{"id":224042,"date":"2025-10-14T13:17:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T13:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/224042\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T13:17:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T13:17:07","slug":"five-prospects-who-improved-their-2026-nfl-draft-stock-in-week-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/224042\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Prospects Who Improved Their 2026 NFL Draft Stock in Week 7"},"content":{"rendered":"

Week 1 Risers and Fallers<\/a> | Week 2<\/a> | Week 3<\/a> | Week 4<\/a> | Week 5<\/a> | Week 6<\/a><\/p>\n

Chaos has become the only predictable aspect of this college football season<\/a>, and Week 7 delivered plenty more of it.<\/p>\n

Indiana broke a 46-game winless streak against AP top-five teams, topping Oregon 30\u201320 <\/a>in Eugene. Unranked Texas stomped No. 6 Oklahoma<\/a>, 23\u20136, in the Red River Rivalry. No. 15 Michigan and shorthanded No. 21 Arizona State each lost road games to unranked foes in USC and Utah, respectively.<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s risers and fallers were somewhat unpredictable, too. There weren\u2019t standout performances from the top quarterbacks, though Alabama\u2019s Ty Simpson added another line to his r\u00e9sum\u00e9 in a road win at Missouri.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There were, however, a few hits to the quarterback class and several standout efforts from potential top 100 picks in the Big Ten and SEC.<\/p>\n

Here are Sports Illustrated\u2019s risers and fallers from Week 7.<\/p>\n

RISERS\"Bulldogs<\/p>\n

Bulldogs inside linebacker CJ Allen sacks Auburn quarterback Jackson Arnold during their game on Saturday. Allen has played his way into the first round. \/ Jake Crandall\/ Advertiser \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Georgia\u2019s defense didn\u2019t allow a point in the second half of the Bulldogs\u2019 20\u201310 comeback win at Auburn, and Allen was at the forefront of the dominance. The 6′ 1″, 235-pounder led all players with 10 tackles, and he added one sack and two tackles for loss. Allen, who entered the year as a fringe first-round pick, has enjoyed a terrific junior season. He\u2019s smart, physical and steady, and he\u2019s proven to be an efficient blitz piece. Allen looked like a first-round player Saturday.<\/p>\n

Wilson\u2019s pass-rushing teammate, Zion Young, earned a mention on the risers list after Week 5<\/a>,\u00a0 and it\u2019s only fair that the other half of one of college football\u2019s best edge duos gets similar recognition. Wilson tallied two sacks and five total pressures in the Tigers\u2019 27\u201324 loss to Alabama, according to Pro Football Focus<\/a>. At 6′ 4″ and 250 pounds, Wilson is springy, athletic and productive\u2014he\u2019s No. 11 in the nation with 27 pressures to go along with 5.5 sacks and seven quarterback hits. The 20-year-old junior is playing his way into the middle of Day 2.<\/p>\n

The Hoosiers had several standouts in their 30\u201320 road win over Oregon, but Sarratt made countless big plays down the stretch to snap IU\u2019s 46-game losing streak against AP top-five teams. Sarratt caught eight passes for 121 yards and scored a go-ahead touchdown midway through the fourth quarter on his patented back-shoulder play. The 6′ 1″, 213-pound Sarratt is a savvy route runner and one of the nation\u2019s best contested catch receivers. Testing will dictate if he can get into Day 2, but he\u2019s certainly skilled enough for it.<\/p>\n

\"Buckeyes<\/p>\n

Buckeyes cornerback Davison Igbinosun broke up four passes in Ohio State’s win over Illinois on Saturday. \/ Adam Cairns\/Columbus Dispatch \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

There aren\u2019t many cornerbacks in the FBS playing better than Igbinosun, who broke up four passes against Illinois and allowed only one catch for six yards on seven targets, according to Pro Football Focus<\/a>. Penalties were the knock on Igbinosun exiting 2024\u2014he committed 16 of them\u2014but he\u2019s found the physicality balance this year, as he\u2019s been penalized only twice. Igbinosun is a quality cover corner with the confidence, instincts and ball skills to start at the next level. He\u2019s in line to be a Day 2 pick.<\/p>\n

Chaplin hasn\u2019t always lived up to lofty preseason expectations, but he handled Georgia\u2019s defensive line Saturday. The 6′ 7″, 348-pound Chaplin is a physical mauler at left tackle who\u2019s known for displacing defenders in the run game, but he didn\u2019t allow a single pressure against the Bulldogs. Chaplin, a redshirt junior, struggled against Texas A&M in Auburn\u2019s previous game. Still, he closely resembled a top-50 pick Saturday, whether he cements himself as one depends on his performance over the remainder of the season.<\/p>\n

Get MMQB’s Free Newsletter. dark. Sign Up. SI NFL Newsletter<\/p>\n

FALLERS<\/p>\n

What was supposed to be a successful swan song in Happy Valley suddenly spiraled into a nightmarish reality. Allar\u2019s early-season struggles largely removed him from first-round conversations entering Saturday. Still, his season-ending left leg injury robbed him of the chance to rebuild his stock and end his college career on better terms. How far Allar slides will be determined, at least partially, by pre-draft medical checks and whether he can throw in front of evaluators. But Allar, a projected top-10 pick this summer, may fall out of the first two days entirely.<\/p>\n

Barber, the No. 17 player on Sports Illustrated\u2019s summer big board, has faced a gauntlet of pass rushers and experienced mixed results. There was little mixed about his performance Saturday against Texas A&M and standout edge rusher Cashius Howell. Barber allowed two sacks and four total pressures, according to Pro Football Focus<\/a>, which gave Barber a 0.0 pass blocking grade. Barber gave up only two sacks all of last season, and his blend of balance, body control and athleticism gives him the profile of a steady blindside blocker. He didn\u2019t look it against Texas A&M.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a definite asterisk next to Mateer\u2019s three-interception performance in his Red River Rivalry debut, as it\u2019s impressive\u2014and a nod to his toughness\u2014he even played less than three weeks after undergoing surgery on his throwing hand. But Mateer\u2019s outing was uninspiring, to say the least. He went 20-of-38 passing for 202 yards, no touchdowns and took five sacks. Mateer, an early-season standout who entered the first-round discussion, has time to rejoin the mix amongst the top signal callers. But Mateer, who has another year of eligibility, will need to prove Saturday wasn\u2019t merely a sign of things to come in the second half.<\/p>\n

More NFL on Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Week 1 Risers and Fallers | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 |…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-224042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}