NFL Draft 2023: TCU’s Steve Avila more than just 1 of top OL prospects, reveals teams who have shown interest

TCU offensive lineman Steve Avila is like a number of players in the 2023 NFL Draft who are projected as fringe first-round picks or sure-fire second picks: he’s a consensus All-American. He kept his quarterback, Heisman Trophy runner-up Max Duggan, clean and relaxed all season along, allowing only 10 pressures and no sacks on 515 pass-blocking snaps. 

However, not many offensive linemen are singled out by their head coach as their team’s top leader, especially on a team with a Heisman finalist at quarterback. Yet, Horned Frogs head coach Sonny Dykes did that just, calling Avila the national runner-up’s “main guy” in the leadership department. 

“When you look at it last year, you just kind of say what was the strength of last year’s team, and really, truly, it was leadership,” Dykes said. “I think we had good players and the guys performed well, and we played well in critical situations. But the thing that we had that I was most pleased with was just the leadership of our team.

“And to me, Steve was the main guy, he really was. He was from day one, he just took responsibility — when things were bad and when things were good. Early on, you know, we were struggling to kind of understand the [new] culture and, all of a sudden Steve starts to shine a little bit, you start to see him step into his leadership situations, and you start to see how that this team responds to him. So, he was obviously a heck of a player. He was a consensus All-American. That speaks for itself. But at the same time, the guy he was as a player, he was more valuable as a leader. Just great will to win. Great, consistent effort, emotionally stable, dealt with success and adversity the same. Just all the stuff great leaders do. He was that way for us. A heck of a player, but I think the bigger void will be that leadership void.”

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Avila’s leadership has evolved over the years, as he simply said yes to whatever challenge the Horned Frogs coaching staff put in front of him early on. Case and point: Avila starting at a new position for the first time just days after returning from a COVID-19 absence. 

“It changed over the years, being here, but I feel like TCU for me developed me as a man and a player,” Avila said. “So before you know, I felt like I was more of a lead by example guy. I came back on a Thursday [in the 2020 season], and my right tackle had COVID. I had come off [of COVID] and I was like, ‘Okay, I might not play.’ And then I get a call like, ‘Hey, [right tackle Andrew Coker] has COVID, can you play?’ I was like, ‘Who?’ He was like, ‘Andrew.’ I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I have to play right tackle.’ Being a  freshman here I played [a little] right tackle coming in, so that’s something that I just had to tap back into, and I’m glad that I did it. I feel like I played a pretty good game there. I’m glad I did that.”

During TCU’s College Football Playoff run in 2022, Avila shifted to becoming a more vocal leader in the same way he shifted around the offensive line from center to left guard. 

“This past year, I had to turn into more of a vocal guy even though I’m a cool, laid-back person,” Avila said. “A specific example is  during one of our practices in fall camp. We didn’t have a great practice and I was tired of losing. I’ve been here for years. So, I came up after practice and I went off. I went off, and I feel like after that, I gained a lot of respect from my teammates. I feel like that’s credited to why we had a lot of different leaders on the team.”

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Avila is also a leader at his position in terms of pro potential. His fast-twitch burst off the line of scrimmage is one of the best in the country among the linemen in this year’s draft while standing at 6-foot-3 and 332 pounds. He started at every position on the offensive line except left tackle in his TCU career.  

“Never started at left tackle but played everywhere else, but yeah, I feel like I can do that,” Avila said when asked about playing left tackle or any offensive line position. “I feel like when you get a feeling of playing guard, you can play tackle as well. It’s just the angles that really change.”

Avila demonstrated that versatility, dominating at the Senior Bowl while lining up at center and guard:   

Avila also shut down Michigan defensive tackle Mazi Smith, one of the better defensive tackle prospects in the upcoming draft, in the Horned Frogs’ CFP semifinal win against the Wolverines:  

Avila isn’t just a pass-blocker; he’s also ferocious as a run-blocker, seen here shoving a Texas Tech defensive tackle out of the way this past season. 

After TCU’s pro day at the end of March, Avila said he has at least five teams that have set up visits to meet with him while additional franchises are in the process of setting up meetings as well. 

“Yeah, so I have about five visits: I’ll meet with the Cowboys, Washington, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Arizona,” Avila said. “So those are really the teams that I would say are showing interest right now. I’ve been having a few meetings with a couple other teams, but as for now, those are the ones that I can point out.”

One of the biggest questions interested NFL teams have asked Avila is where he would project himself to play at the next level. It’s one Avila hesitates to answer, not wanting to paint himself into one corner or the other. But when he does put some time into thinking about it, the answer is clear.

“There are some teams that smack the table and say, ‘You get to choose one [position], what do you pick?'” Avila said. “And for now, I guess right now, in this instance, I always say left guard only because I’m coming off a season where I’ve had the best season of my career. I got all these accolades, and I’m not taking away from my ability to play center, because I know I can do that. I did at the Senior Bowl, but as for right now, I would say left guard.”

No matter what position Avila ends up playing, the NFL team that selects him in the 2023 draft will get someone who loves the work. This is someone who would play Super Smash Brothers tournaments with friends in college as Mario, a character lacking in some of the super-powered strengths other options possess. Wherever Avila ends up, he’ll continue do what what he does in Super Smash Bros and at the line of scrimmage: just keep winning. 

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