early first-round mock<\/a>, I assume they\u2019re at the top of your list, but are Kewan Lacy, Isaac Brown, Nate Frazier and Justice Haynes in a similar tier? \u2014 Reid B.<\/p>\nI went in depth on a few dozen draft-eligible running backs last week and came away excited about this class. I finished with almost identical grades on Baugh and Lacy at the top of my stack \u2014 both have the talent to be first-round picks.<\/p>\n
Baugh has rare athletic twitch for a 228-pound back and can just as easily set up his blocks as he can run through tackle attempts. Hardy isn\u2019t far behind, and his production in the SEC speaks for itself. Another step down from there is Brown, who has explosive speed to confound defenders, but his subpar frame (190 pounds) and ball-security issues gave me pause.<\/p>\n
The senior class has several running backs who are NFL-quality prospects. After transferring from Michigan to Georgia Tech, Haynes will enter the year as my top-ranked senior at the position, but BYU\u2019s LJ Martin and Miami\u2019s Mark Fletcher (both of whom weigh over 225 pounds) aren\u2019t far behind. I\u2019m also eager to see Raleek Brown at Texas after his 1,100-yard showing at Arizona State last season.<\/p>\n
It is a low bar, but the 2027 running back draft class should be a major step up from that of 2026.<\/p>\n
Dane, out of the Big Ten\u2019s big three of Ohio State, Oregon and Indiana, which do you think will have the most draft picks next spring? \u2014 Braden R.<\/p>\n
I think it\u2019ll be a tight race all the way until the 2027 draft. My early answer is Ohio State, but that could change depending on how the college football season plays out and which underclassmen declare.<\/p>\n
The Buckeyes have a legit top-three pick at wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and several other top-50 contenders, such as pass rusher Kenyatta Jackson Jr. and offensive lineman Luke Montgomery. My initial pass through the Ohio State tape revealed a dozen draftable players.<\/p>\n
But Indiana and Oregon are loaded with future NFL guys, as well \u2014 those programs also could produce double-digit picks in 2027. Hoosiers wide receiver Charlie Becker and left tackle Carter Smith are two of my favorite prospects in the country. That roster also has several fun players currently projected to go on Day 3 (edge rusher Tobi Osunsanmi and linebacker Isaiah Jones, to name a couple).<\/p>\n
Oregon is loaded on the defensive line, as Matayo Uiagalelei, A\u2019Mauri Washington, Bear Alexander and Teitum Tuioti all will enter the year with the chance to be top-50 picks. I\u2019m also excited to see the return of WR Evan Stewart, who is making his way back from a knee injury but has the talent to be the first senior drafted at his position. Oh yeah, and that Dante Moore guy is pretty good, too.<\/p>\n
How many players have draftable grades on this year\u2019s Notre Dame team? Is this the most in Marcus Freeman\u2019s (or even Brian Kelly\u2019s) era? Curious how you see this team! \u2014 Pat C.<\/p>\n
You need to go back more than 30 years to the Lou Holtz era, the last time Notre Dame produced 10 draft picks in a single class. There is at least a decent chance the Irish could reach that mark in 2027.<\/p>\n
The Irish secondary might be the best in all of college football. Leonard Moore should finish with one of the highest grades I\u2019ve ever given a cornerback \u2014 he is a slam-dunk top-10 pick. Tae Johnson looks like an early-round safety, and defensive backs DJ McKinney, Christian Gray and Luke Talich are also NFL-level players.<\/p>\n
Among the Irish seniors, wide receiver Jordan Faison and linebackers Drayk Bowen and Jaylen Sneed have preliminary draftable grades from NFL teams. I haven\u2019t scouted all of Notre Dame\u2019s underclassmen yet, but QB CJ Carr will be a draft pick whenever he jumps to the NFL. Edge rushers Boubacar Traore and Bryce Young have the talent to announce themselves as top-50 prospects this season. And junior linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa is an exciting player who should only continue to rise throughout the process.<\/p>\n
This program will be well-represented in the NFL Draft over the next few years.<\/p>\n
How do you decide who gets in The Beast<\/a>? I love The Beast. It\u2019s fantastic. Apologies if you\u2019ve ever answered this before. But running back No. 178, who rushed for 719 yds and four TDs in his career at a mid-tier NAIA school and runs a 4.81 at 5-9, 161 \u2014 how does he end up in The Beast? \u2014 Brad Y.<\/p>\nEvery June, I build the prospect database that will be tweaked over the next 10 months and eventually become the final rankings in The Beast. My initial database for the 2027 draft class is already more than 1,000 names long, counting draft-eligible players I have studied or will get eyes on before the end of the summer. Laying the foundation over the summer is critical to my process of setting expectations going into the season.<\/p>\n
Throughout the season and into the pre-draft process, that database continues to grow, based on tape study and intel gathering. I rely heavily on info from scouts around the league to point me in the right direction on lesser-known prospects so I can check them out. I usually end up with around 2,500 total players in The Beast (which seems like overkill when only 257-ish players are drafted each year).<\/p>\n
Most of the names in the draft guide will be lucky to be camp bodies or even receive a tryout. But my mentality is this: If they are on the NFL radar, they belong on my radar. And I use tape, feedback from scouts and verified testing data to rank them as best I can in the draft guide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In July, I will start posting position-by-position previews for the 2027 NFL Draft \u2014 my initial rankings of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":721339,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[1607,399,398,396,397,349,99],"class_list":["post-721338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-college-football","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721338","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=721338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/721339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=721338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=721338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=721338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}