Background

Domonique "Big Citrus" Orange grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, and attended North Kansas City High School, where he earned two-time All-State and three-time All-District honors. Already 300 pounds as a ninth-grader, his weight ballooned to roughly 400 during the COVID-19 pandemic, causing major programs to cool their interest, though his high school coach, Leon Douglas, maintained Orange had the agility of a basketball player. His brother played defensive end at Arkansas Baptist College and Missouri Western. He committed to Iowa State on December 14, 2021, over Ohio State, Georgia, Texas, Oregon, and Florida State. He arrived in Ames around 350 pounds and could only handle 15 to 20 snaps per game as a freshman before a complete dietary overhaul brought him down to 325 pounds by his junior year. Bruce Feldman named him No. 25 on The Athletic's Freaks List heading into 2025, citing a 450-pound bench press, 650-pound squat, 365-pound power clean, and 34-inch vertical. He played in all 50 games across four seasons, starting 24, anchored Iowa State's interior during its 2024 Big 12 Championship appearance and Pop-Tarts Bowl victory. He finished with 66 career tackles and 7.0 TFL, earned All-Big 12 Third Team and Phil Steele Fourth-Team All-American in 2025, made the Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll four times while majoring in criminal justice before declaring for the 2026 NFL Draft.

Physical Attributes

Big Citrus suffered a quad injury leading up to the combine, and could not take part in Iowa State's pro day either. Rumors suggest he did a private workout for the Chiefs on April 7th, but no public data is available from that. He is a large man, standing 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighing 322 pounds. For his size, he moves with surprising lateral quickness, though anything beyond his second step is quite slow. He has a great base that anchors him well in the run game, and a powerful upper body that moves blockers off of him easily.

Data and Tape Analysis

If you are unfamiliar with my DT radar charts, you can find more information here

Orange projects as a nose tackle in the NFL, and he will primarily help shore up the run game of the team that drafts him. But Duncan, I hear you ask; it looks like he is not that good of a run defender, and to that I say, let's look at the past two years:

Not an overwhelming difference, but one that shows Orange took a small step back this past year. Though even with that step back, you can see how he would help contribute to good defense.

Big Citrus is not the level of nose tackle that when you bring him in, you don't need to worry about the run defense around him. He is a nice complementary piece that can help raise the level of that unit. He combines the strength of his anchor and upper body to not move against run blocks. When a double team hits him in a staggered fashion, he struggles, but when they come straight at him, he holds his ground very well. While fighting against run blocks, he uses his great upper body strength to toss IOL aside and then uses his lateral quickness to make a play in the gap.

That first-step quickness also leads to the occasional double-team split. In pass rush, all the above elements of his game translate to some interesting pass rush production. It seemed like he was never that close to the QB, but had caused enough damage on the line to have them reeling. He might not be the sack artist, but he could be a major piece of occupying an offensive line while blitzers take advantage behind him.

His play identification is solid, if not phenomenal. Orange does not just blindly follow blockers and uses his awareness to understand that sometimes the best play for the team is for him to do something different. My favorite example of that was against BYU, where he realized he was stonewalled by three IOL and decided then to sit off to see if he could get a deflection or be a spy man on a scramble. Instead the QB threw to the check down who Orange promptly blew up and caused an incompletion.

Grade and Outlook

Nose tackles without major pass rush upside do not have the same value in the NFL as they do in college. The passing game is much more prevalent in the NFL, so Orange will not be as important to the team that drafts him as he was to Iowa State. All of that being said, he looks like a great player to have on your roster who can give consistent solid play along the interior of your DL.

Grade: 5.5 (3rd Rounder)