Malachi Lawrence drafted No. 23 by Dallas Cowboys, becomes UCF's fifth first-round pick in school history
Malachi Lawrence is headed to Dallas.
The UCF edge was selected No. 23 overall by the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night, becoming the fifth first-round pick in Knights program history.
Lawrence joins a short but distinguished list of UCF players to hear their name called in the opening round: quarterback Daunte Culpepper (No. 11, 1999), quarterback Blake Bortles (No. 3, 2014), wide receiver Breshad Perriman (No. 26, 2015) and cornerback Mike Hughes (No. 30, 2018).
The pick caps a five-year career in Orlando for Lawrence, who finishes 10th all-time at UCF in sacks with 20.
NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah had been one of Lawrence’s loudest advocates throughout the pre-draft process, and he didn’t temper his enthusiasm after the selection.
“Lawrence is someone who just rose through the entire process,” Jeremiah said. “He is juicy. When you watch him, it is fun. You’ll get up out of your seat because of how much burst and explosiveness you’ll see in his play.”
That explosiveness translated when it mattered most. At the NFL Scouting Combine, Lawrence posted a 40-inch vertical and a 10-foot-10 broad jump — numbers that quieted any skeptics and helped cement his first-round grade.
Jeremiah acknowledged Lawrence still has room to develop, but he sees a player with a rare ceiling.
“He’s not there yet, but this is a potential player, and you see it,” he said. “When he gets to the top of his rush, he uses those violent hands to get to the corner, and then he can really, really finish. He’s got that innate ability.”
The fit with Dallas was no accident. Jeremiah pointed to a key connection that likely made the Cowboys’ front office comfortable pulling the trigger: Demeitre Brim, the team’s new assistant defensive line coach, previously served as an analyst and assistant edge rushers coach at UCF and coached Lawrence last season.
“The reason why I had him go to the Dallas Cowboys is there was a lot of buzz connected to him,” Jeremiah said. “When you look at the homework on him — they knew the goods they had.”
