We get plenty right but also some wrong. Here is a look at 10 NFL Draft prospects who could go in the first round Thursday night that we missed our rankings on (and, to be fair, so did many college coaches as well).
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A two-star prospect out of New Iberia (La.) Catholic, Amos had no other offers coming out of high school and signed with Louisiana. He wasn’t a major contributor until his third season when he had eight pass breakups.
He then transferred to Alabama for a year and he broke up five passes. Amos then went to Ole Miss for his final year and he was outstanding, leading the team with 13 pass deflections along with 50 tackles and three interceptions.
Yahoo! Sports’ Nate Tice projects him late in the first round.
An early TCU commit, Barron backed off that pledge and signed with Baylor as a three-star cornerback coming out of Pflugerville (Texas) Connally. But Barron backed out of that NLI and signed with Texas in April before his freshman year in Austin.
After two quiet years at Texas, Barron emerged as one of the best defensive backs in the country and this year won the Jim Thorpe Award. He finished with 67 tackles, five picks and 11 pass breakups and then ran a 4.39 40-yard dash at the combine.
Even after offering the four-star linebacker, Penn State’s staff had some questions about his ability and brought him back for a summer camp (to basically see if he was a take in the class) and he blew everyone away.
Later in June, the Philadelphia (Pa.) LaSalle four-star returned for an official visit and committed over South Carolina and Ole Miss.
Carter was an absolute unstoppable force for Penn State this season with 68 tackles (23.5 for loss) and 12 sacks.
A three-star linebacker from Williamsburg (Va.) Lafayette who was 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds in high school, Green signed with Virginia but had minimal impact in Charlottesville before transferring to Marshall.
This past season, Green dominated with 84 tackles (22.5 for loss) and an amazing 17 sacks. Green does have a much shorter wingspan at 77.75 compared with the other first-round projections but his production is there.
The massive defensive tackle from Detroit (Mich.) Loyola was lightly recruited with only a few Power Four offers but Harmon made it clear he wanted to stay home and picked Michigan State. The other factor in his three-star ranking was that he was 340 pounds in high school and has since trimmed down significantly to 313 pounds at the NFL Combine.
After 70 tackles over the last two seasons with the Spartans, Harmon transferred to Oregon for one year and had 45 tackles and five sacks. There is a lot of buzz heading into Thursday night that Harmon is solidly in the first round as the pre-draft process wraps up.
Based on his performance at Frisco (Texas) Lone Star and at Boise State, a two-star ranking looks foolish. But coming out of high school – despite posting massive numbers – it was still a question whether he would play running back or receiver or come in as an athlete.
Jeanty was a Heisman Trophy finalist as he rushed for 2,601 yards and 29 touchdowns this season and could be a top-five pick.
The Lee’s Summit (Mo.) North three-star was ranked as an offensive guard which is interesting because the one concern NFL teams might have with Membou is that he doesn’t have traditional offensive tackle height at just over 6-foot-4 and 332 pounds. But Membou has exceptionally long arms (82-inch wingspan) and great body control.
At the high school level, though, Membou needed to hit the weight room – numerous coaching staffs told him that – but Missouri took a shot and it paid off big.
The Sanders we’ve seen at Colorado – one of the best college quarterbacks these past couple seasons – was not really the guy we saw in high school as he had an elongated delivery and questionable arm strength, which remain an issue heading into the draft.
Sanders picked FAU over some bigger offers because of his relationship with then-coach Willie Taggart but flipped to Jackson State once his dad got that job. His draft status is all over the place heading into Thursday night but he’s considered a rankings miss as a mid-level three-star. But Sanders has drastically improved since his high school days.
It’s right that Ward didn’t have a ranking because at the time we didn’t rank all FCS players. Ward went from Incarnate Word to Washington State to Miami and had a stellar college career where he finished with more than 18,000 passing yards and 158 touchdowns.
He is the probable the No. 1 overall pick, but who could have possibly predicted this when the West Columbia (Texas) Columbia QB signed with Incarnate Word in the 2020 class?
An early Virginia Tech commit, Warren backed off that pledge in the spring prior to his senior season and then the three-star picked Penn State over the summer. He had a great 2023 season but 2024 was one of the best seasons ever for a tight end with the Nittany Lions. As arguably the best tight end in the country, Warren had 104 catches for 1,233 yards and eight TDs. He could be a top-eight pick on Thursday night.
