10 Draft Prospects to Watch in Week 1 of College Football

It’s Week 1, so let’s play the hits. Just like you, I’m eager to see how the offseason has treated many of the top 2026 NFL draft prospects in college football. I want to know who’s bigger, stronger, more refined … and maybe who’s not. This is our first opportunity to gauge how much guys have developed over the summer, and I can’t wait to dive in.  

A quick reminder to join me and Steve Muench LIVE on YouTube on Saturday night near the end of LSU-Clemson to recap all the Week 1 college football action. We hope to see you in the chat!

Klubnik’s my QB1 entering the season, and I expect him to look every part of a first-round pick with more experienced players around him in 2025. I loved the way he carried himself on and off the field at the Manning Passing Academy this summer, where he showed leadership working with the campers and an eagerness to learn from one of the all-time greats in Peyton Manning. Klubnik’s made huge strides every year in college, and I’m hoping to see that trend continue on Saturday when he faces off against no. 9 LSU and their much-improved defense. I’ll be keeping a close eye on how quickly he’s getting rid of the ball and his anticipatory throwing—the two areas where I’m most looking for improvement from him this season.

My QB1 in a battle under the lights with my QB2 to start the season? What a treat! Nussmeier will be facing Clemson’s vaunted D that has two potential top-10 picks along the line in T.J. Parker and Peter Woods. It’s going to be quite a test for Nuss, who’s breaking in a new offensive line that has just one returning starter. I want to see him lean on his feet in moments he has the urge to make high-risk throws, and I think we’ll have opportunities to see that decision-making put to the test Saturday night in what should be a fourth-quarter battle in a hostile road environment. I also want to see if there are any signs of his knee tendinitis, which LSU head coach Brian Kelly says is a “1.5 out of 10” injury.

Woods gets more hype, but I’m fascinated by Parker’s upside. He’s a power-based pass rusher who could be the top edge defender in the 2026 draft if he improves along the margins this season. We saw Parker stand up and literally run over guys last year and it’s possible he’s gotten even stronger over the course of the offseason. I want to see some refinement across the board—specifically in his hands and the way he ties them to his feet—but if it all clicks, we could be looking at a top-five pick.

Downs is my highest-graded player heading into the season, which is saying a lot considering he’s a safety. But he’ll be dealing with a new supporting cast after eight Buckeye defenders were drafted in April, and he’ll have a new defensive coordinator in Matt Patricia after Jim Knowles and his 3-high system left for Penn State this offseason. Downs is going up against the face of college football, Arch Manning, in his 2025 debut, and I expect it to be a chess match.

Is McCoy really back playing at a high level just seven and a half months after ACL surgery? I’ve read some encouraging reports, but I need to see it with my own eyes. Syracuse is one of the most pass-happy programs in the country, so there’s no hiding on Saturday afternoon. If McCoy is healthy and improves from last season, he’s very much in the conversation for CB1 come April.

Two-for-one special! I had to get down and dirty with at least one interior trench matchup. This one intrigues me because you’ve got the undersized Brailsford (6-foot-2, 290 pounds)—who uses quickness, hand placement, leverage, and smarts to win—going up against a massive nose tackle in Jackson (6-5, 337), who uses his frame and powerful upper body to exploit smaller centers. Both of these guys are trying to secure spots on Day 2 of the draft.

I get it—the Sun Devils are 28.5-point favorites over Northern Arizona. But it’s not about the matchup for me. It’s about putting eyes on Tyson in his return from a broken collarbone that ended his 2024 season. How explosive is he? Is he crisp getting in and out of breaks? And from a technical standpoint, is he showing early improvement in his ball skills after having an unacceptable drop rate (7 percent) last year? Saturday night is just the start for Tyson, who is vying for WR1 in 2026. He’s Sam Leavitt’s favorite target, so expect to see tons of opportunities early and often in Week 1.

In my Summer Scouting Series offseason mailbag, I mentioned Sellers as having the highest upside of any QB expected to declare for the 2026 draft. I also noted that I still want to see a ton of on-field development from him, and that it might take another two seasons of practice reps, game experience, and coaching at South Carolina for him to become the NFL prospect I think he can be.

That said, Sellers showed so much growth from Week 1 to the end of the season last year and I’m curious to see whether he can make a similar jump over the course of his second year starting for the Gamecocks. If he does, we could be talking about him as a potential no. 1 pick come April.

This guy is a physical phenom in the mold of DK Metcalf, but looked more like a track star (which makes sense, given he was a second-team All-American in the outdoor 100m and 200m at South Carolina) than a refined wide receiver in his debut last year. His focus appears to be solely on football after he declined to compete in track in 2025, and I’ve heard positive reports coming out of camp. I need to see much more route refinement and natural ball tracking before I can comfortably put him in the conversation as a top-50 prospect—but he has tons of upside.

The UGA transfer is making his Miami debut on Sunday after a roller-coaster offseason. My intel from camp has Beck throwing with pinpoint accuracy and operating the new offense more decisively than he was at UGA. I’m also told he’s been a leader in the locker room, that his teammates are responding well to him, and that his receivers in Miami aren’t having to work for the ball as much as his teammates did in Athens. But the real test begins on Sunday against a Notre Dame secondary that has been the talk of fall camp.