Patriots selected South Carolina CB Marcellas Dial with the No. 180 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Dial (6’0/190) was a zero-star recruit who was totally off the recruiting radar, enrolling at Georgia Military Academy for two seasons before signing with the Gamecocks as a three-star JUCO. He carved out a starting role in short order at South Carolina, holding opponents to a 56% completion rate or less in all three of his SEC campaigns. Dial engages in hand to hand combat at the line of scrimmage making the receiver work to get off and disrupting timing. The Woodruff, SC product reads his wide receiver assignments well, making 25 pass breakups and three interceptions over the past two seasons, culminating with a commendable 79th% PFF defensive grade this year. He checked the speed and explosion testing boxes with 90th+ percentile tests in those areas, including a 4.46s 40-yard dash that ranked in the 91st%. However his agility testing was brutal with a 4.42s shuttle (28th%) and 7.29s 3-Cone drill (21st%) for a still respectable 7.18 RAS. Dial will likely be sought after to occupy a rotational role in a zone scheme NFL defense.
