FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Under the Monday night lights (yes, you read that right), Atlanta Falcons area scout Shepley Heard couldn't quite put his finger on who he was watching. He was at Clemson, taking in one of Dabo Sweeney's Monday night practices.

This was a couple of years ago, and a young defensive back kept flashing across the field. He looked young. A little raw. But there was something about him. Something familiar, yet different.

Shepley leaned over to one of his Clemson sources standing next to him.

"Who's this kid?" he said earnestly.

A furrowed set of eyes met his. Then, came a slight chuckle.

"Well," they said in response, "that's A.J.'s brother."

A.J. Terrell; who, that very year, was becoming one of the best young cornerbacks in the league with the Atlanta Falcons, who drafted him in 2020 with the No. 16 overall pick.

Avieon Terrell had been in the living room when his older brother got the call from the 404 area code—the same area code the family still shares. He was young then, just barely in high school. Now, as Shepley scanned a sea of Clemson orange, a longer, rangier, quicker Terrell sped past him.

"The guy is just flying around," Shepley said. "You could see the athleticism. You could see the energy. You could see the juice. You could see him moving around, see the speed.

"... That was probably the first time that he stood out. It was at practice, at Clemson, on a Monday night when he wasn't even really on my radar."

Years later, when it came time to present players to Falcons decision-makers as Avieon declared for the draft as a junior, the work he had put in since that Monday night made Shepley's pitch simple.

"For me, it was an easy read," Shepley said, "because you don't have to go back and pitch this guy."

You just have to watch him.

"Obviously, the competitiveness shows up on film, it shows up in practice. When you talk to them, all of the sources at Clemson, they bring that up," Shepley said. "He's not the biggest guy at that position, but he plays way bigger than he is. He's tough. He's competitive. He's not afraid to come up and tackle.

"For me, it's like, turn on the film. It's going to show you everything you need to know about who this kid is. He exudes, on film, everything that we're looking for, which is passion, which is energy, which is speed, which is athleticism."

Avieon is a bit of an anomaly on today's draft board because of his youth. With NIL allowing college players to earn significant money, draft classes are trending older. That's not Avieon. He's an up-and-comer—someone who still has room to grow.

"He's a young player that's still coming into his own, still physically growing into his body," Clemson head coach Dabo Sweeney said. "He plays longer than he is. He's a guy that helps their team Day 1."

Shepley agreed.

"It's so hard to find players like that who have that type of athleticism and that type of ball hawking mentality. To say he's growing, that just excites me more, because he is young. He's a junior. He's coming out early," Shepley said. "When you can get a guy like that who is coming into his own I think it just makes that pick that much more exciting."

"... With Avieon, you're getting a young player who has just touched the surface of what we believe he can be."