CHARLOTTE — Shavon Revel Jr. has shown his big-play ability. He just hasn't shown it since last September. That has not diminished his confidence in his ability to come back from this latest setback.

The East Carolina cornerback is one of the top prospects at his position in this year's draft despite the injury that makes him a bit of an unknown commodity.

But before tearing his ACL in practice last fall, ending his season after just three games, he had displayed he was capable of being one of the best cornerbacks in this class. Specifically, there was the pick-six against Appalachian State, evidence of his big-play ability.

"The main source of motivation, just be you," Revel said at the combine. "There's a lot of people out there that try to get you to do other things. That want you to believe other things. Or you might be on social media and stuff like that.

"So, just be yourself. Win your race. Go at your own pace. Just be you and go ahead and take it day by day. Only you can run your race."

He's been forced to run his race alone and not be part of the traditional pre-draft process because of that injury. So, no combine drills, no pro day, just meeting with teams and talking and going back over the film and numbers that show an elite prospect.

First off, there's the size. A 6-foot-2 corner with long arms is going to get scouts' interest. But when he went to a tryout at East Carolina and ran a 4.4-second 40 with an 11-foot broad jump and a 39-inch vertical, that was enough to get everyone's attention.

Of course, he was at that tryout camp because he didn't follow the usual path. He admitted to struggling academically in high school, which led him to Louisburg College and then scrambling to find a home. The Winston-Salem, N.C. native was working in an Amazon warehouse prior to that tryout for the Pirates, knowing his chance was close to slipping away.

"I wasn't the best student in my ninth and 10th grade year," he said. "I learned from that; the 11th and 12th grade years, I didn't have the best grades. I didn't have a GPA high enough to qualify for D-1 college. But I grew from that. I went to JUCO. Got my GPA up. Went to East Carolina camp. They offered me. Gave me the opportunity to go back to school and get at least a 2.6. I went back to school. Got a 2.8. And I attended ECU in 2022."

He uses that story as motivation for others, which he also provided last year when he was forced to watch most of his final season. That lesson applies now to his draft situation, since the possibility of being a first-rounder was clouded by the knee injury, which could cause him to wait for his chance.

But he's done that before.

"Being there just taught me you've got to teach the other players, the young'uns, and just push them to be the best," he said. "Because a lot of times I knew, like, I wasn't playing, but I knew my role at the same time.

"And a lot of people lifted me up, so I knew I had to lift those that fell down and was holding their heads down. Like, bro, come on, you got to get this together."