Mel Kiper Jr. revealed his first top 10 for the 2027 NFL Draft on ESPN’s First Draft last week, and the name at the top is a wide receiver. That alone makes this class worth paying attention to in October.
His order: 1. Jeremiah Smith, WR, Ohio State. 2. Colin Simmons, EDGE, Texas. 3. Leonard Moore, CB, Notre Dame. 4. Drew Mestemaker, QB, Oklahoma State. 5. Darian Mensah, QB, Miami. 6. Trinidad Chambliss, QB, Ole Miss. 7. CJ Carr, QB, Notre Dame. 8. Ashton Hampton, CB, Clemson. 9. Charlie Becker, WR, Indiana. 10. Jadan Baugh, RB, Florida.
Smith Is the Best Prospect and Probably Not the First Pick
Smith, a junior who turns 21 in November, has 48 catches for 916 yards and 11 touchdowns through six games this season, averaging 19.1 yards a reception. Across three years at Ohio State he has 211 catches for 3,474 yards and 38 touchdowns in 34 games.
Those are not normal numbers. They are also attached to a position that has not produced a No. 1 overall pick since Keyshawn Johnson in 1996.
So the board and the draft are two different conversations. Kiper has Smith as the top player. The top pick will almost certainly be a quarterback.
The Quarterback Race Has No Leader
Darian Mensah has the loudest case. The Miami quarterback is 112-of-133 for 1,438 yards with 15 touchdowns and zero interceptions through five games, an 84.2 percent completion rate and a 212.25 rating. His path there was Tulane in 2024, Duke in 2025 and Miami in 2026, with 52 touchdowns against 11 interceptions in 26 starts before arriving.
CBS Sports made the explicit No. 1 argument for him in September, when he was 71-of-79 for 873 yards with 11 touchdowns and no picks through three games, posting 0.74 EPA per dropback, ahead of where Joe Burrow, Jayden Daniels and Kyler Murray finished their final college seasons. Ran Carthon, quoted in that piece, said simply: “I’d take Darian Mensah over Trinidad.”
The caveat attached to Mensah is schedule. Miami’s slate ranked 45th by preseason FPI. November 7 at Notre Dame is the measuring stick.
Drew Mestemaker is the other riser. The Oklahoma State redshirt sophomore, a North Texas transfer who reunited with head coach Eric Morris on a reported two-year, $7 million deal, is 114-of-169 for 1,575 yards with 13 touchdowns and five interceptions, plus 108 rushing yards and two scores. He beat Oregon in September and threw for 389 yards and three touchdowns in a 41-24 win at West Virginia. Scouts told Rob Rang he “combines prototypical size and rare athleticism for the position.”
Trinidad Chambliss is repeatedly named the class’s biggest riser. He is also listed at 5-foot-11, which is the whole evaluation in one number.
The Best Non-Quarterback Is a Pass Rusher
Colin Simmons, a Texas junior who turns 21 in January, has 17 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, 9.5 sacks and two forced fumbles through five games. He had 12 sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss last season and 21 career sacks through 2025 in 29 games.
Kiper on Simmons: “the natural tools are already among the best in the class.”
The Other Movers
Rob Rang’s early-October risers beyond Mestemaker: Oregon guard Dave Luli, USC tackle Elijah Paige, who has allowed two pressures and zero sacks through four games across 24 career starts, UCLA linebacker Sammy Omosigho, who leads the nation with four forced fumbles, and South Carolina corner and returner Vicari Swain, who has two punt return touchdowns this season after three last year, breaking a 55-year school record.
His fallers: South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers, whose touchdown-to-interception ratio has gone 18-7, 13-8 and now 6-4, Louisville running back Isaac Brown, down to 4.1 yards a carry from 7.73 over his first two years, Florida State tackle Xavier Chaplin, Michigan corner Jyaire Hill and LSU safety Ty Benefield.
A word of caution on all of it. ESPN published a post-Week 7 risers piece whose headline put Sellers back on the stock-up side, roughly ten days after Rang had him falling. Arch Manning appears on the falling side of multiple mid-October reports.
It is October of the previous season. Everyone on this board will move.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.