocker who is at his best on gap and combination schemes where he can climb, and his ability to hit a moving target in space is uncommon at his size. He is not a nasty, snap-to-whistle finisher yet — the dominance comes from leverage and length, not temperament.

Strengths

• Elite pass-protection footwork for a true freshman — smooth, repeatable kick slide with balanced posture and quick reflexes that belie the 6-7 frame; he stays in control and rarely gets stacked on top of himself
• Jarring, heavy hand strike — when he lands first he stuns rushers and effectively ends the rep, and he compounds it with a suffocating lean that wears defenders down over four quarters
• Run-game versatility and range: engages and passes off multiple targets on combination blocks, and has the athleticism to reach and finish at the second level rather than just wall off
• Football intelligence and positional flexibility — worked both left and right tackle in spring and picked up the USC scheme fast enough that his OL coach cited confidence, not comprehension, as the gating factor

Areas to Improve

• Pass sets are still a work in progress against speed — he can get caught lunging and reaching, over-extending past his frame instead of trusting his slide, which is the one path to beating him around the edge
• Consistency and confidence under live speed — spring reps showed the traits flashing rather than translating every snap; the college-speed adjustment is the expected growing pain even for a prospect this refined

College Projection

Immediate-impact tackle, not a developmental redshirt. Early enrollment plus extended spring work with the ones (forced by injuries to Paige and Tauanuu) put him a full year ahead of a typical true freshman. Realistic outcome: swing/rotational tackle as a true freshman with a genuine chance to win the right tackle job outright in fall camp, and the presumptive left tackle from 2027 forward. USC's OL room is deep at tackle (Paige, Tauanuu, Elijah Vaikona, Aaron Dunn, Vlad Dyakonov), which argues for patience, but the talent gap is wide enough that a starting job by midseason would not be a surprise. Three-year college player — 2028 draft-eligible after his true junior season.

NFL Outlook

First-round grade with the ceiling to go top-15. 247Sports' Ivins projected him first round with a Jordan Mailata pro comparison, and the IMG Academy tackle pipeline (JC Latham, Francis Mauigoa, Jordan Seaton) has repeatedly converted this exact profile into premium picks. The traits that get tackles drafted early — length, foot quickness, hand power, and the ability to play both sides — are already present. The variable is whether the pass sets tighten enough that NFL speed rushers can't exploit the lunging; if they do, he is a blindside starter, and if they don't he still profiles as a high-floor right tackle. Long-term value is the consensus read.

Best Fit

A pro-style, tackle-premium offense that asks him to protect on an island in true drop-back sets and uses gap/duo concepts in the run game — which is precisely what he signed into at USC under Lincoln Riley. He does not need a heavy chip/help scheme, and putting him in a pure zone-only run system would waste his hand power and second-level range. The other requirement is a proven offensive line developer: his one flaw (over-extension in the set) is a coaching fix, not a physical limitation, and Zach Hanson's room has already shown it can accelerate his confidence.