College Football: Top 10 sophomores entering the 2026 season

Malachi Toney looks for an encore: The Miami (FL) star is back in Coral Gables after leading the Hurricanes to the national championship game.

A pair of quarterbacks with top talent: Notre Dame‘s CJ Carr and California‘s Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele will both be under watchful eyes in 2026.

Don't sleep on Washington's John Mills: The Huskies sophomore produced the highest overall PFF grade of any offensive linemen to play at least 300 snaps in 2025.

College football's talent pipeline never slows down, and several members of last year's freshman class left their mark in Year 1. The names atop our list are already household items for college football enthusiasts, but some further down may not be on your radar yet.

It’s worth noting that this list is based only on the production we have seen so far at the collegiate level. Only one top-10 recruit from the 2025 recruiting class has made their way onto this list. Several more elite recruits will emerge in their second seasons, but where’s the fun in regurgitating the same recruiting rankings from two years ago?

Every name below is entering just their second season of eligibility, whether as a true sophomore or a redshirt. If the tape keeps trending the way it has, a few of them will be fielding NFL Draft questions come next spring.

WR Malachi Toney, Miami (FL) (87.6)

A legitimate case can be made that Toney was the best overall player in college football last season, regardless of position or class. Despite landing in Coral Gables as just a three-star recruit, the 55th-ranked receiver in the 2025 class generated major buzz as soon as he arrived on campus.

Toney backed up the hype and then some. His 109 receptions led the entire FBS last year, and only Jeremiah Smith has produced more as a power conference freshman wideout over the last seven seasons. The bulk of Toney's damage comes with the ball in his hands: His 841 yards after the catch were 200 clear of every other Power Four receiver, while his 33 missed tackles forced also topped the FBS.

With Carson Beck off to the NFL, Miami‘s offense will likely run through Toney again in Year 2. He doesn't have a prototypical NFL frame, but that's a conversation for 2028 at the earliest.

QB CJ Carr, Notre Dame (85.1)

The redshirt sophomore is already generating hype as a potential top-10 pick in the 2027 Draft, with some mentioning him in the same breath as names like Arch Manning atop next year's draft order if this season goes to plan and he decides to declare. Carr's blistering 2.55-second average time to throw ranked among the 10 fastest for returning FBS quarterbacks, and that exemplifies just how elite his processing ability already is.

Despite playing at breakneck speed, Carr’s decision-making has been relatively sound. He posted just six interceptions against 24 passing touchdowns, and only three Power Four quarterbacks recorded a higher passer rating than Carr's 113.0 last season.

S Brauntae Johnson, Notre Dame (82.8)

Carr's teammate is another reason several Notre Dame analysts believe this roster might be the program's strongest in recent times. The former four-star recruit missed the 2024 season following foot surgery and had his 2025 campaign cut two games short as well.

With just nine games of starting experience to his name, the sample size is fair to question, but Johnson has been outstanding when healthy. He caught three interceptions over his final three appearances of 2025 and might be even better against the run, having yet to miss a tackle across 193 run-defense snaps.

RB Caleb Hawkins, Oklahoma State (92.7)

Hawkins may be the most high-variance player on this list when trying to judge his future career path. He took the Group of Five by storm as the lead back on a North Texas offense that averaged more than 45 points per game. Hawkins posted the highest overall PFF grade of any freshman in the 2025 class and now follows his coach and quarterback to the Big 12.

Setting aside the slightly lower level of competition he was up against, it's hard to find a real flaw in Hawkins’ tape from Year 1. He ran for an FBS-best 25 touchdowns and ranked third in yards after contact and second in missed tackles forced despite not cracking the top 10 in total carries. Hawkins also flashed as a receiver in North Texas‘s up-tempo passing game, adding 370 yards and four touchdowns through the air. His 2026 campaign will be fascinating.

QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, California (78.3)

The 20-year-old commonly referred to as JKS emerged with a handful of strong performances late in the 2025 season to cement his status on this list. His overall PFF grade trailed quarterbacks like Carr, but his development curve in Year 1 was very apparent.

Sagapolutele logged 547 total dropbacks, the fifth-most of any FBS quarterback. Over his final four games, he threw seven touchdowns without a single turnover. From Week 11 onward, only Trinidad Chambliss, Dante Moore and Julian Sayin posted higher PFF passing grades among returning passers at Power Four programs.

The Hawaiian would’ve attracted attention from several blue blood programs had he decided to enter the transfer portal, but he will stay put with the Golden Bears for another season in 2026.

CB Dijon Lee Jr., Alabama (80.7)

Lee was the top overall recruit out of California in the 2025 class. Along with LSU‘s DJ Pickett and Oregon‘s Brandon Finney Jr., he's part of a strong cohort of cornerback talent set to anchor college football's elite secondaries over the next two seasons.

Lee was the best of that trio in Year 1 by PFF grading. He strung together a seven-game stretch of PFF coverage grades above 70.0 and allowed just 17 receptions on 331 coverage snaps, with only 10 of those going for first downs. Top SEC offenses went entire games without a reception on Lee, as they targeted other holes on an imperfect Crimson Tide defense.

RB Bo Jackson, Ohio State (87.0)

Jackson shares a name with running back royalty but has no relation to one of the most gifted athletes of all time. This Bo Jackson is building a legacy of his own and enters 2026 as the top back on one of the nation's best teams.

He tallied four 100-yard rushing games over his final five regular-season contests last year, including 166 yards from scrimmage in his first taste of The Game on the road against Michigan. Jackson has an ideal build and plays with real physicality — he was one of only six Power Four running backs to average more than 4.0 yards after contact last season.

With quarterback Julian Sayin and receiver Jeremiah Smith drawing so much defensive attention, Jackson should see lighter boxes and cleaner lanes once again in his second campaign.

G John Mills, Washington (70.2)

This 70.2 overall PFF grade is the lowest on our list, but among freshman offensive linemen, it's very strong. Mills generated the highest grade of any freshman lineman to play more than 300 snaps last season.

A California native and only a three-star recruit, he barely cracked the top 50 offensive tackle prospects in his class. Yet after splitting freshman-year reps between right tackle and left guard, Mills looks ready to settle in on the interior of Jedd Fisch's line this fall. Mills didn't allow a single sack as a freshman, and outside of a four-pressure bowl game against Boise State, which accounted for a third of his season total, there's little to nitpick.

DI Elijah Griffin, Georgia (71.6)

On the other side of the trenches, Griffin's 71.6 overall PFF grade is similarly deceptive. It was the highest mark among freshman defensive linemen who played more than 300 snaps, a group of just 13 across the entire FBS, none of whom arrived on campus with Griffin's pedigree.

The third overall recruit in the 2025 class was a major in-state get for Georgia. He’s already off to a great start, racking up 14 pressures and four tackles for loss in Year 1, along with a forced fumble in the Sugar Bowl that his teammates scooped up for a defensive touchdown. Griffin looks like the next name on Kirby Smart's never-ending conveyor belt of defensive talent hailing out of Athens.

S Bryce Fitzgerald, Miami (FL) (80.7)

The former four-star recruit had some traffic ahead of him early on, but Miami‘s deep playoff run got him onto the field for 445 total snaps, and he made the most of it with six interceptions. For context, opposing receivers caught just nine passes against Fitzgerald as the primary coverage defender.

Fitzgerald is a chess piece within Corey Hetherman's defense, logging over 100 snaps in the box, at slot corner and at free safety. With starting safety Jakobe Thomas off to the NFL, Fitzgerald steps into an expanded role as a sophomore.