Projecting which players will succeed in the NFL and which won't is difficult enough with a full college career of tape and a pre-draft process. I'm reminded every year when I revisit my past preseason draft rankings, though, that it gets even harder when you try to do that the year before they declare. While some talents were glaringly obvious -- like Caleb Downs and Jeremiyah Love -- others ... not so much (the nonexistent quarterback class!).
With my preseason top 100 draft board for the 2027 draft dropping tomorrow, I thought it was a good time to review how I saw the 2026 class at this same point a year ago. Clemson's 2025 season was a modern college football tragedy -- a team littered with top prospects who seemed to have their eyes focused more on the next level than their weekly opponents. Peter Woods was obviously chief among them.
He's still an incredibly gifted defensive tackle, but he did not put his best foot forward last fall. I'd argue his freshman tape was even more impressive than what he was doing down the stretch in 2025. But he landed in a great spot in Kansas City to learn behind Chris Jones.
Arch Manning may not have been an overnight success, but he was still in the running for a top-five pick by the end of the season. He returns as the No. 1 player on my preseason 2027 draft board. Spencer Fano was very easy to like on both his sophomore and junior tape.
He's an easy mover who finds answers even when his technique isn't perfect. His arm length and tweener build caused him to slip a little to the Browns, but he was still the first tackle off the board and a Day 1 starter. I'll be honest, a good portion of Keldric Faulk's appeal came from faulty info that was in the public sphere last preseason.
His reported age was 19 before last season when, in actuality, he was already 20. With how much I weigh early-career production, that swayed me on his potential after a sophomore year in which he was tremendous against the run. But when that plateaued and he took a step back as a pass rusher his junior year, I became less intrigued.
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