Kirk Herbstreit Reveals ‘His Guy’ In The 2025 NFL Draft

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By J.C. Shelton | Last updated Mar 4, 2025 7:34 PM ET

With the 2025 NFL Draft around the corner, longtime college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit raved about "his guy" among the top prospects.

The top players in the class took a big step in the pre-draft process by going through measurements, interviews and performing in on-field drills last week at the combine in Indianapolis

Herbstreit's pick happens to be one of the top performers from that event in Texas defensive back Jahdae Barron.

“I think Jahdae Barron,” he said on "The Pat McAfee Show" on Tuesday. “That’d be my guy. Yeah, I saw he ran well. He worked out, which is fun to see — some of these guys opt-out for obvious reasons. This guy decided to go out and compete. I covered this guy a lot, probably called over 11 or 12 of his games and I love to see the guy.”

Barron (5-foot-11, 194 pounds) impressed with a 4.39 40-yard dash while adding a 35″ vertical jump and 10′ 3″ broad jump at the combine.

The Austin, Texas, native previously helped lead a Longhorns defense that finished eighth in the country in passing defense and third nationally in both scoring defense and total defense.

According to Herbstreit, Barron's versatility is a welcoming skillset in regards to his potential to succeed at the NFL level.

“And you understand this better than anybody, one year where he’s out there playing that slot,” he said. “And playing it as well as anybody. When you say that to people who are fans, when you play the slot, it’s not just, okay he’s on the inside. He’s in run support, he’s blitzing, he’s playing space, he’s playing man. The versatility is off the charts with him. Then, the next year he comes back and he’s on the outside. You can explain in layman’s terms how hard that is at the elite college football and NFL level to have the skillset to play both in and out, but he did flawlessly.”

As a fifth-year senior, Barron recorded 67 tackles (3 for loss) with a sack, five interceptions and 11 pass breakups. He earned First-Team All-America honors and took home the Jim Thorpe Award as the best defensive back in the country.

Texas made the SEC Championship Game and finished one game shy of playing for a national championship.

“He’s got some great intangibles, great leader, captain," Herbstreit said. "So, not only the numbers are gonna jump out. But he’s played in a lot of big games at the highest level and, like I said the versatility is what makes me think he’s really got a shot to step in year one in the NFL and be turnkey.”

According to Athlon Sports' latest mock draft from Luke Easterling, Barron is projected to land to the Green Bay Packers with the No. 23 overall pick in the first-round.

The 2025 NFL Draft will take place in Green Bay, Wisconsin, from April 24-26.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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