Rangy, reliable free safety who quietly became Duke's best returning defender. Stone stretched a bit-part debut into a two-year starting job and kept adding volume — 54 tackles in 2024, then 86 with 2 interceptions across 14 games in 2025, collecting an ACC weekly honor along the way — and at 6-3, 200 he carries the kind of length the position rewards. The ACC Kickoff invite tells you what the program thinks of him. However, the ball production is the hold-up: 3 interceptions and 4 breakups across two full starting seasons is thin for a deep-field player, and productive tackler at safety is a crowded aisle on draft weekend. He is tracking toward the 2028 class with no early-declare signal, which buys development time. Fringe-draftable as the profile sits — a priority-free-agent baseline that a four-or-five-takeaway season would meaningfully re-price.

• Sports Illustrated Nov 7, 2025

  Deshawn Stone Reveals Mindset, Shifts to Focus On Connecticut - Sports Illustrated