Syracuse v Clemson
CLEMSON, SOUTH CAROLINA - SEPTEMBER 20: T.J. Moore #1 of the Clemson Tigers attempts to get open for a pass as Chris Peal #16 of the Syracuse Orange defends during the fourth quarter at Memorial Stadium on September 20, 2025 in Clemson, South Carolina. (Photo by Katie Devaney/Getty Images)
For most college students, summer typically involves going to the beach, enjoying the nightlife, or simply pausing work after a long semester. That’s anything but the case for rising Syracuse University junior Daelan Pinsky.
Instead, Pinsky spent several months building and launching a massive database called ScoutSZN, and it’s changing the landscape of NFL mock drafts and evaluating college players. It includes Pinsky’s grades for over 15,000 players across all 138 FBS programs, using a methodology he developed. That description only scratches the surface of what users can find on the ScoutSZN website.
How does it stand out, at least compared to all the other mock drafts and scouting boards out there?
“A lot of people usually try to cover the top 100 players in the NFL Draft… a lot of these big-name guys in the industry will usually just try to go for these names in the industry that are really just, like buzzwords almost, and try to just do it for the clicks,” Pinsky said. “I thought that was a bit ridiculous. There’s a bunch of talent out there that isn’t getting shown as much on a bigger scale.”
Pinsky is currently pursuing a major in sports management and a minor in sports analytics from SU’s David B. Falk College of Sport.
Daelan Pinsky
He also possesses quite a background in football and sports. Pinsky worked for two years, 2024 and 2025, as a scout and game-day intern for Syracuse Orange football, plus interned with three sports agencies: Slice Sports Management, National Sports Agency, and Pro Sport Management.
Pinsky said he’s done his fair share of scouting. That experience appears to have shaped his vision for ScoutSZN.
Besides designing a full grading formula for the thousands of college football players out there, the site aims to simply the scouting process. That includes bringing all information about a potential NFL prospect to one location, and making it free and accessible.
“I always found it so tedious that you had to scrape through multiple sites just to find all this info on one guy. I was like, ‘why isn’t there a site out there that just has all of it compiled into one?’” Pinsky said. “That was kind of the main reasoning I came to this summer. There’s a clear niche market that hasn’t been tapped into yet, and I feel like I can I have the capabilities to tap into it.”
The “Big Board” on ScoutSZN allows site visitors to search for potential prospects using six tags: Talent Level, Competitive/Mental, Production Profile, Versatility, Off-Field/Character, and Overall Risk. Each of those categories includes multiple options to pick from.
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For every player on the board, there’s a grade based on projection as a pro, but there are also specifically “floor” and “ceiling grades.
For example, take Syracuse cornerback Chris Peal. He currently has a grade on ScoutSZN of 8.8, with a floor of 8.2 and a ceiling of 9.4. There’s a two-way tie for first place on ScoutSZN for highest grade: Texas quarterback Arch Manning and Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, both with a 9.6.
Entering the 2026 season, ScoutSZN currently grades three Orange players as “draft caliber.” That’s tied for fourth-most in the ACC on the database. That includes Peal, currently in the “Day 2 Caliber” category, plus cornerback Demetres Samuel Jr. and quarterback Steve Angeli, both at “Day 3 Caliber.”
“I’ve really tried to hone in on the craft of that… taking into account all kinds of things that an NFL team would actually really take into account.”
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Another unique aspect of ScoutSZN: Pinsky claims it’s the only site of its kind that includes a public representation tab, which shows the agencies college players are signed or linked to based on public reporting and announcements.
Besides full breakdowns for potential prospects, there’s also a tab dedicated to mock drafts, and it includes all sorts of options. Users can make draft choices for one to all 30 NFL teams, do so from one to a full seven-round mock, and decide the price evaluation for draft picks.
“No one really likes to go in and do a deep, seven-round mock draft. No one usually loves to do that, but I do think it’s super important,” Pinsky said. “We’ve seen it time and time again. There are guys that fall under the cracks and don’t get enough media recognition… and they go lower in the draft. Once they get to the NFL, they just come out of nowhere, and they just do fantastic.”
Pinsky’s database also includes other fun features, like Scoutle — ScoutSZN’s own version of the word-based game Wordle — and The Gauntlet.
Going forward, the work has only begun with ScoutSZN for Pinsky.
Depth charts across the FBS still need to be finalized. After a recent ruling granted a fifth year of eligibility for Class of 2022 recruits, that potentially means even more new players being added to the database. And of course, plenty will change throughout the 2026 college football campaign for whoever is currently listed on the site.
Grades for all players will be constantly edited throughout the year, Pinsky said. Of note, users will notice these grades will evolve over the course of the year.
Pinsky emphasized that compared to most of the “big networks” that focus on NFL mock drafts, ScoutSZN will show what he initially had for a grade, the evolution over the college football season, and where there was a change, big or small.
And for Pinsky, there’s a clear reason why.
*“We’re all human. We’re gonna mess up. It makes total sense,” Pinsky said. “This site really clearly shows where these guys are coming from, where everyone really had consensus in the preseason, and then where it really ended up at the end of the year.*”
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Which Orange players do you think will draw the attention of scouts this Fall?