Sebastian Cheeks has been one of Wisconsin's best defensive players this season, and after what he did against USC, he's starting to get some national attention.

Cheeks had five tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks in Wisconsin's 24-7 win over No. 16 USC. It was the kind of performance that was hard to ignore, and it earned him Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors.

ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. is taking notice, too. Kiper recently included Cheeks among the prospects who have caught his attention for the 2027 NFL Draft and currently sees him as a possible third- or fourth-round pick.

Kiper sees something to work with

What I liked about Kiper's evaluation is that it wasn't all about the 2.5 sacks against USC. He went a little deeper into why Cheeks has been so difficult for offensive linemen to handle this season.

Kiper pointed to Cheeks' explosiveness and his ability to rush from both the inside and outside. He also likes that Cheeks doesn't seem to rely on one move to get into the backfield and has enough power at 6-foot-3 and 243 pounds to give offensive tackles problems with his bull rush.

There are still things he needs to work on. Kiper believes Cheeks needs to add some weight to his frame, especially when it comes to holding up against the run. That's something NFL teams will probably look at closely when the draft process gets going.

But when Kiper is already talking about the third or fourth round in October, it's worth paying attention.

This didn't start against USC

The USC game certainly helped Cheeks get noticed, but anyone who has followed Wisconsin this season knows he has been getting after quarterbacks for a while.

Cheeks is up to 34 pressures this season, according to Pro Football Focus, which leads the Big Ten. We wrote about Cheeks earlier this month when his 27 pressures through five games led the country.

That's what makes the USC performance more interesting to me. It wasn't a guy coming out of nowhere and having one huge game. Cheeks had already been consistently getting into the backfield, and this time he finished some of those plays with sacks.

He accounted for half of Wisconsin's five sacks against USC and helped a defense that held the Trojans to 239 total yards and minus-18 rushing yards.

Cheeks is showing up on more draft boards

Kiper isn't alone in liking what he's seeing from Cheeks. CBS Sports draft analyst Mike Renner has Cheeks ranked No. 48 overall on his latest 2027 NFL Draft big board.

Renner likes his ability to get around offensive tackles, although he also pointed out that Cheeks doesn't have the kind of length NFL teams normally look for at the position. That's going to be part of the conversation with Cheeks because he's not going to check every box physically.

But it's getting harder to ignore what he's actually doing on the field.

Cheeks started his career at North Carolina before transferring to Wisconsin. He had 12 tackles and two sacks in 2024 before increasing those numbers to 25 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and three sacks last season.

This year has been different. He's getting more opportunities, he's producing more consistently and now people who spend a lot of time studying NFL Draft prospects are starting to notice.

There is still a lot of football left, and Cheeks' draft stock can move plenty between now and whenever he makes the jump to the NFL. But when Kiper is talking about the third or fourth round and another analyst already has him inside his top 50, it's probably time to start looking at Cheeks as more than just one of Wisconsin's best defensive players.

He's starting to look like a legitimate NFL prospect.