ESPN Best Defense Players
We should have a top defensive line again. I know what Moten, Wilson, Lightfoot and Blount can do (hopefully Lowe can step up too). I'm just expecting a HUGE year for Justin Scott, our other starting DT.
# 5 DT Ahmad Moten Sr., Miami
2025 stats: 31 tackles, 20 pressures, 9 TFLs, 4.5 sacks
Depending on who you ask or which early mock draft you consult, Moten is either the No. 1 or No. 2 defensive tackle in next year's draft class. Such is the promise the 6-foot-3, 300-pound bruiser flashed last fall from the heart of the nation's most dominant defensive line.
"Disruptive, active, plays behind the line of scrimmage -- that's what you're looking for," one ACC personnel director said of Moten. "He gets into the backfield and plays vertical."
A former three-year reserve, Moten broke into the Hurricanes' starting lineup and played the fourth-most snaps (462) of any Miami defensive lineman as a redshirt junior. While Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor dominated on the edge, Moten attacked up the middle, posting a career-best 4.5 sacks with 19 interior pressures that tied for sixth most among ACC defenders in 2025. He stepped up when it mattered, too. Moten tied a career high with five tackles (three solo) in the national title game against Indiana in January.
No longer flanked by first-round NFL draft picks Bain and Mesidor on the edges, Moten returns as one of the sport's elite interior forces and one of the faces of what should be another fierce Miami defensive line.
"My top defensive tackle I've watched so far is Moten from Miami," a Big Ten DPP said. "That dude's a freaking game wrecker."
