J.B. Shabazz

Physical Profile

Listed anywhere from 6-6/280 at his July 2025 Tennessee commitment to 6-5/333 on his current 247Sports profile, which tells you he added meaningful mass across his senior year rather than that anyone measured him wrong. The 34-inch-plus arm length is the trait that makes him a tackle and not a guard projection — it lets him land first contact on the edge and recover against speed he hasn't yet learned to mirror with his feet. He is a legitimate two-sport athlete, a 6-7/240 power forward who was an interior scorer, rebounder and rim protector for a team that went 16-7, and that basketball background shows up as change-of-direction and body control unusual for a 320-plus-pound frame. The open question is composition: he needs the added weight to be functional lower-half mass rather than carried high, because his current bend problem is partly a leverage-distribution problem.

Play Style

A jumbo left tackle who plays in a two-point stance and wins primarily with length, mass and attitude rather than refined technique. In pass protection he sets with reasonable patience, uses his arms to establish early contact, and shows the foot quickness to adjust and redirect when the initial set is beaten. In the run game he is a displacement blocker — he covers up defenders and moves bodies with sheer size — but plays high and doesn't consistently generate drive from a leveraged base. On film the recurring negative is a torso-first posture: he reaches and leans rather than sitting into the block, which lets quicker defenders work under his pads and turns his own aggression into missed or overextended reps.

Strengths

• Pass protection is his advanced skill, not his projection — he spent his junior year in a two-point stance at left tackle and was graded at his best in pass pro, showing controlled kick-slide footwork and the ability to adjust and redirect while moving backward.
• Elite length for the position (34-plus-inch arms) on a frame pushing 6-6, which gives him a first-contact advantage on the edge and the recovery radius to survive losing the initial rep — the single most transferable trait in his profile.
• Demonstrable finishing temperament and a mean streak, backed by real production: he started at left tackle protecting current UNC quarterback Bryce Baker's blindside on a 13-1 East Forsyth team that reached the NCHSAA 4A fourth round.
• Two-sport athleticism from varsity basketball — hip flexibility, lateral quickness in space and hand-eye coordination that scouts consistently cite as the reason his ceiling outruns his current tape.

Areas to Improve

• Bends at the waist rather than sinking through the knees and ankles. This is the central flaw: it puts a premium on his upper half to win reps, raises his pad level in the run game, and makes him vulnerable to inside counters and long-arm bull rushes he can't anchor against once his hips are above the defender's.
• Lower-body strength and functional mass distribution. He needs a full college strength program to convert his added weight into anchor and drive rather than bulk, and to build the posterior-chain base that makes his kick-slide sustainable against Power Four edge rushers.
• Overreaction and control of his aggression — the same mean streak that finishes blocks causes him to lunge, oversell, and get out over his toes, which is where the waist-bend and the temperament compound each other.
• Rep volume and technical consistency. He transferred into East Forsyth from Oak Grove going into his junior season and split his athletic year with basketball, so he has fewer refined offensive line reps than peers with comparable ratings.

College Projection

The realistic path at North Carolina is a redshirt or near-redshirt first year with a chance to be a depth piece as the 2026 season progresses, joining what was a large offensive line haul in UNC's class. Year one is a strength-and-technique year: teach him to bend, build the anchor, and turn the mass he added as a senior into functional power. He is a swing tackle projection at the Power Four level with starter upside — meaning the tools to compete for a starting job by his third year if the bend gets fixed, and a valuable both-sides backup if it doesn't. Familiarity with quarterback Bryce Baker, whose blindside he protected in high school, is a soft plus but shouldn't be mistaken for an accelerator on the depth chart.

NFL Outlook

Draftable tools, undetermined draft player. The 34-plus-inch arms, near-6-6 frame, room for 330-plus pounds and basketball movement skills constitute a genuine NFL tackle profile — length and athleticism at that size are the traits teams can't coach. But the waist-bend and the underdeveloped lower half are precisely the flaws that push tackles inside to guard or off boards entirely at the next level, and 247Sports' own three-star grade reflects real doubt that the technique catches up. Fair projection: a Day 3 developmental tackle/swing lineman if he becomes a multi-year Power Four starter, with meaningful upside beyond that only if he learns to play through his hips. Too early and too technically raw to project higher with confidence.

Best Fit

A program with a strong, patient offensive line development track and an established strength staff — which is what makes the North Carolina flip a reasonable landing spot, provided he isn't rushed into snaps. Schematically he fits a pass-heavy, primarily two-point/pro-set offense where his kick-slide and length are the featured traits, paired with a gap/power run scheme that lets him displace defenders in a short area rather than a wide-zone system demanding sustained lateral movement and low-pad reach blocks he isn't currently built to execute. He needs an offensive line coach who will rebuild his stance and bend from the ground up and accept a redshirt year to do it.