Keldric Faulk Prospect Profile
Background
Keldric Faulk grew up in Ramer, Alabama. Tragically his father died in an automobile accident when Keldric was four years old, leaving his mother, Lakendral Barnes, to raise him and his younger brother JJ as a single parent. He attended Highland Home High School, starred in both football and basketball, reached the basketball state semifinals, and earned back-to-back ASWA First-Team All-State honors in football before accepting an invitation to the 2023 All-American Bowl. A consensus four-star recruit with roughly 30 Division I offers, he committed to Florida State in July 2022. Hugh Freeze's hiring prompted him to flip to Auburn on Early Signing Day, and he chose the Tigers partly to remain near his mother. He became an immediate starter, earned All-SEC Freshman honors in 2023, and broke out in 2024 with 11 tackles for loss and seven sacks. He returned for his junior season in 2025, served as game captain for all 12 games, donated a portion of his NIL earnings to help a walk-on teammate stay in school, and declared for the 2026 NFL Draft at only 20 years old.
Physical Attributes
RAS time:
When looking at this versus the tape, it is pretty clear Faulk has a really strong lower body and a weirdly weak upper body? Add to that the fact that Faulk is a straight-line athlete. There is not a lot of bend in his game, and when combining that with his weak upper body, he can pretty easily get swallowed by OLs.
Data and Tape Analysis
If you are unfamiliar with my EDGE radar charts, you can find more information here
That is not the way you want a radar chart to look as an EDGE. Run defense is great and all, but nose tackles do not get paid a ton. What an EDGE is paid to do is get after the QB, and Faulk does not.
It feels unfair to go after Faulk for the player he is now, because nobody will draft him based on that. Almost all of Faulk's value as a prospect comes from trait projection, so let's talk about those traits, or lack thereof.
Faulk has no idea what he is doing out there when rushing the QB. Like none, absolutely clueless. There does not appear to be a plan on how he should attack an offensive lineman, or what to do once in contact with them. It's all reactive and slow. The only way he wins is by running the hoop outside of the Tackle, but even then it looks stiff and upright, without the bend you would want to see. Through any kind of decent coaching, this has to get better, because it cannot be much worse.
The lower body of his is super strong and helps him anchor well against linemen trying to move him out of the way in the run game. Only once on tape did I see a lineman move him in a way he did not want to, and it was presumptive 1st rounder Monroe Freeling.
Faulk is also massive. Nearly 6'6" and 280 lbs, there are not many EDGEs built like him. Add to that his speed, and you can see how NFL front offices get excited to have their coaches get their hands on him.
Grade and Outlook
Faulk is a phenomenal run defender, and that should translate easily to the NFL. That gives him a solid floor, but he needs to become a very good pass rusher in order to pay off on the top-end draft capital some think he deserves. I have doubts about whether that will happen.
Grade: 6.0 (2nd Rounder)