Despite being labeled ''too small,'' Indiana cornerback D'Angelo Ponds has had a brilliant three-year college career. He was a big part of the Hoosiers' national championship season in 2025 and now will get drafted in a few weeks. How high will he go? He's been rocketing up several draft boards.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — College football coaches recruit the heck out of South Florida, because the Miami area high school football programs produce dozens of Division I prospects every year.
But when D'Angelo Ponds was coming out of Miami Chaminade Madonna High School, he was deemed too small to play big-time football. He was just 5-foot-9 and barely over 150 pounds. So he went off to James Madison University in Lynchburg, Va. to play for Curt Cignetti, intent on proving everyone wrong.
According to the 247Sports recruiting composite, he was the 142nd-ranked cornerback in the country
But all he did as a freshman was earn Freshman All-American honors and was among the leaders in pass break-ups. Proved them wrong, for sure.
Ponds came along with Cignetti when he came to Indiana in 2024, and critics said the same thing. At 5-9 and 165 pounds as an IU sophomore, the fear was that he was too small to cover Big Ten receivers.
He proved everyone wrong again. He helped lead Indiana to an 11-1 record, something that had never been done in school history. He was the best corner in the Big Ten, and in the top-10 nationally according to Pro Football Focus.
And in his junior year, he was part of a 16-0 Indiana team that won the most unlikely of national championships. He shut down one All-American receiver after another — including Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith, a former high school teammate in Miami had a pick-six on the first play of the national semifinal and celebrated like crazy when the Hoosiers won the national title on Jan. 19 in Miami, beating the hometown Hurricanes who had no interest in recruiting him three years earlier.
Ponds opted to turn pro, and the first thing that jumps out to scouts is that he's still. too small.
No way you can draft him in the first round, they say. Too small. Second round? A push. Skills don't translate to the league?
Come on.
Be forewarned, NFL teams. If you're passing on D'Angelo Ponds because he's too small, ignore him at your own risk. He's 5-foot-9 and 173 pounds now, but it's just a small part — no pun intended — of the story.
He ran a 4.31 40-yard dash at pro day in Bloomington on Wednesday, and he had scouts perked up.
He also had a 43.5-inch vertical leap at the NFL combine, which was off the charts. And he also has a physical style of play, no matter who he's guarding. He's the best cover corner in the draft.
That 40-time and vertical are the ''numbers'' that matter more than 5-9 and 173. Because he can run with anyone and go up with anyone. You worried about him covering a 6-foot-2 receiver with a 33-inch vertical? You high point a pass to him and Ponds is going to go up and get it — first.
He also has a great feel for the game. He studies like crazy, is never out of position and has great ball instincts. We saw that in the Oregon game in the semifinals. when he picked off Dante Moore on the first play of the game, and took it to the house. It was the start of a 56-22 blowout. He's also a great tackler in open space.
In other words, he does everything right, despite only being 5-foot-9 and 173 pounds.
ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. has Ponds as his seventh-best corner on his 2026 NFL Draft big board. A lot of that is based on size, too. He thinks he's more of a nickel than an outside cornerback, which is something that could affect how high he goes.
I'm not seeing six corners better than Ponds.
Ponds enjoyed showing off on Wednesday with more than 100 NFL scouts and executives inside the John Mellencamp Pavilion in Bloomington. It was a good day, because his unofficial 4.31-second 40-yard dash time would be tied for the fifth-fastest among all NFL Combine participants, and the best among all cornerbacks.
The best.
"I feel like a lot of people didn't expect me to run that time," Ponds told reporters on Wednesday. "So I'm just glad I put it out there on tape. I was clocking in 4.28 (seconds) in training, so I'll get the official time. But yeah, I'm happy with that (time).
"I performed well, what I expected. I'm just happy to be with my guys, honestly."
Several NFL teams have urgent needs at cornerback, including the Los Angeles Chargers, Dallas Cowboys, Tqmpa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders, Minnesota Vikings, Miami Dolphins, Houston Texans, New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers.
Even the Las Vegas Raiders — who will like pick Ponds' Indiana teammate, quarterback Fernando Mendoza, with the first overall pick — could use some corner help. Wouldn't that be something, if Mendoza and Ponds wound up on the same team?
The NFL draft starts on April 23 in Pittsburgh. The first round is that night, with the second and third rounds on Friday, April 24 and rounds four through seven on April 25.
The team that calls Ponds' name is in for something special. And those teams that pass? They just might regret that for a long time.