NEWS AND NEAR NEWS

Buckeyes lose star LB to pros; keep two OL … Ohio State MLB Sonny Styles has announced that he’ll be joining former teammate Arvell Reese in the 206 draft. Both are considered to be first-round prospects. The Buckeyes did get some good news though as both C Carson Hinzman and OT Austin Siereveld will be back with the program next year. Meanwhile, LSU WR Nic Anderson has also indicated that he’ll be back at school next fall. On the other hand, we have yet to see (or hear) any word from Oklahoma QB John Mateer.

Ducks’ Moore to return to school … Oregon QB Dante Moore has just announced that he will be returning to the program in 2026.  Possibly just got tired of wearing a green uniform!!

Ducks’ S enters draft; still crickets from QB … With just a few hours until the deadline for underclassmen to apply for early admission to the 2026 draft, Oregon junior safety Dillon Thieneman, one of the top 2-3 prospects at the position, has told ESPN that he is in fact entering the draft. The NFL, though, is still waiting for word from the Ducks’ star QB Dante Moore, who if he opts to enter the draft would likely be one of only a couple of passers to figure in the top 5. Stay tuned!

OL adds hilite latest Senior Bowl commits … The Senior Bowl has announced the addition of a dozen or so new commits this week including a number of prominent offensive line prospects including Iowa OT Gennings Dunker; OGs Emmanul Pregnon of Oregon, Jalen Farmer of Kentucky and Boston College’s Logan Taylor; and Alabama AA C Parkers Brailsford. Other recent Senior Bowl additions include Miami DE Ahkeem Mesidor; AA Texas Tech LB Jake Rodriquez, TEs Dan Villari of Syracuse and Ohio State’s Will Kacmarek; and LSU WR Aaron Anderson along with P Brett Thorson and AA LS Beau Gardner of Georgia. Mesidor, Dunker, Pregnon and Rodriquez are particularly noteworthy as they each have at least solid second day potential. We also note that Mesidor and BC’s Taylor are Canadians; Mesidor and Taylor, in fact, are currently the two top ranked prospects for this year’s CFL draft.

Draft deadline day for underclassmen … Underclassmen planning on entering the 2026 draft have until 4 PM ET later today to file paperwork with the NFL in order to be eligible to be selected this year. In fact, just about all the usual suspects have declared in one way or another with QBs Dante Moore of Oregon and Oklahoma’s John Mateer the only real exceptions, along with potential prospects from Miami and Indiana who play in Monday’s CFP national game, but they have an extension until the 23rd to apply to the league. Once today’s deadline passes, underclassmen have a 72-hour window to withdraw their applications.

QB Simpson files draft paprework; TEs Sadiq, Klare enter draft … Thee are multiple reports at this hour that Alabama QB Ty Simpson has in fact filed the paperwork with the NFL to be included in the 2026 draft. Simpson had announced that he would be entering the draft, but with rumors swirling of several lucrative NIL offers being thrown his way had reportedly not officially applied to the NFL ahead of tomorrow’s deadline. Meanwhile, two top TEs – Kenyon Sediq and Max Klare of Ohio State – have confirmed that they will be entering this year’s draft. Sediq, in particular, is the consensus top prospect at the position with as much as top 10-15 potential. Underclassmen have until 4 PM ET tomorrow afternoon to file the requisite paperwork with the NFL in order to be eligible to be drafted.

Reports have Simpson still leaning to draft … With just over 24 hours for underclassmen to file paperwork in order to be eligible for the 2026 draft, there is still no definitive word on whether former Alabama QB Ty Simpson will follow thru on an earlier announcement that he will be entering the draft or opt to accept one of the lucrative NIL offers that have been thrown his way in recent days. Reports out of Alabama, though, are suggesting that Simpson is still leaning strongly to entering the draft; there are for example unconfirmed reports that Simpson has accepted an invite to participate in this month’s Senior Bowl, but that has not shown up on their website to date.

UGA OT Freeling to draft; QB Leavitt to LSU; Tide S Bullard stays put … The clock continues to tick for underclassmen thinking of entering the 2026 draft with the deadline to apply for early entry coming up tomorrow. One of the bigger remaining questions got answered the morning when rising Georgia junior OT Monroe Freeling announced that he will be entering the draft. He’s a rangy 6-7, 310-pounder with light feet and prototype length who figures to start getting serious consideration as early as the middle of the opening round. On the other hand, Alabama S Bray Hubbard has announced that he will be returning to the Tide for the upcoming season, while former Arizona State QB Sam Leavitt has confirmed that he is indeed transferring to LSU. Meanwhile, the NFL still waits to hear from QBs Dante Moore of Oregon and Oklahoma’s John Mateer, along with Ty Simpson of Alabama who said he was headed to the draft, but reportedly still hasn’t officially applied to the NFL and is being literally bombarded with lucrative NIL offers to transfer. Stay tuned!!

First 3 rounds selection order set (almost); Jets, Phins lead premium pick chase … With the NFL’s regular season in the books, along with the wild card playoff round, the selection order for the first three rounds of the 2026 draft is now coming into focus with the initial 24 picks in each of the first three rounds now set, of course, barring future trades. Picks 25-28 will go to the losing teams in this weekend’s conference semi-final games; picks 29 and 30 will go to the losers of the conference finals on January 25th, while picks 31 and 32 go to the Super Bowl finalists.

And while the numbers could, and almost surely will change with future trades, as of today, the NY Jets and Miami lead the league with 5 total first and second day picks apiece. The Jets, in particular, look to have the potential for a real draft haul this year with two first rounders, including the 2nd overall, and two more in the second, while the Dolphins only have one in each of the first two rounds, but do have three in the third. At the same time, several other teams have 4 top 100 picks apiece including Cleveland, Denver, Houston, Jacksonville, Pittsburgh and the LA Rams. At the same time, every team in the league has at least a couple of premium picks, although several including Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, Green Bay, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Washington and the NY Giants have just the two each. Here’s the full list of picks by team as we have it to date at least through the first three rounds.

Is Tide QB Simpson rethinking draft commit? … Now former Alabama QB Ty Simpson announced that he would be bypassing his final year of eligibility to enter the 2026 draft. However, that has not stopped a number of prominent programs from throwing some big NIL numbers at Simpson to see if they can possibly change his mind. In fact, there are reports that Miami has offered Simpson $6.5M, while both Tennessee and Mississippi have offered $4M. At least for now, though, reporting seems to indicate that Simpson is still leaning toward the draft, but it also appears that he has yet to actually submit paperwork with the NFL for early entry to this year’s draft, with that deadline coming up on Wednesday.

Top LT Goosby returning to Horns … Texas QB Arch Manning will be able to sleep a little better this winter knowing that star LT Trevor Goosby will be back with the program next fall. Goosby had been a rising star in the 2026 draft class with more than one analyst speculating that the 6-7, 315-pounder with prototype length and great feet could actually end up being the first OT off this board this coming April. Instead, NFL teams will have t wait at least another year, although it could be more as Goosby actually has two more tears of eligibility available.

Another Duck coming home to roost … Speaking of the Oregon Ducks, another top prospect from the program has confirmed that he will be back next year as rising junior DT A’Mauri Washington has announced that he will be bypassing the 2026 draft and returning for his senior season. Washington had been considered to be one of the top 2-3 candidates at the position for the upcoming draft. He joins star DEs Matayo Uigalelei and Teitum Tuioti and C Iapanai Laloulu who announced yesterday that they will also be returning to the Ducks next fall. Meanwhile, the NFL has yet to hear from 3 other Duck prospects including QB Dante Moore, TE Kenyon Sadiq, and S Dillon Thieneman.

Ducks get one of top portal QBs … There is an interesting development at Oregon which just got a transfer commitment from former Nebraska QB Dominic Raiola, one of the better young passers in the league. The Ducks – not to mention the NFL – are waiting for word from incumbent Oregon QB Dante Moore on his plans for the upcoming draft where he is projected to be one of the first couple of QBs off the board. Would an emerging star like Raiola commit to a program which already has an established starter? Its possible, for example, that he’d be prepared to redshirt a year and take over from Moore in 2027, but it just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Of course, Moore has until tomorrow afternoon to apply to the NFL for early entry to this year’s draft and Raiola could conceivably transfer again if the former opted to stay as the transfer portal is open until Friday. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, there are rumblings out of LSU that the Tigers are close to signing former Arizona State QB Sam Leavitt, the last remaining unsigned big name passer i currently in the portal.

Browns to pick 24th … All that can be confirmed after today’s tripleheader of wild card games is that Cleveland will have the 24th pick overall  in the opening round of the 2026 draft with Jacksonville’s first rounder. As noted earlier, Carolina ad Dallas, with Green Bay’s pick, will have the 19th and 20th picks respectively as a result of Saturday’s games. And Pittsburgh will get the 21st pick if they lose to Houston Monday night with the LA Chargers and Philadelphia selecting 22nd and 23rd respectively. A Steelers’ win though pushes the Chargers and Eagles down one spot each with the Texans sliding into the 23rd slot.

Trio of Duck stars to return; 4 to declare … With the clock ticking on underclassmen thinking of entering this year’s draft who have until the end of business on Tuesday to file the appropriate paperwork with the NFL league office, Oregon DE Matayo Uigalelei, OLB Teitum Tuioti and C Iapani Lalloulu have all confirmed that they will be back with the program next fall for another kick at the can. Meanwhile, the NFL has yet to hear from another 4 Duck prospects including QB Dante Moore, TE Kenyon Sadiq, DT A’Mauri Washington and S Dillon Thieneman. Moore, of course, is the big fish here as he is one of the only two QBs eligible to enter this year’s draft with legit top 5 potential along with Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza. Meanwhile, Sadiq is the consensus top TE in this year’s draft with first-round potential of his own; same for Washington, whiel Thieneman is one of the leading 2-3 safety candidates, although he’s more a late third round type. For the the record, while the deadline for underclassmen to enter the draft is Tuesday at 4 PM ET, players from Indiana and Miami who will be facing each other in the national championship finale a week from Monday – ie after the main deadline – will get an extension until January 23rd to file their paperwork.

Packers collapse in Chicago locks up another pick … My goodness! Another wild finish in the widlcard battle between divison-rivals Green Bay and Chicago last night as the Bears rallied from 18 points down in the 2nd half post to post a dramatic 31-27 win over the Packers. With the loss the Packers will get the 20th pick in each round in the 2026 draft; however, it will actually be Dallas making that pick i the opening round after they acquired that pick from the Packers in an earlier trade.

Panthers to pick 19th … Carolina threw a scare into the LA Rams in their first-round playoff game earlier this afternoon when the Panthers took a 4-point lead with just over 2 minutes to play following a blocked punt. But Rams QB Matt Stafford was able to lead a go-ahead TD march that culminated in a go-ahead score of their own in the game’s final minute. As a result of the loss the Panthers will have the 19th pick in this year’s draft; and because the Panthers are the only sub-.500 team in this year’s playoff field, they will in fact have the 19th pick in every round.

Half dozen draft slots to be decided as playoffs kick off … With the 6 wild card playoff games this weekend, 6 more spots in the selection order for the opening round of the 2026 draft – numbers 19 thru 24 – will go to the losers of this week’s games. Spots 25-28 will then go to the losers of next week’s conference semi-finals; spots 29 and 30 to the losers of conference finals on January 25th; pot 31 to the loser of the Super Bowl and finally spot 32 to the Super Bowl winner. THis weekend’s games get underway this afternoon with the LA Rams playing at Carolina at 4:30 PM ET, followed by Green Bay at Chicago at 8 PM ET; then tomorrow its Buffalo at Jacksonville at 1 PM ET; San Francisco at Philadelphia at 4:30 PM ET and the LA Chargers at New England at 8 PM ET; while the weekend wraps with Houston playing at Pittsburgh on Monday evening.

College football comings and goings … It kind of flew under the radar last weekend, but Clemson OT Blake Miller, who had been considered to be a solid second-tier prospect for the upcoming draft, announced that he was returning to the Tigers for the 2026 season. Same for former Auburn WR Eric Singleton who had announced that he was entering the draft, but has now reportedly withdrawn his application and instead will enter the transfer portal. Meanwhile, in a couple of future draft stories, former Florida QB DJ Lagway who has reportedly committed to Baylor will still reportedly visit Mississippi in the next few days; the Rebels of course are now in the hunt for help at the position after the NCAA denied Trinidad Chambliss’ appeal for a 6th year of eligibility, although both the school and player are expected to appeal. Also, Auburn junior RB Jeremiah Cobb has opted to stay with the program for the upcoming season.

Hoosiers advance to CFP final … It will be Indiana versus Miami in the CFP national championship game on January 19th in the Hurricanes home stadium. The Hoosiers advanced to the final with a crushing win over Oregon that was never really close. Meanwhile, the big question for Oregon is does QB Dante Moore opt to enter the upcoming draft or stick with the program for another year. He didn’t really have a top-5 worthy game this evening with multiple turnovers, including a pick 6 on the Ducks first play from scrimmage, but NFL teams don’t grade based on one game.