Keenyi Pepe

Physical Profile

At 6'7" and roughly 330 pounds, Pepe carries prototypical franchise-tackle dimensions with the length to extend the arc and the mass to anchor against power. What separates him from other prep giants is body control: he plays with clean posture and balance in his pass sets and is unusually quick out of his stance for his stature, suggesting the frame is functional weight rather than bad mass. The measurables map directly to left tackle — there is no positional projection guesswork here.

Play Style

Pepe is a rhythm pass protector first — patient in his set, comfortable letting rushers come to him, and rarely caught out of position. In the run game he plays with an edge as a down blocker and combo blocker, generating vertical displacement. He profiles as a technician with power rather than a mauler with stiffness, which is the preferred developmental order for a blind-side protector. Film against elite IMG competition shows he handles length and speed better than nearly any tackle in the class.

Strengths

• Pass protection polish rare for a prep tackle — smooth, repeatable kick slide that extends the arc against speed rushers, honed against IMG's national-caliber practice and game competition
• Balance and posture in pass sets; rarely overextends or lunges, keeps his base under him through contact, which is the trait that most reliably survives the jump to Power 4 play
• Physical, displacing down blocker in the run game who moves defenders off their spot rather than just walling them off — a genuine people-mover at 330 pounds
• Pedigree and preparation: four-year starter track at IMG Academy, four-time MaxPreps All-American, and a football family (older brother Kobe Pepe is a USC defensive tackle), so the college transition curve is flattened

Areas to Improve

• Weight management and conditioning at 330+ — maintaining knee bend, recovery quickness, and second-level range as he enters a college strength program will determine how fast he plays
• Hand-timing refinement against counters and inside moves; like most tall tackles, keeping strikes inside his frame and resetting against long-armed speed-to-power rushers is the next developmental step

College Projection

Signed with USC and arrives as the presumptive left tackle of the future. Given the Trojans' offensive line questions, he will compete for early snaps immediately; the realistic projection is a rotational/swing role or spot starts as a true freshman with a firm grip on the starting left tackle job by year two. Three-year starter potential at an air-raid-influenced program that will put him in space and on an island frequently.

NFL Outlook

Legitimate first-round trajectory. The IMG-to-blue-blood tackle pipeline (JC Latham to Alabama, No. 7 overall pick; Francis Mauigoa, All-American at Miami) is the direct comp path, and Pepe's blend of 6'7" length, pass-set polish, and functional 330-pound power is the franchise-blindside-protector archetype NFL teams pay premium draft capital for. If his conditioning holds and hand usage matures, he projects as a Day 1 draft candidate in the 2029 class.

Best Fit

A pass-heavy, pro-style or spread program that isolates its tackles in true dropback protection — exactly what he chose in Lincoln Riley's USC offense. He maximizes in a scheme that values length and independent pass-pro reps at left tackle, with a run game built on gap/down-block concepts that leverage his displacement power rather than asking him to reach-block laterally in a pure wide-zone system.