NEWS AND NEAR NEWS

OT, DT slipping??? … There doesn’t appear to be much doubt around the NFL that OT is THE strength of the 2026 draft, at least as it stands now, with at least a half-dozen or so legit first-round candidates and another strong second-tier group knocking on the door. However, one OT who may be slipping a bit is Spencer Fano of Utah. In particular, Fano had a very disappointing outing in the Utes’ upset loss to Texas Tech this past weekend. No question that he’s a very athletic OT who is light on his feet and really explodes off the snap; he’s also a technically solid guy who gets good arm extension and does a nice job cutting off the edge. However, Fano really didn’t sustain blocks much past the initial contact and got little push drive-blocking; in particular, on a key 4th and short play early in the game, he got stood up at the point of attack with the result that the play got stuffed for a turnover. Fano was also knocked well off balance on several pass blocking set-ups resulting in more pressures allowed than one would expect to see from a potential 10 prospect. To add insult to injury, Fano was called for an OL downfield penalty that wiped out a 70-yard Utah TD. And all that is sort of in-line with what we are hearing re Fano from around the league, that is, there are concerns that he is not all that big at less than 310 pounds and could have issues with bigger, stronger NFL lineman at the next level. At the same time, though it doesn’t appear as if anyone around the league doubts that he is a first-round quality guy, just maybe not top 10. For the record, Fano’s Utah teammate Caleb Lomu, who actually plays LT for Utes, did a much better job against Texas Tech on the weekend absorbing contact, but struggled at times to cut off the edge as he just isn’t as quick as Fano.

We are also hearing that more than one team out there is close to dropping Clemson DT Peter Woods off their 2026 boards. Woods came into the season ranked as a top 5-10 prospect after a breakout year last fall. However, he’s barely gotten off the LOS so far this fall and as a 3rd year junior would seem more likely to return to school next fall if things don’t pick up for hi

Who to watch in college football: September 27th … After something of a quiet weekend in college football, things really pick-up this week with a spate of really good games including a huge early season Big Ten match-up with #3 Penn State hosting #6 Oregon. Otherwise, the mantra in college football this weekend could be ‘go south young man’ with three key SEC games including #17 Alabama at #5 Georgia, as well as #4 LSU hosting #13 Mississippi and Auburn at #9 Texas A&M. However, folks probably need to keep their clickers handy as the Penn State-Oregon and Alabama-Georgia games go head-to-head Saturday evening on competing networks, while the other two SEC games are both at 3:30 PM ET that afternoon. Here’s who we’ll be watching in these big games.

Jets get vet CB in late round pick swap … The NY Jets have acquired veteran CB Jarvis Brownlee from Tennessee in a deal involving a swap of 2026 late-round picks. The Titans will get a 6th rounder from the Titans while getting a 7th to complete the deal.

OU QB Mateer out a month with hand injury … Oklahoma QB John Mateer, an early Heisman front-runner and a rising draft prospect, is expected to miss about a month after suffering a broken bone in his throwing hand in Saturday’s win over Auburn. Mateer is scheduled to undergo surgery tomorrow. Unfortunately, if Mateer does miss the next month he’ll miss the 4-0 Sooners big game with Texas on October 11th as well as a conference road game at South Carolina the following week.

Wilson out, Dart in for 0-3 Giants … The big question in New York – literally since April – has been when the Giants would name Jaxson Dart starting QB after they selected him with the 26th pick in this year’s draft. We now have an answer as the Giants just announced that Dart would get the start this Sunday when struggling 0-3 Giants host the LA Chargers. Dart will replace Russell Wilson who hasn’t played all that badly but just hasn’t been able to get the Giants into the end zone. With the move, there is some speculation that the Giants might consider moving Wilson to a contending team that has QB issues, leaving fellow veteran Jameis Winston to back-up Dart over the next couple of seasons.

Defenseless Cowboys may look to deal … In the wake of Sunday’s almost shocking 31-14 loss to the previously winless Bears in Chicago, Cowboys owner/GM Jerry Jones was quoted as saying that he’d be willing to trade a package of picks, possibly including one or even both of the two first-round picks they got from Green Bay in the Micah Parsons trade earlier this season, if they could get an elite defensive player in return. Of course, they had one of the league’s elitist defenders in Parsons before unloading him to the Packers, but who’s counting. Certainly, the 1-2 Cowboys -who needed a 64-yard FG just to get to OT in their one win against the winless Giants – need some help on that side of the ball, although their offence hasn’t been all that great shakes either i either of their two losses. For the record, the NFL trade deadline in November 4th. As we say, stay tuned!

QB questions growing for 2026 … For those that haven’t see it, ESPN had an interesting piece up this week in which they asked talent evaluators around the league for their view of who was the top QB prospect for the upcoming draft. According to the poll of 25 NFL scouts, South Carolina LaNorris Sellars and LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier were the top vote getters, although the author notes that 7 different QBs received at least one vote and concluded that “there’s still little clarity regarding who could emerge from that pack as the top quarterback for the 2026 NFL draft.” That sentiment was echoed over at CBS Sports where they are running an article entitled “is there anyone making a case for a top 5 selection?” with the simple answer of ‘probably not!’ Indeed, there seems to be a ton of fluctuation currently at the position with several top prospects including Clemson’s Cade Klubnik dropping rather precipitously, while several others including John Mateer of Oklahoma and Fernando Mendosa of Indiana are starting to generate some early QB1 buzz. And then there’s a 3rd group that’s just kind of holding serve including Drew Allar of Penn State and Miami’s Carson Beck. In fact, Beck is kind of the poster child of this kind of QB volatility as he was the consensus #1 prospect at the position at this time last fall as a Georgia Bulldog, but his season fell apart later in the season and he ultimately transferred to the Hurricanes where he appears to be in the process of resurrecting his draft prospects. Bottom line, stay tuned!

CFL makes major changes to Canadian game … The CFL announced some major to the way the game is played north of the border. Starting next fall, the Canadian league will be shortening its field from 110 to 100 yards, while also reducing the size of the end zones from 20 to 15 yards. The CFL will also move the goal posts back from the goal line to the back of the end zone. The field, though, will still be 65 yards wide – compared with just 53 yards for US football. The CFL will still have only three downs, although there will also be modificatios to the rouge – the uniquely Canadian rule which awards a single point for punts and missed FG attempts that are not run out of the end zone, as well as to how the clock will run between downs.

Four teams off schneid; half dozen winless teams left … After a wild and woolly Sunday of NFL action, the number of winless teams dropped from 10 to 6 as Carolina, Cleveland, Chicago and Kansas City all got their first Ws of the season. And while we are still a couple of weeks away from starting to post the updated weekly selection order for the 2026 draft’s opening round, we can say that if the draft were held this week the NY Jets would have the #1 pick overall followed by New Orleans, Tennessee, Miami, the NY Giants and Houston. Also note that the number of winless teams will drop by at least another two this coming week as Tennessee plays at Houston in an early game on Sunday afternoon, while the Jets play in Miami in one of two games on Monday night.

Who to watch in college football: September 20th … One might be tempted to think that if the ‘game of the week’ is Illinois versus Indiana (7:30 PM ET; NBC) that its probably a week in which one could just skip college football altogether, especially if one were looking for draft prospects to watch. One would be wrong however! True, the Illini and Hoosiers haven’t squared off in a meaningful national game since October 1950, but they’re both rising programs with interesting prospects for the 2026 draft. Both Illinois and Indiana have, for example, QBs that are getting some legitimate buzz in Luke Altmyer (#9, 6-2, 225) of the Illini and the Hoosiers’ Fernando Mendoza (#15, 6-5, 225). Both teams also feature an explosive ER with at least second-day potential in Gabe Jacas (#17, 6-3, 270) and Indiana’s Mikail Kamara (#6, 6-1, 265). For the record, Jacas already has 3.5 sacks on the season, while Kamara led all of FBS in QB pressures last fall including 10 sacks. Both teams also have corners with second-day potential in Xavier Scott (#14, 5-11, 195) of the Illini and Indiana All-American De’Angelo Ponds (#5-9, 175), although Scott is listed as questionable with an injury. All that said, Indiana’s best prospect ultimately may end up being WR Elijah Sarratt (#13, 6-2, 215), an explosive big-play threat who combines impressive size with track speed. Meanwhile, other players to watch in this game include rising Illinois LT JC Davis (6-5, 335) and Indiana LB Aiden Fisher (#4, 6-0, 235) who led the Big Ten in tackles last fall.

There’s actually a second game this weekend involving ranked teams and it too is between a couple of programs not usually included among the ‘usual suspects’ when #17 Texas Tech plays at #16 Utah (Noon ET; FOX). What makes this one particularly interesting is that the Utes’ two OTs – LT Caleb Lomu (#71, 6-6, 310) and RT Spencer Fano (#55, 6-6, 310) – will be tested by the Red Raiders disruptive DE David Bailey (#31, 6-3, 250). Fano in particular is a top 10-15 candidate for the upcoming draft, while Lomu and Bailey, who has 2.5 sacks already this year, are more second-day prospects.

A lot of eyes are also going to be on #22 Auburn at Oklahoma (3:30 PM ET; ABC) to check out Sooners’ QB John Mateer (#10, 6-1, 225), a gunslinger who appears to have taken an early lead in the Heisman Trophy race. However, the guys we’re interested in this game are Auburn DE Keldric Faulk (#15, 6-5, 285) and OT Xavier Chaplin (#65, 6-6, 345), while the Tigers’ other DE, Keyron Crawford (#24, 6-4, 255) who actually leads the team with 3.5 sacks, is also starting to draw some attention from pro scouts.

There’s a second potentially interesting game, at least from a scout’s perspective, Saturday evening when Arizona State plays at Baylor (7:30 PM ET; FOX) to kick off Big XII conference play. Both are 2-1 and neither is ranked but both have pretty good QBs in Sam Leavitt (#10, 6-2, 205) of ASU and Baylor’s Sawyer Robertson (#13, 6-3, 220), although neither appears all that likely to enter the upcoming draft. The Sun Devils. though, have the consensus top WR for the upcoming draft in Jordan Tyson (#0, 6-2, 200), a top 10-15 prospect if he can stay healthy, who has quite literally caught half of Leavitt’s completions thru the first three weeks; the Sun Devils also feature a rising candidate on the offensive line in hulking LT Max Iheanachor (#58, 6-6, 330).

LSU QB dinged; playing thru it … LSU has confirmed that QB Garrett Nussmeier, one of the top 2-3 prospects at the position for the 2026 draft, has what been playing with what is being described as a torso injury, since the start of the season. Nussmeier reportedly suffered the injury in pre-season training camp, ostensibly because of overwork. As noted, Nussmeier has continued to play for the 3rd ranked Tigers, but has been limited in practice and LSU is hoping that the problem will be resolved by some rest during the team’s bye week which comes up in a couple of weeks,

Just two weeks into the season … and no we won’t be publishing an updated first-round selection order for next April’s draft at least for several more weeks. We prefer to wait until we get a little more data to get a better feeling of what are the trends. What we can say is that a couple of weeks in there are 10 teams that are still winless including most of the usual suspects including Tennessee, Cleveland,the Giants,the Jets, Carolina,New Orleans and Chicago. At the same time, though there are teams that are not the usual suspects at 0-2 including Miami, Houston and Kansas City. What we can also say – just for fun – that based on the respective strengths of schedule from 2024 for the still winless teams, New Orleans would have the first pick overall next April with Tennessee, Carolina, the NY Jets and Miami rounding out the top 5 followed by Houston, Cleveland, Kansas City, Chicago and the NY Giants.

QBs Sellers injured, Manning booed (at home) … It was not a great day for young QBs in college football. South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers, for example, was knocked out of yesterday’s shocking 31-7 loss at home to Vanderbilt after taking a hit to the head late in the first half and did not return. There has been no update on Sellers’ condition as of this morning, although the fact that he didn’t even return to the sidelines during the second half yesterday has to be concerning. Meanwhile, Arch Manning’s struggles at Texas continued where he was booed at times during the Longhorns less than impressive 27-10 win over UTEP. Manning did run for a couple of scores and throw for a third, but on the day completed just 11 of 25 passes for a measly 114 yards against an undermanned UTEP team that a national power like Texas would be expected to crush.

At the same time, it will be interesting to see how pro scouts evaluate rising South Florida QB Byrum Brown after yesterday’s disappointing 49-12 loss at #5 Miami. Brown had started to create a buzz among scouts after leading the Bulls to upset wins over ranked opponents Boise State and Florida to start the season, but was only average against the Hurricanes completing 20-36 passes for 274 yards and a score with a pick. The guess here is that Brown ends up getting more points for his performance in the two wins, both of which were upsets, rather than the Miami loss, although obviously how he plays the rest of the season will be the deciding factor. Scouts may have also come out of this game scratching their heads about Miami QB Carson Beck who is trying to resurrect his pro prospects with the Hurricanes. Beck put up great numbers against USF as he completed an efficient 23 of 28 passes for 340 yards and 3 TDs. But the big bug-a-boo in Beck’s game has been the turnovers and he had a couple more picks against the Bulls.

Pats trade injured WR Polk to Saints … New Orleans has acquired 2d year WR Ja’Lynn Polk from New England in a trade involving a swap of future late picks. For Polk, a second round pick in 2024 who is out for the year with a shoulder injury, the Patriots will get a 6th round pick in 2027, while they’ll send a 7th rounder in 2028.

CFL GM passes away … Sad news from the Canadian league as Hamilton announced earlier today that Ti-Cats GM Ted Goveia had died. Goveia revealed earlier this year that he had been diagnosed with a serious form of cancer, but carried on with his work with the team. Goveia was a veteran of Canadian football having coached at the college level for 15 years before spending another 15 years in various administrative roles in the CFL culminating in his appointment as the GM of his home-team last December. Our condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.

Who to watch in college football: September 14th … After a very quiet weekend on the college football schedule last week, things heat up with a couple of key games involving ranked teams as #6 Georgia and #15 Tennessee open their respective SEC campaigns in Knoxville (3:30 PM ET; ABC), while #8 Notre Dame hosts #16 Texas A&M later that evening (7:30 PM ET; NBC.) Of course, if its Tennessee it would normally be Nico Iamaleava time, but the now former Vols’ QB abruptly left the program and headed west to UCLA this winter in a NIL dispute. Ironically, the Vols were able to fill the gap at QB with Joey Aguilar (#6, 6-3, 225). The Vols will also be without their one legitimate top prospect for the upcoming draft as star CB Jermond McCoy is still rehabbing from a torn ACL suffered in January.

For its part, Georgia has pretty much dominated the draft so far this decade. Indeed, UGA has had 55 players selected since 2021, compared with 44 for Alabama and 40 for Ohio State. And almost assuredly, Georgia is going to add to that total this coming April, although the Bulldogs don’t necessarily have any first-round locks, although LB CJ Allen (#3, 6-1, 235) and DT Christen Miller (#52, 6-3, 310) are currently rated among the top 2-3 prospects at their respective positions, but they’re both 3rd year juniors at somewhat lower-value positions. CB Daylen Everette (#6, 6-0, 190) could also get some late first-round consideration, while the Bulldogs boast one of the more interesting WR rooms featuring transfers Zachariah Branch (#1, 5-10, 180), the former USC speedster who doubles as one of the most electric kick returners in the country, and rangy Noah Thomas (#5, 6-5, 205), who comes over from Texas A&M, alog with veteran Colbie Young (#8, 6-3, 215). Meanwhile, G/T Earnest Greene (#71, 6-3, 320) and TE Oscar Delp (#4, 6-4, 245) figure to be decent mid-round type candidates. Whether the Bulldogs can make it back to the CFP playoffs, though, will depend largely on whether QB Gunnar Stockton (#14, 6-0, 215) can replace Carson Beck who moved on to Miami this winter. Stockton, the former walk-on is a character kid with a great story, but the question is whether he has the tools to deal with tough SEC on a weekly basis.

Meanwhile, up in South Bend the pressure will really be on Notre Dame when the face Texas A&M as the Irish already have a loss – to Florida State in Week One – on their docket and a second this early in the campaign could be very difficult to overcome. It certainly doesn’t help the Irish’s cause that they are in something of a rebuilding mode after making it all the way to last year’s CFP championship game. The one room they won’t have to worry about are the RBs. Indeed, Jeremiyah Love (#4, 5-11, 215) is one of THE top prospects at the position in all college football with legit first-round potential. Love combines with fellow junior Jadarian Price (#24, 5-10, 210) to give the Irish the best 1-2 RB combo in the country outside Penn State. The Irish laso have a pretty good RT with at least some first-round possibilities of their own in junior Aamil Wagner (#59, 6-5, 300), along with a couple of big, physical second-day type receivers in Jaden Greathouse (#1, 6-0, 215) and Malachi Fields (#0, 6-3, 220).

In fact, this game could come down to a battle of top RBs as the Aggies also feature a top 2-3 guy at the position in Le’Veon Moss (#8, 5-10, 210), while LB Taurean York (#21, 6-2, 250) and OG Ar’maj Reed-Adams (#55, 6-4, 325) are both also rated among the top 2-3 prospects at their respective positions and should get at least some late opening round consideration, while LT Trey Zuhn (#60, 6-5, 320), WR KC Concepcion (#7, 5-10, 190), and DE Cashius Howell (#9, 6-2, 250) each have mid-to-later round potential.

Vols’ CB McCoy still out … Just a note on Tennessee CB Jermond McCoy who is generally considered to be the top prospect at the position for the upcoming draft. McCoy has still not been activated by the Vols as a result of a torn ACL he suffered in January. As well, there does not appear to any particular timeline for his return to action this fall at this time. Interesting, though, that even though the health issue for the top prospect at the position remains, one gets the sense that the position overall is growing in the eyes of pro scouts. Prior to the season, for example, there was a sense among scouts that 2026 would not necessarily be a very good year at CB. More recently, though, there seems to be a growing sense that there just might be a decent run on corners in the latter part of the opening round and into the second this coming April including an intriguing group of 3rd year CBs such as Aveion Terrell of Clemson, Michigan’s Jyaire Hill, Jermaine Matthews of Ohio State and Penn State’s AJ Harris, backed up by a solid group of upperclassmen including Tacario Davis, now up at Washington, LSU’s Mansoor Delane, DJ McKinney of Colorado and Josh Moten of Southern Miss.

Eagles get RB Bigsby from Jags for picks … The stories on Philadelphia’s acquisition of veteran RB Tank Bigsby from Jacksonville have been updated. Rather than swapping 5th and 6th round picks in 2026 as originally reported, Jacksonville actually gets 5th AND 6th round picks from the Eagles in exchange.

Some thoughts on the passing college QB situation … Star of the week in college football this weekend appears to be Oklahoma QB John Mateer who led the Sooners to 24-13 upset win over Michigan Saturday evening as he completed 21 0f 34 passes for 270 yards and a score, while running for another 74 yards and 2 TDs. And there’s no question that Mateer, who transferred to OU from Washington State this past off-season is an exciting college QB. He’s a true gamer who can make plays with both his legs and his arm; plus he has that rare ability to make those uncanny off-script throws often from weird angles. In fact, we were really keen to watch Mateer this weekend and while we came away impressed, we’re also wondering just how well his game will ultimately translate to the NFL. He takes a lot of hits for a 205-pounder and made a number of odd-angled throws that while they did find a passing lane weren’t all that precise. Indeed, he had one pass picked off on a bad overthrow and should have had a second intercepted on an under-throw which one of his receivers was able to knock down. Bottom line: the physical talent looks like its there; the question is are the fundamentals?

And while we are still only a couple of weeks into the season, we are starting to get the feeling that there are some real questions about this year’s QB draft class. Certainly, it does not appear, at least at this point, that there are any QBs this year with the same kind of potential elite status like Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence or Caleb Williams had in recent years. In fact, its not clear that any of this year’s top QB prospects are even in the same class as Cam Ward this past year. At the same time, guys like Drew Allar of Penn State, and LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier are better prospects than Kenny Pickett was in that down year for the position, but again at least at this time, it doesn’t appear as if the 2026 draft will necessarily be a bonanza for QB needy teams, although its also important to note that there is still a long season to go and that QBs like Burrow, Ward and Jayden Daniels were still barely blips on the NFL’s first-round radar at this point in their final seasons in college. Stay tuned!

Belichek confirms Pats’ scouts’ ban … In the wake of North Carolina’s 20-3 win over Charlotte on Saturday, Heels’ coach Bill Belichek confirmed that he has in fact banned scouts from New England from UNC’s premises. The move apparently comes in response to the fact that Belichek feels that he has been dissed by his old employers and is dissing right back. Says Belichek ‘he’s the boss at North Carolina and doesn’t have to deal with an owner or an owner’s son!’ Of course, it also appears as if Belichek has missed the point of the whole exercise. Pro scouts aren’t on campus to see him; they’re there to evaluate his players future pro prospects so they are in fact the ones being hurt the most by the ban, although it can also be argued that it may be just as well if scouts don’t see them all that up and close and personal after the Tar Heels embarrassing home loss to TCU earlier this month in which they conceded 48 straight points.