Willis is a technician at a position that rewards brains and hands over raw physical gifts — the kind of guard who wins his assignment in a zone scheme because he's always on time, always leveraged, always finishing. His snap-to-contact tempo and hand placement are NFL-ready right now, and his feel for combo blocks and second-level targets will make a zone-heavy coordinator smile. But when a 290-pound nose tackle walks him into the quarterback's lap on a bull rush, you remember why he's projected as a backup-first. The short arms and limited anchor will keep his ceiling in check, but the floor is an early contributor at guard who understands the job and never beats himself.
- Quick snap-to-contact tempo with excellent hand placement — arrives on time and sustains leverage through the whistle
- Refined zone-blocking technique with the burst to execute reach blocks and hit landmarks with proper fits
- High football IQ and processing speed — picks up stunts and twists, plays with awareness beyond physical tools
- Outstanding effort and strain — motor runs hot, finishes blocks, never takes plays off
- Short arms and limited mass create soft edges, especially against long-arm and bull-rush techniques — gets walked back by power
- Below-average gap-blocking power with insufficient displacement at the point of attack
- Exposed in Senior Bowl pass-pro one-on-ones (2 positive vs. 5 negative grades) — elite rushers overwhelmed him physically
- Adjusting to guard full-time after playing exclusively tackle in college — position-change transition risk
Thorn's direct comp. Similar profile: college tackle who moved inside, wins with technique and intelligence rather than physical dominance, projects as a high-floor backup who can push for starting time in a scheme that values timing and positioning over raw power.