FCS Football: Highest-Graded Defensive Players In 2023

We utilized the Pro Football Focus (PFF) database and grading system to look at the top defensive players from across FCS football in the 2023 season.

Each player's PFF grade represents their overall defensive grade for the 2023 season, including postseason games. Only players who played 20% of the minimum number of snaps at each position were included in the rankings below.

*Note: These rankings are based on the PFF grading system and do not represent FCS Football Central's positional rankings for the season. 

Defensive Tackle:

1. Joey Slackman (Penn; 90.3 PFF Grade)
2. Thor Griffith (Harvard; 89.5 PFF Grade)
3. Levi Drake Rodriguez (Texas A&M-Commerce; 89.1 PFF Grade)
4. Caleb Williams (Lamar; 88.8 PFF Grade)
5. Darryn Kindles (Davidson; 85.6 PFF Grade)
6. Carson Primrose (Sacred Heart; 83.7 PFF Grade)
7. Eli Mostaert (North Dakota State; 82.4 PFF Grade)
8. Kyle Philbin (Brown; 82.1 PFF Grade)
9. Sirod Cook (Furman; 81.7 PFF Grade)
10. Siale Suliafu (Lamar; 81.5 PFF Grade)

Defensive End/EDGE:

1. Finn Claypool (Drake; 91.1 PFF Grade)
2. Steven Parker (Incarnate Word; 91.0 PFF Grade)
3. AJ Simon (UAlbany; 90.8 PFF Grade)
4. Anton Juncaj (UAlbany; 90.5 PFF Grade)
T-5. Ckelby Givens (Southern; 90.3 PFF Grade)
T-5. Daniel Rickert (Tennessee Tech; 90.3 PFF Grade)
7. Elijah Ponder (Cal Poly; 89.9 PFF Grade)
8. Charles Looes (Dartmouth; 89.4 PFF Grade)
9. Matt Jaworski (Fordham; 88.2 PFF Grade)
10. Solomon Zubairu (Mercer; 87.5 PFF Grade)

Linebacker:

1. Jacob Dobbs (Holy Cross; 92.1 PFF Grade)
2. Ozzie Nicholas (Princeton; 90.5 PFF Grade)
3. Ben Bogle (Southern Illinois; 90.0 PFF Grade)
4. Shane Hartzell (Villanova; 89.9 PFF Grade)
5. Noah Martin (Samford; 89.6 PFF Grade)
6. Erick Hunter (Morgan State; 87.6 PFF Grade)
7. Braden Gilby (Furman; 87.3 PFF Grade)
T-8. Stephen Scott (ETSU; 87.1 PFF Grade)
T-8. Billy Shaeffer (Lafayette; 87.1 PFF Grade)
10. Micah Davey (McNeese State; 86.8 PFF Grade)

Cornerback:

1. Cedarius Doss (Austin Peay; 90.4 PFF Grade)
2. Isas Waxter (Villanova; 90.1 PFF Grade)
3. Jaidyn Denis (Elon; 90.0 PFF Grade)
4. Jordan Washington (Dartmouth; 88.3 PFF Grade)
5. Jai Roe (Long Island; 88.0 PFF Grade)
6. Ayden Garnes (Duquesne; 87.6 PFF Grade)
7. Robert McDaniel (Alcorn State; 86.8 PFF Grade)
8. Robert Javier (Towson; 86.5 PFF Grade)
9. Tre Richardson (Incarnate Word; 86.2 PFF Grade)
10. Aamir Hall (UAlbany; 86.0 PFF Grade)

Safety:

1. Cole Wisniewski (North Dakota State; 93.0 PFF Grade)
2. Saiku White (Lafayette; 91.4 PFF Grade)
3. Lance Wise Jr. (Mercer; 91.3 PFF Grade)
4. Omar Emmons (Mississippi Valley State; 91.2 PFF Grade)
5. Isaiah Stalbird (South Dakota State; 91.0 PFF Grade)
6. Nick Bafia (Butler; 90.8 PFF Grade)
T-7. Jabril Hayes (Richmond; 90.7 PFF Grade)
T-7. Sheldon Arnold II (ETSU; 90.7 PFF Grade)
9. Tucker Large (South Dakota State; 90.5 PFF Grade)
10. Ian Goodly (Southeastern Louisiana; 88.7 PFF Grade)