Charles Demmings rises from thin recruiting profile to projected Day 2 NFL pick

Charles Demmings did not arrive at Stephen F. Austin with a blue-chip recruiting file. He arrived from Mesquite Horn High School in Mesquite, Texas, after not playing high school football in his sophomore and junior years, and built himself into a 6-foot-1, 190-pound cornerback NFL evaluators now had pegged as a third- to fourth-round pick.

That rise was backed by steady year-over-year production. Demmings played in 11 games as a freshman in 2022 and finished with 11 total tackles, three pass breakups and an interception. In 2023, he took another step forward, appearing in 10 games and recording 18 tackles, two interceptions and eight pass breakups. By 2024, he had become one of the Southland Conference’s top cover men, posting 19 tackles, leading the team with 10 pass breakups and adding two interceptions while earning second-team All-Southland Conference honors.

His production made the national jump by the time preseason honors rolled around in 2025. Demmings earned third-team All-America recognition from Stats Perform, one of only three Southland Conference players to land on a preseason All-America list. He also entered the season as one of only five FCS players on the Panini Senior Bowl Top 300, a sign that his name had already reached beyond the subdivision before the postseason all-star circuit came into play.

The ball production kept piling up. Stephen F. Austin said Demmings finished with 35 career passes defended, an all-time DI program record, with 33 of those coming before the 2025 season. The Lumberjacks said he allowed just 11 receptions and one touchdown through nine games in 2025, and opposing quarterbacks posted a 44.4 passer rating when targeting him. HERO Sports listed him at 19 tackles, four interceptions and five pass breakups in 2025, while SFA’s season bio credited him with 19 tackles, a career-high 10 pass breakups and two interceptions in 11 games.

The testing numbers made the case even louder. At the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Demmings ran an official 4.44-second 40-yard dash and added an 11-foot broad jump and a 42-inch vertical jump. He had run 4.40 in high school, also competed in varsity track, and had offers from West Texas A&M, Pittsburg State and UT-Permian Basin, among others. That combination of length, speed and ball skills helped push his stock into Day 2 territory, where HERO Sports ranked him No. 110 overall and the No. 15 cornerback in the class.

For Stephen F. Austin, the climb mattered as much as the projection. The program had last produced a draft pick in BJ Thompson in 2023, and Demmings had become the latest proof that the Lumberjacks could develop NFL-caliber talent from an overlooked start. He also drew invitations to the East-West Shrine Bowl in Frisco, Texas, and the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, before the pre-draft process elevated him even further.