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Hey, it’s NFL Draft week. As always, I think your alma mater does the best job of preparing young men for pro football — and life in general. However, every time your rival gets mentioned alongside a pick this weekend, that’ll be nothing but portal-farming.
Grad School: Pluses, minuses for NFL in new CFB world
The NFL is still catching up to the 2020s’ many landmark college football changes. From COVID’s extra eligibility year to NIL keeping players in school longer, drafts in this era have featured prospects ranging in age from 20-ish to 25-ish, all while transfers have made the whole thing more complicated for NFL scouts.
This year, the effects of change are particularly evident in a thin QB crop. Almost everyone believes in Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza at No. 1, but after him? Well, look at who’s still in school.
We can complain about Arch Manning’s fame all we like, but some teams absolutely would’ve considered him a first-rounder. Oregon’s Dante Moore was a potential top-five pick before he chose to stick around. Five years ago, players comparable to Ole Miss’ Trinidad Chambliss would’ve gone pro, rather than fighting to stay.
On that note, one quote from our Bruce Feldman that jumped out right away in his 2026 NFL Draft confidential:
“After two months of talks with more than two dozen NFL coaches and scouts, granted anonymity for their candor, the consensus is that we’ve got a bad draft for quarterbacks, a ‘not great’ one for receivers and the worst draft for defensive tackles in at least a decade.”
To be clear, a lag in the NFL’s free talent-development pipeline is the NFL’s problem, meaning it’s not actually a problem. The world’s richest sports league can figure out how to deal with it. As a college football partisan, I think it rocks that we get to keep star players longer, sometimes by paying them more than the NFL would. Even better, it’s not my money that’s being spent. 🤝
Interestingly, some of the biggest names that did enter this draft might be especially unfinished products. In Bruce’s story, coaches used the word “raw” to describe eight prospects, which might or might not be a high amount. Multiple used that description for Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese, the likeliest No. 2 pick, while also praising his enormous upside. (He’ll likely turn out great.)
As for the likeliest No. 2 quarterback, merely a 15-game college starter:
“‘There are some things about (Alabama’s) Ty Simpson I appreciate, but the lack of experience and real starter traits is a concern,’ said the personnel director. ‘He needed to stay in college.‘”
And he certainly could’ve, at Bama or elsewhere, having reportedly been offered $6.5 million by Miami. That’s about three times what he’ll make in 2026 if he’s picked in the second round. But would competing against Manning, Moore and company next year have been the bigger long-term risk? Newly complex considerations.
The NFL might also benefit from this era, however. After safety Dillon Thieneman excelled in different schemes at Purdue and Oregon, one NFL DB coach told Bruce that Thieneman is “one of the more versatile safeties I’ve seen.” Similar story for No. 1 safety Caleb Downs, who “picked up Nick Saban’s system as a true freshman and led the Tide in tackles by a wide margin, and then as a leader on the Buckeyes defense.”
Also, that story gave us the latest head-turning anecdote about Downs being a professor on the field, from an NFL defensive backs coach:
“This guy sat down at his formal interview and installed his defense, and then talked about how he would play it in our defense. He knew the rules of our defense before he came into the meeting. Nobody’s doing that.”
What’s more impressive than a young player becoming a leader on one college team? Becoming a leader on two, perhaps by having walked into Columbus as a chip off the old Saban block. Might say something about his ability to do the same at the next level, right? Tons more in that story by Bruce on this year’s draftees.
More along these lines:
NIL money versus a potential second-round salary is one thing. How about versus a seventh-round salary? Again, the NFL now has a longer wait time for some potential contributors.
“We might have had 4 percent of our players on the draft board 24 1/2 or older, prior to 2024. Now that number is up to 18 percent.” Ravens GM doesn’t like the added wear and tear on prospects.
On “The Audible,” Bruce explains more about how the portal affected this weak defensive tackles class.
Three more draft things ahead of Thursday night’s Round 1:
Quick Snaps
📺 Everyone hates the College Football Playoff rankings show. Here’s why we’re stuck with it, along with small potential improvements.
📰 News:
After former Georgia receiver Zachariah Branch was arrested for allegedly standing incorrectly on a sidewalk at 1 a.m., I’m recalling the Mark Richt-era hypothesis that Athens police can at times be a bit hypervigilant.
Michigan’s president “introduced Warde Manuel as ‘the best athletic director in the United States of America’ at Michigan’s (men’s hoops) national championship rally, all while the school was spending millions to investigate the culture and practices of its athletic department.” Scandals and championships.
Congratulations to Louisiana Tech, which will soon officially be in only one conference: the Sun Belt.
Allowed to compete in a national college football tournament for once, UCF won it. Sunday was college flag football‘s biggest day so far. “People are finally putting money behind it,” said two-time Super Bowl champ Tyrone Poole, Alabama State’s flag coach.
“The first college football game played in Puerto Rico and the return of the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego join this season’s bowl lineup, sources told On3.” Elsewhere, former Pac-12 teams will again keep Pac-12 bowl ties, as bowl season’s governing body (called “Bowl Season”) announced 2026 will be status quo.
Indiana’s defensive coordinator got weirdly testy in response to a compliment by former Bama QB Simpson on the Hoosiers’ Rose Bowl dominance.
“Nebraska plans to overhaul its 103-year-old football venue, Memorial Stadium, at a cost of at least $600 million in time for the 2028 season. The school released plans Friday.”
📉 This David Hale analysis of Florida State’s recruiting under Mike Norvell makes the Noles seem unbelievably unlucky.
🏆 Other sports:
At Vermont, the women’s and men’s basketball coaches are married to each other. A heart-warmer by Ira Gorawara.
Incredibly Catholic sentence: Both hoops teams from Pope Leo’s alma mater, Villanova, will play Notre Dame in Rome next season.
The Oklahoma women’s gymnastics dynasty continues, now with eight titles in 12 years. Also, Stanford hit its 50th straight year with at least one NCAA title, thanks to its men’s gymnastics team.
From our MLB newsletter, The Windup: “Florida softball pitcher Keagan Rothrock threw her third career no-hitter … and apparently had no idea until it was over.”
Spring Ball: Virginia Tech skydiver is OK, first of all
Unlike the 2010s, it takes a lot these days for a clip from spring football to go viral. Virginia Tech’s spring game broke through on Saturday, however, after a skydiver crashed into the stadium’s video board. “No serious injuries,” the school quickly announced.
As for spring stuff elsewhere, let’s sprint around the country, meaning it’s time for yet another bullet list:
“The Hoosiers were already considered ‘old’ last season, yet even after all the turnover, they could wind up with as many as 14 starters in at least their fifth year of eligibility.” Indiana remains Indiana, and it still feels bizarre to mean that in a positive sense.
Michigan + Kyle Whittingham + spring football = The defense looks much better than the offense.
Ohio State debuted 51 new players in front of 40,000 fans on Saturday, showing off improved QB depth. “Depth” is not a thrilling word, I realize.
How 2026’s No. 1 recruiting class is starting to fit in during a high-pressure year at USC.
Feel like we’ve all just brushed over Vanderbilt (??) having the top-rated QB recruit, Jared Curtis. “It’s possible a Vanderbilt football uniform has never been filled by a more gifted player.”
The Heisman winner’s brother, Alberto Mendoza, is being talked about by Georgia Tech’s staff as if he’s a fellow coach.
A Russian immigrant, throwing out the first pitch at a college softball game in Alabama. Auburn head coach Alex Golesh is used to navigating new worlds.
Curt Cignetti’s unbelievable success has supercharged the pressure on every other coach. Now imagine being the second-year head coach at the Hoosiers’ in-state archrival.
“Georgia held its spring game Saturday, and official attendance was 31,012, the lowest-attended spring game of Kirby Smart’s tenure.” Seth Emerson compares these Dawgs to the ’90s Atlanta Braves, who were assumed to make the playoffs every year.
One other note! The annual EDSBS Charity Bowl, a battle between college football fan bases to raise money for an Atlanta-based charity benefitting refugees, is underway this week.
After just one day, it’s raised well over $500,000, giving it a good chance to crush its own record of $1.3 million, set last year. Among FBS schools, thousand-time reigning champion Michigan is in the lead again, while my Kennesaw State Owls currently boast moral superiority over all other FBS Owls combined. 🦉
(Disclosure: The Charity Bowl is run by Holly Anderson and Spencer Hall, two of my “Shutdown Fullcast” co-hosts.)
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