'He’s grown into an NFL player,” Yilanan Ouattara on The Verge of Potential Breakout

Nashville–As Clark Lea combed through Wednesday’s practice film to make a cut up of defensive lineman demonstrating block destruction and just kept seeing one of his players getting to the backfield over and over again. 

It’s never been difficult to spot Yilanan Outarra as a result of his 6-foot-7, 311 pound frame that Vanderbilt defensive line coaches Jovan Haye and Larry Black call a “97 million dollar body,” but he’s impossible to avoid when he’s doing what he’s done as Vanderbilt works to be ready for its season opener against Charleston Southern. 

Lea noted that Ouattara had taken a significant step forward throughout the early portion of the 2024 season, but appears to believe that he’s in the midst of another one. This one could fulfill the vision that Lea, Haye and Black had for him when he was recruited as a raw prospect with very little football experience a few summers ago. 

“He’s grown into an NFL player,” Lea said. “This guy is a top-end prospect, he’s got the measurables, he’s got the athleticism. He plays the game the right way. He’s got a process out here and so what I want to see this fall camp is ‘can we take that raw ability and keep refining it?”

Ouattara made a significant step forward from the 2023 season to the 2024 season as he recorded 31 tackles and two sacks a season after recording 11 tackles and just half of a sack. Bigger than all, he was on the field more and improved his technique and conditioning relative to where he was a year ago. 

The Vanderbilt senior admits that when he arrived on West End for the first time, he didn't know what a field storming was and “didn’t really know anything about football.” Perhaps that as well as his gradual growth throughout his four-year career is enough to get him to the place he’s wanted to go since initially committing to become a full-time football player. 

“That’s why I came to the states, that’s why I came to Vanderbilt was to play in the NFL,” Ouattara said. “To me that’s always been the goal.” 

Ouattara began playing football in 2019, just three seasons before his first game at Vanderbilt. He competed in tennis, crew and swimming before ultimately ending up at Vanderbilt. In some ways his ascension is the fastest of any Vanderbilt player. 

It also appears as if it’s nowhere near complete. The Vanderbilt defensive lineman still hasn’t produced at the level that it appears Vanderbilt expects him to this season. He also hasn’t generated the buzz that it appears NFL teams may have surrounding him once his senior season is all said and done. 

“I believe he is absolutely a draftable prospect,” Lea said. “I think he walks into an NFL locker room and looks like the top end of players in NFL locker rooms. I think like anything, he’s continuing to show strength at the point of attack. He’s gonna have a great opportunity to put on film this year another year of really solid and consistent play in the run game and then opportunities to get after the passer and win in pass rush. That becomes the formula.” 

“I think that grows him into an earlier round guy, which he can be.” 

Lea’s prediction will still require a step to be taken in order to come true, though. For as appealing as Ouattara’s size is, he has to become fundamentally sound enough to get on NFL teams’ radar. He’s also got to produce. 

The Germany native certainly did that in Vanderbilt’s final three games of the season–in which he recorded both of his sacks and 11 of his 31 tackles–but he’ll have to make a more consistent impact than he did in 2024. Ouattara looks to ditch performances like he had in the five games in 2024 that saw him record just one tackle.

“Just trying to chase consistency,” Ouattara said of his goal for the fall. “[I want to] let my technique bring me to plays, not being out there trying to chase plays down.” 

If Ouattara does those things, all of his dreams and goals are still ahead of him. But as Lea often does, he’s still cautioning his potential breakout defensive lineman against getting too ahead of himself. 

He’s still got to take it day-by-day in fall camp and focus on making an impact each week in the fall. If Ouattara’s even-keeled temperament is any indication, he likely won’t have any trouble with that. 

“This guy is steady, consistent,” Lea said. “He’s battled the adversity of moving from Germany to here, acclimating to the American game. There just can’t be enough said about who he is, where he’s headed and what he brings.”