As we count down the days preparing for the NFL Draft from April 23-25, we’ll be profiling this year‘s crop of BYU players, hoping to hear their names called on draft day. Today, we will focus on cornerback Mory Bamba.
Mory Bamba's BYU career summary
Believe it or not, but Mory Bamba didn't begin his college athletics experience as a football player. After playing both football and running track in high school in Wisconsin, he focused on track and field at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. But after a late growth spurt bumped him up to 6-foot-3 while maintaining his blistering track speed, he went back to football and transferred to ASA College for his first season of football, then to Tyler Junior College.
Bamba transferred to BYU in 2022 after being lightly recruited by teams like Utah State, Incarnate World, and Austin Peay. He came to Provo as a super athletic project. Fittingly, he redshirted in 2022 but still managed to appear in five games with one tackle during his redshirt campaign.
In 2023 he remained with the "project" label and played in seven games with six tackles.
Over the last two seasons Bamba cracked the rotation and made many contributions, but was far from being a star. In 2024 he played 10 games with 17 tackles and four passes defended. Last year was his best season in a BYU uniform playing 14 games with 23 tackles and four passes defended.
Mory Bamba's Relative Athletic Score
A player's RAS — or Relative Athletic Score — compares their performance in combine drills against other players at their same position. A RAS of 8.0, for example, means the player scored in the 80th percentile relative to players at their same position.
Mory Bamba's RAS is incredible. His combination of size and athleticism resulted in a Relative Athletic Score of 9.53, putting him in the top 95th percentile of all corners. His RAS ranked 135th of 2,868 corners to be evaluated by this methodology.
Mory Bamba is a CB prospect in the 2026 draft class. He scored a 9.53 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 135 out of 2868 CB from 1987 to 2026.https://t.co/6DqRYAffMj pic.twitter.com/trM1QwjNwR
— RAS.football (@MathBomb) March 23, 2026
Specifically, the commination of his listed 6-foot-3 height and blazing 4.29 40-yard dash will pique the interest of NFL front offices. Few players have the raw tools Bamba brings to the table. He might not be NFL ready on Day 1, but it's for players like him NFL teams have practice squads.
Draft projection and comparable player
Mory isn't showing up on any mock drafts or big boards, and that's not surprising given his relative lack of production at BYU. He made strides and improved every year in Provo, but he never approached All-Big 12 honors or distinguished himself as an every-down defender who locked down opposing receivers. His 2025 PFF grade of 68.4 was good, but not great, and ranked ninth on a very good BYU defense.
As far as a comparable NFL player goes, the easy comparison is BYU's very own Michael Davis.
Like Bamba, Davis was a lanky, athletic 6-foot-2 corner coming out of BYU in 2017. Davis went undrafted that year but signed with the Chargers as an undrafted rookie free agent. With his length, speed, and skills Davis made an immediate impact with the Chargers and appeared in 15 games with 18 tackles as a rookie.
Despite his undrafted status, Michael Davis has gone on to have an outstanding nine-year career. He has appeared in 133 games with 76 starts, recording 367 tackles, 70 passes defended, and eight interceptions.
Now, Michael Davis had a much better college resume than Mory Bamba has put together. Davis started 30 of 48 career games in Provo with 110 career tackles and was named to the Reese's Senior Bowl watch list going into his senior season.
Even then, Michael Davis had to overcome the odds to rise up from an undrafted rookie to a long-term NFL starter.
The odds will be stacked against Mory Bamba, too, but some NFL team will see "6-foot-3 with a 4.29 40-yard dash and Big 12 experience" and give him a shot in training camp.