Background

Kaleb Proctor grew up in Oak Grove, Louisiana, and attended Oak Grove High School, a Class 1A program where he played linebacker and helped win back-to-back state championships before earning All-State honors and District 2-1A Co-Defensive MVP as a senior. He also played baseball growing up. A zero-star recruit with no scholarship offers, he committed to Southeastern Louisiana as a walk-on in November 2021, and on his first day of fall camp coaches moved him from linebacker to 3-technique defensive tackle, a position he had never played. He arrived at 255 pounds and steadily grew to 291 by the time he reached the Combine. After logging 16 tackles off the bench as a true freshman in 2022 and earning 10 starts with 26 tackles in 2023, he broke out as a junior with 49 tackles, 6 TFL, and 4.5 sacks across 12 starts, earning Second-Team All-Southland. His senior year, he broke through with 43 tackles, 13 TFL, and 9 sacks, including 2 sacks and 3 TFL at No. 3 LSU. He was named 2025 Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Year, the first defensive player in Southeastern Louisiana history to win the award, and earned First-Team FCS All-American from the AFCA, Stats Perform, and Phil Steele. The 2026 Combine invited only five FCS players, and he was one of them. He never entered the transfer portal and majored in general studies before declaring for the 2026 NFL Draft.

Physical Attributes

RAS:

Proctor is an undersized yet extremely athletic DT. His jump off the line is elite, and he maintains that speed throughout the play. Light on his feet, Proctor has good lateral agility. However, he lacks the requisite strength to hold up in the run game.

Data and Tape Analysis

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

Well, it is pretty obvious what Proctor does well and what he does not.

Speed is the sole basis for his pass rush. Looking for gaps, hands are his enemy. He finds it incredibly difficult to work through blockers, so instead tries to avoid them entirely. Because of that, he does not seem to have developed a pass rushing arsenal yet, other than shoot the gap as quickly as possible.

Proctor's run defense is truly appalling. He might as well not be there most of the time; most linemen probably struggle more against the sled. Even if he can somehow use his speed to work around blockers, he misses the ball carrier often.

Grade and Outlook

I am giving the athletic freak the benefit of the doubt of never having received top-end coaching, nutrition, or really much of anything. If he put 40 lbs on in three years and can still move like that, I wonder what he could do with another 10 or 15 in the NFL, or just everything else the NFL affords. Worth a flyer to see if your team can figure out how to make this work.

Grade: 4.2 (4th Rounder)