- LaNorris Sellers faces a major test: The South Carolina quarterback has thrown six touchdowns without an interception over his past two games, setting up a pivotal matchup with Tennessee‘s defense.
- Big Ten trench battle features top prospects: Iowa‘s Trevor Lauck and Kade Pieper face a Minnesota front featuring Anthony Smith, while Greg Johnson looks to extend his 15-start sack-free streak.
- Draft talent takes center stage in Austin: Ole Miss and Texas bring more than 10 of PFF's top 100 prospects into a matchup featuring Arch Manning, Trinidad Chambliss and several prominent defenders.
Week 7 of the college football season was one of the craziest weeks in recent memory, with upsets galore and plenty of takeaways for the top prospects in the 2027 NFL Draft. The action continues as we approach the end of October. The schedule isn’t quite as appealing this week — only two games feature matchups between ranked opponents — but the pressure remains as high as ever for prospects to perform and climb the big board.
A major focus this week will once again be the quarterback class. No position group has experienced a greater shift in evaluations over the past couple of months. Most quarterback prospects have either vastly exceeded expectations or fallen well short of them. Not many have performed as expected!
Can QB LaNorris Sellers enter the early-round conversation?
South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers has yo-yoed around the PFF big board all season and, quite frankly, throughout his career. He entered college football relatively unknown, but after a year under center, he garnered significant hype as a potential future No. 1 overall draft pick. He did not live up to those lofty expectations in 2025 but entered this season still possessing the size, arm talent and dual-threat ability that NFL franchises covet, even if the rest of his game looked incomplete.
Four turnover-worthy plays in his SEC opener against Mississippi State had fans rolling their eyes and ready to look past Sellers as a draft prospect. He threw five interceptions and earned a 51.8 PFF passing grade over a three-week stretch in September. Since then, Sellers has flipped a switch and looks like the promising freshman who had scouts doing backflips two years ago.
Sellers threw six touchdowns without an interception over his last two games before last week’s bye. He pushed the ball aggressively downfield against a Florida defense that has caused headaches for other quarterback prospects, including Arch Manning. Sellers’ average depth of target in that game was more than 12 yards. He avoided all turnover-worthy plays and finished with a 128.2 passer rating.
Now Sellers must face a vaunted Tennessee defense that looked utterly dominant in its win over Alabama last weekend. Crimson Tide quarterback Keelon Russell, who looks like a top quarterback prospect for a future draft, mustered a passer rating of just 47.5 against that unit.
Sellers won’t have the same displeasure of trying to operate in front of a deafening Tennessee crowd. This is one of the rare games in which an unranked team is favored against an opponent ranked inside the top 15. Will this be the turning point for Sellers’ draft stock, or will it be a case of the same old Sellers in a huge matchup for the Gamecocks?
Big boys bash into each other in the Big Ten
If you enjoy evaluating draft talent in the trenches, then 5-1 Iowa taking on 4-2 Minnesota is the game for you this Saturday. These teams have four players combined in the top 60 of PFF’s 2027 big board, and all four play in the trenches.
Iowa’s Trevor Lauck and Kade Pieper form one of the best guard-tackle combinations in college football, although they play on opposite sides of the offensive line. Their overall PFF grades are separated by just one-tenth of a point.
They’ll need to deal with Minnesota’s Anthony Smith in this game. Listed at 280 pounds, Smith has lined up all across the Golden Gophers’ defensive front this season. He projects as a remarkably consistent Day 2 pick. Five of Smith’s six PFF grades this year fall between 70.0 and 74.0. What you see is what you get.
When those players are watching from the sideline, the best interior lineman in the 2027 NFL Draft will be on the field: fourth-year starter Greg Johnson. He hasn’t surrendered a sack in 15 consecutive regular-season starts. Johnson is up against a front seven that earned the highest PFF run-defense grade in the conference in its most recent game. Both teams should be fresh and ready to go, having enjoyed a bye last week.
An opportunity to watch Houston’s Jalen Mayo
Cornerback Jalen Mayo is a prospect PFF was higher on than most entering the 2026 season, but he has exceeded even those expectations and consequently climbed into Day 2 range on the big board.
Mayo was outstanding at the FCS level last year, earning a 90.3 overall PFF grade at Stephen F. Austin. His in-state transfer to Houston has proven that his talent translates despite a significant jump in competition. Mayo’s 86.3 overall PFF grade this year is the highest of any defensive back on the big board.
Unfortunately, Mayo missed last week’s matchup with top quarterback prospect Drew Mestemaker due to injury. Houston expects him to return this week, in time for a road trip to 10th-ranked Utah for a night game. Utah’s passing offense isn’t exactly the most explosive unit in the Big 12, but the Utes are exceptional on third down, with a 61.4% conversion rate — the highest in the FBS.
Look for Mayo in those obvious passing situations. He’s a tremendous cover corner with ideal size to match up against wide receivers on the perimeter. Utah has not faced a cornerback of his caliber so far this season. Provided Mayo has fully recovered from his injury, a big performance in front of a national audience could do wonders for his draft stock.
Talent galore between Ole Miss and Texas
More than a tenth of the top 100 prospects on the PFF big board will share the field in Austin this Saturday. Quarterbacks Arch Manning and Trinidad Chambliss will attract much of the attention, having trended in opposite directions lately.
This could be a chance for Manning to win back some evaluators in front of a home Texas crowd, some of whom are already calling for redshirt freshman backup Karle Lacey Jr. to take the reins of Steve Sarkisian’s offense. Who would’ve thought that a month ago?
There’s much more to this game than just the quarterbacks, though. Interestingly, many of the top prospects will play largely unopposed. Despite both teams possessing talent all over the field, there isn’t necessarily one blockbuster matchup between 2027 prospects going head-to-head on every down. The closest we’ll get is probably Ole Miss edge defender Suntarine Perkins facing Texas left tackle Trevor Goosby.
Both schools are football factories, of course, and unsurprisingly boast plenty of promising players outside PFF’s top 150. Texas cornerback Bo Mascoe will give Ole Miss breakout receiver Deuce Alexander all he can handle, while Ole Miss tight end Caleb Odom will keep Texas safety Jelani McDonald occupied.
This could be a dominant game for marquee defenders on either side, though. Ole Miss’ offensive tackles have not performed at a level that suggests they can stop standout edge defender Colin Simmons. Meanwhile, Texas’ interior defensive front has been one of the team’s biggest problems so far, and now it must try to slow down Will Echoles, who has been wreaking havoc throughout the SEC.
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