Name: Ifeatu Melifonwu 

School: Syracuse  

Year: Redshirt Junior 

Position: Cornerback 

Measurements:  6-foot-2 ½ 205lbs 

STATS:

General Info:

 Attended Grafton High School in South Grafton, Massachusetts. Older brother Obi attended UConn and was drafted by the Raiders in 2017. Multi-sport athlete in high school, also played basketball, lacrosse and ran track. Redshirted his first year at Syracuse in 2017. Played in 9 games as a Freshman, missing four due to injury. In his Sophomore year he played in 9 games again, starting 8. Started all 11 games in 2020. Melifonwu scored at 9.57 unofficial RAS score. 

Positional Skills:

Positives: 

First thing that stands out about him is his size and long arms. He is 6’2 almost 6’3 and while he is not huge at 205, he has good bulk on his body. His long arms are good for batting away passes. He does get his hands on some balls; he has 19 passes defensed in his three years at Syracuse. They also help him get off blocks. He is athletic and plays physical. He is able to get up and bad some balls down with a good vertical jump and his long arms that a lot of db’s might not be able to get to. Melifonwu has sub 4.5 speed which is good for someone as big as he is. The Syracuse product has experience in both zone and man coverage. Melifonwu could play safety or a big nickel role at the next level. He also shows good explosion on film. When he is able to read the play and attack it, he explodes out of his stance. The big corner out of Syracuse shows smooth hips on film. When he flips them, he does not look robotic for a 6’2 guy with long arms and legs. Which happens sometimes when you get corners that are in the 6’2-6’4 range. He is good in press coverage, where he can use his size and long arms to disrupt receivers’ routes. Melifonwu is a good run defender, he is a physical tackler and hitter. 

Negatives: 

His speed and agility are average. His hips are just not very quick, so he may have trouble with those smaller quicker wide receivers. The minimal ball production worries you a bit for a guy as athletic and long as he is. Melifonwu will miss some tackles lunging at ball carriers instead of breaking down and making sure he can take the player down. Needs to get a little lower in his stance, he tends to just bend his knees a little. He would probably be able to deal with quicker guys better if he worked on lowering his stance. Off the snap he will sometimes take a false step forward than pull it back costing him. Ifeatu played on the right side the majority of his time at Syracuse. 

Fit with the Packers:

He is a decent fit with the Packers. Not the best, he has some of the same issues that Kevin King has. Things like trouble with quick twitch receivers and being able to recover, and his tackling can be a little inconsistent. But he does bring a bigger body and more physicality than King does. Also, he is allowed to play man coverage he shows a lot of stickiness on film. He still has some rawness with his technique, his eyes, and his route recognition. But they could also use him as an occasional safety in sub packages. They could drop him back into a semi free safety role allowing Savage to do his thing in the robber role. He is not worth a 1^st, but if they took him at 62 that would be ok. He could play in sub packages as a rookie. Melifonwu is not ready to be a starter as a rookie, but with some development he could start by year 2.