One corner in draft; one out … I guess one could call it a ‘Tale of Two Corners” as Texas CB Malik Muhammad has announced that he’ll be entering the 2026 draft while it appears that AJ Harris of Penn State will not. Reports from Penn State indicate that Harris is o longer with the program ad it is believed he’ll be entering his name in the transfer portal when it opens on January 2nd. Also for the record, South Carolina QB LaNorris Sellers, who reportedly told program officials that he’d be back in school next year has now formally confirmed that, while Nico Iamaleava has confirmed that he’ll be back at UCLA next fall.
Weekly selection order posted … With another week in the books, the selection order for the first-round of the 2026 draft, were it to be held this week, has been updated here.
Aggie WR Concepcion enters draft … A second Texas A&M underclassmen has announced that he’ll be entering the 2026 draft where he projects to be an early-to-mid second round type pick. Concepcion joins CB Will Lee who announced earlier in the day he’ll be entering the draft.
Top ERs hilite latest Senior Bowl ads … A couple of outstanding edge rushers whose teams were knocked out of the CFP playoffs this past weekend head a list of more than a dozen players who have been confirmed as having accepted invites to this year’s Senior Bowl in Mobile at the end of January. Cashius Howell of Texas A&M and R Mason Thomas of Oklahoma both confirmed that they’ll be participating in next month’s Senior Bowl week. Howell, who had 11.5 sacks in a breakout campaign this past fall, in particular is a rising prospect with some legitimate late first-round aspirations. Meanwhile, other players whom the Senior Bowl announced will be playing this year include QBs Luke Altmyer of Illnois and North Dakota State’s Cole Payton; OTs JC Davis of Illinois and Jude Bowry of Boston College; TEs Josh Cuevas of Oklahoma and NC State’s Justin Joly; CBs Chandler Rivers of Duke and Washington’s CB Tacario Davis; safeties AJ Haulcy of LSU and South Carolina’s Jalen Kilgore; DTs Gracen Halton of Oklahoma and Tennessee’s Bryson Eason; and LBs Owen Heineicke of Oklahoma, NC State’s Cian Stone and Keyshaun Elliott of Arizona State.
USF QB to portal; A&M CB, LSU WR enter draft … Its been kind of a quiet 2-3 days on the college football wire, but earlier today, South Florida QB Byrum Brown has confirmed that he will in fact be putting his name into the transfer portal when it officially opens on January 2nd. Brown, one of the top dual-threat QBs in the country, had been considered to be a potential rising star for the upcoming draft, but will now takes his game elsewhere, most likely Auburn where Brown’s former USF coach Alex Golesh has taken over. At the same time, two other underclassmen in cluding Texas A&M CB Will Lee and LSU WR Aaron Anderson have both announced that they’ll be foregoing their remaining eligibility and entering the 2026 draft.
College quarters set … For those that don’t necessarily follow college football all that closely, the CFP quarter-finals have been set after this weekend’s first round of the playoffs. Miami will face Ohio State on New Year’s Eve in the Cotton Bowl, while on January 1st Oregon plays Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl, Alabama meets top-ranked Indiana in the Rose Bowl and Mississippi plays Georgia in an all-SEC match-up in the Sugar Bowl.
Tide advances in CFP; NFL awaits on Sooners’ QB Mateer … For those that went to bed early last night, Alabama overcame an early 17-0 deficit and went on to to defeat Oklahoma 34-24 in the opening game of the CFP playoffs. Alabama will now advance to play against top-ranked Indiana in a CFP quarter-final game in the Rose Bowl on January 1st. And that will set up a potentially fascinating QB dual between the Hoosiers’ Fernando Mendoza and Ty Simpson of Alabama, arguably the two top-rated prospects at the position for the 2026 draft, although technically neither has actually declared for the draft. Meanwhile, the NFL is waiting to hear from Oklahoma QB John Mateer, who is probably QB3 this year, after last night’s loss. Mateer, though, was largely non-committal after the game saying the usual he needs to talk with his family and look at all his options etc. before making a decision.
Top-rated WR; Pitt scatback enter draft … Arizona WR Jordyn Tyson, one of the top 2-3 prospects at the position for the 2026 draft, has announced that he is in fact headed to the NFL. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh lost its second player of the day to the draft as RB Desmond Reid joined LB Kyle Louis, who declared earlier this morning, in confirming that he’ll be turning pro this winter. Like Louis, Reid was a 2024 All-American who had over 1,500 yards from scrimmage including almost 1,000 on the ground and another 600 or so on 52 receptions.
Pitt LB Louis enters draft … Pittsburgh LB Kyle Louis, a 2024 All-American, has announced his intention to enter the 2026 draft. Louis is a little undersized at 6-0, 225, but he’s been very productive the past couple of seasons, although his numbers were down somewhat this past fall. Still, Louis Louis had 81 tackles including 3 sacks, two interceptions and two fumble recoveries this season despite missing a couple of games with an injury, while he had 101 tackles including 7 sacks and 4 picks the year before.
Duke QB Mensah confirms return … Multiple sources are reporting at this hour that Duke redshirt sophomore QB Darian Mensah has told team officials that he will be returning to school next year. Mensah, who was 7th in the country in passing yards per game this past season, had ben considering his NFL options after reportedly receiving a very positive review by the NFL’s special draft advisory committee.
CFP playoffs kickoff tonight … Just a reminder, as if anyone who cares will need a reminder, but the first round of the CFP playoffs get underway at 8 PM ET later this evening with #8 Oklahoma hosting #9 Alabama in the first of four games this weekend. The tomorrow #10 Miami will be at #7 Texas A&M at Noon ET, followed by #11 Tulane at #6 Mississippi at 3:30 PM ET and #12 James Madison at #5 Oregon at 7:30 PM ET. And again, here’s a preview of the players we’ll be watching this weekend with an eye toward the 2026 draft.
Frogs’ QB Hoover to transfer … TCU QB Josh Hoover reportedly as opted to enter his name in the transfer portal when it opens on January 2nd rather than throw his hat into the 2026 draft ring. If he does in fact end up back in college somewhere next season, Hoover, who has almost 10,000 career passing yards to date, will be the leading returning passer in college football next season.
Hoover, of course, is not the first QB to announce he’ll be back at school next fall rather than entering the upcoming draft as he’ll join the likes of Arch Manning, LaNorris Sellers, Sam Leavitt, Jayden Maiava, and Connor Weigman who have already indicated they’re either staying put for 2026 or transferring. And he likely won’t be the last as at least a half dozen others with remaining eligibility who are thought to be leaning that way includig potential top prospects like Dante Moore and Ty Simpson.
In fact, there appears something of an interesting juxtaposition here. It was thought, for example, that an inordinate number of underclassmen would take the sure NIL money and hang around college longer than in the pre-NIL days. And in fact that seems to be happening with the QBs, but so far we’re not seeing much evidence that players at any other position are being so tempted, although we do note that there are still a lot of top prospects out there with eligibility remaining who have yet to speak up.
Duke duo to enter draft; Devils still waiting on QB Mensah … A pair of quality prospects from Duke confirmed this week that they will be entering the 2026 draft as both CB Chandler Rivers and G/T Brian Parker announced that they will be turning pro this winter; both are considered to be early-to-mid second day candidates with Rivers in particular having at least some late first potential. At the same time, Duke is still waiting for a final word from rising QB Darian Mensah, the 5th leading passer in college football this past season, whether he intends to enter the 2026 draft or return to school next season. Mensah reportedly received a very good evaluation for the NFL’s draft advisory committee and he said he’d like to make a decision this week. For the record, Mensah is still practising with the Blue Devils as they prepare for their bowl game later this month.
Ole Miss LB Perkins to return to school … Its been kind of quiet on the college football wire this day, but the one move we can report is that Mississippi LB Suntarine Perkins has decided to return to the Rebels ext fall. Perkins is somewhat undersized for a pro LB at not much over 210 pounds, but he is very athletic and last year posted 10.5 sacks, although that number dipped to just two this year as he played as more of an off-ball backer this year.
Top DEs hilite day’s Senior Bowl adds … The Senior Bowl announced the addition of another 9 players to next month’s game including a couple of very good edge rushers in David Bailey of Texas Tech and Illinois’ Gabe Jacas. Bailey, who was 2nd in the country with 13.5 sacks this past fall, may in fact be the highest rated player to have committed to the Senior Bowl so far. The Senior Bowl also added a Fano from Utah, just not Spencer the top 10 OT, but Logan another DE. Meanwhile, the other players announced this day included RBs Adam Randall of Clemson and Virginia’s J’Mari Taylor, DTs Jeffrey M’Ba of SMU and South Carolina’s Nick Barrett, Arkansas LB Xavian Sorey, and North Carolina CB Thad Dixon
Utah OT; 2 Sun Devils enter draft … One of two Utah OTs with first-round potential has announced he’ll be entering the 2026 draft as Caleb Lomu, the Utes redshirt sophomore LT, has declared his intention to turn pro this winter. The NFL, though, is still waiting to hear from the Utes’ RT Spencer Fano, a potential top 10 prospect though is yet to be heard from. Meanwhile, a couple more Arizona State players have also announced their intentions to enter this year’s draft in CB Keith Abney and RB Raleik Brown, both of whom are coming off breakouts years. Abney, in particular, earned several all-American nods as he emerged as a solid second-day prospect, while Brown, who ran for over 1,100 yards and caught 37 passes, but is a little undersized at 5-9, 195 and could get some looks as a slot receiver at the next level, is more a third-day type. We should also note that Cincinnati QB Brendan Sorsby did confirm earlier this week that he will be putting his name into the transfer portal when it opens January 2nd, although he still hasn’t formally ruled out entering the draft. Rumors out of Cincinnati are that they he may be on his way to Texas Tech for the 2026 campaign.
USC WR Lemon enters draft … Southern California WR Makai Lemon, a top 5-10 prospect for the upcoming draft, has announced that he will in fact be entering the upcoming draft.
Who to watch in first round of CFP playoffs … The first round of this year’s CFP playoffs gets underway Friday evening when #8 Oklahoma hosts #9 Alabama, while #10 Miami plays at #7 Texas A&M, #11 Tulane travels to #6 Mississippi and #5 Oregon hosts #12 James Madison in a Saturday tripleheader. Here’s who we’ll be watching with an eye toward the 2026 draft in this weekend’s games.
Another Irish RB headed to draft … Literally just hours after Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love announced that he was leaving for the 2026 NFL draft, the Irish backfield took another hit as Jadarian Price also confirmed that he will be turning pro this winter. While playing second fiddle to Love, the 5-11, 210-pound Price managed to run for almost 700 yards of his own, averaging 6.0 yards per carry along the way and scoring 11 times.
Senior Bowl adds 5 more to roster … The Senior Bowl announced the addition of another 5 players to this year’s roster including Texas A&M RB Le’Veon Moss, Indiana WR Elijah Sarratt, Arizona CB Treydan Stukes, who had 54 tackles and 4 picks this year, and 6-3, 325-pound DTs Domonique Orange of Iowa State and Missouri’s Chris McClellan.
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