Pierre Desir stands out for more than his height

INDIANAPOLIS – For a player from little Lindenwood University, Pierre Desir stands out among the cornerbacks at the NFL Scouting Combine.

That’s because Desir stands 6 feet 1, making him one of only four cornerbacks ranked in the Top 25 at the position by NFLDraftScout.com’s Rob Rang. Two are 6-3 – Nebraska’s Stanley Jean-Baptiste and Utah’s Keith McGill; and Liberty’s Walt Aikens also is 6-1, but he wasn’t even invited to the Combine.

Tall corners are suddenly a hot commodity after the way 6-3 Richard Sherman and 6-1 Byron Maxwell made life miserable for Peyton Manning in the Seahawks’ 43-8 romp over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII.

And yes, Desir is well aware of that.

“Watching Richard Sherman and the other bigger corners has helped me, it helps scouts look at me in a different light to see that I’m a guy with range and that I can be one of the great big corners in the future,” he said Sunday, sitting at a table in the media room at Lucas Oil Stadium.

“I think a lot of teams are looking for bigger corners who can be aggressive because a lot of the receivers now are 6-3 plus. Just a guy who is tall and long that can put their hands on receivers and be able to run with them as well, so height would be a big plus just because the receivers are a little bit bigger now.”