Lance's 2027 Draft Prospect Boards: Post-Week 9

If you saw my post-week 4 article, then you can skip this section. This is different from the weekly rankings I put out. This is where I run a bunch of players at every position through what I use to create my draft boards. Granted, all of it is without the athletic scores cause that won't come until after the Combine. AND there's a good chance a fair number of the players I have listed won't enter the draft, or won't receive a Combine invite. But I'll adjust for those things later. Right now, this is what my top ten would look like for each position heading into next year's draft. I also make comments comparing my current boards to what I had on the last board. I've included the links for those at the bottom.

Note: Mestemaker has shown he can still compete even with a step up in competition. Carr scares me a little, because the way Notre Dame uses him reminds me of McCarthy in his final year at Michigan. Several size issues to be had on this board (provided their listed heights are accurate) and it would start at Lopez. He has been spectacular at Wake Forest though, and would be hard to completely ignore if he turns pro. Sayin's injury is already starting to slide him down my board. He'll have a big decision to make at the end of the year, same as Dante Moore. Mensah is the last one I'll comment on. He has been hands down the best QB in college football this season, and he's gotten better at each of his stops (very good at Tulane, great at Duke, incredible at Miami). He technically scores the highest on my board, but his A and B+ ratings are lower because players that have scored as high as he currently sits have been middling at best.

Note: White has been playing really good football all year long. Isaac Brown's play has improved big time recently and it's allowed him to make it back into my top ten and jump all the way up to 3. Cole Tabb has been #1 in my weekly player rankings for 4 straight weeks. This is his first season of real production though, so it'll be interesting to see if he decides to go back to school. Same could be said about Flora for that matter. Ahmad Hardy has returned to the field! Let's see if he can regain ground on my boards.

Note: At least there's one guaranteed constant in this, Jeremiah Smith is the unquestioned WR1. Everything else likes to shift behind him though. I said for my preseason boards that out of all the receivers LSU brought in, Harris was the most talented, and now he's showing it! Wilde moved up, as did Becker and Young. And then there's a some new faces, on this board anyway. Derry was a regular on my FCS player ranking lists last year, and I expected him to pick up where he left off with the transfer to UCF which is why he made my preseason board too, so it's good to see him back.

Note: Half of the names were not on the list last go around. Reynolds has jumped from 3 to 1. He continues to hold down the top spot in my weekly rankings (he's held it every week this year), so it was bound to happen eventually. Finley was a solid Group of 6 Tight End last year, but he's taken it to another level this year. He's the highest ranked of the new names. Green made his return a couple Saturday's ago and it helped him climb a spot on my board.

Note: As usual, my Tackle board gets first dibs. Paige is proving that when healthy he is an incredible talent. Teams will have to make a tough decision come April on how to rank him. Lambert has come from seemingly nowhere in my weekly player rankings, and now here. The move to Right Tackle from Guard has really helped him out. Goosby is back, coincidence that it seems to have aligned with improved play by Arch Manning?

Note: I get the hype around Greg Johnson, he's got full interior flexibility with a Day 1 grade at Guard and Day 2 at Center right now for me, but Hurst should be getting more attention. A big part of Houston's play this year has been thanks to their O-Line so Hurst at the top here and Boswell at the top of the Center board should come as no surprise. Thomas, like Guerby Lambert, benefitted from a change of position, but his was a move back inside to Guard.

Note: I mentioned Boswell above. Fraley had a great season at North Dakota State last year, and he might be having an even better season this year despite a jump up to the Power 4. Formby was a Tackle at Alabama in 2025, he's playing Guard for Texas A&M now, but he scores the highest at Center on my boards. Smith, Azzopardi and Heard all play Tackle and all received Day 3 grades at Tackle, and I still take the stance of "give them a shot at Tackle first". However, they don't make that top ten which makes them eligible here. Size, namely too tall, could remove them from my Center boards though, but that's something I won't know until the Combine.

Note: Lubin is still on top. Labarbera makes a big jump to 2. Uiagalelei is finally having that breakout season people have been expecting since he first got on campus. Lots of new faces. Zock, Heldt, Uiagalelei, Harris and Dean have not made either board prior to this one, and Tuioti is back on it after making my preseason board.

Note: Thomas is still number 1. Holmes slid up one spot. Alexander made a big jump from 7 to 3, but Gilliam made the biggest jump from 10 to 4, and not a surprise there if you've seen him play this year. Similar to some of these other boards, there's a lot of new faces. Durojaiye is one I'm pretty excited about, I liked what I saw from him in the Alabama game.

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Note: I don't know that this board will ever not look weird. Albert, Strader, Nestor, Webster and Lendino are not likely to be found on most top tens out there. Each of them grades out high on the outside, and at least decent in the Slot. Sharpe has been impressive, especially lately, I could see him moving up by the end of the year. Leonard Moore at 10 has more to do with missed time. He's still having a good season and he's pretty much a lock to be the first Corner taken next year.

Note: McClain continues to be ridiculously good this year hence the jump from 7 to 1. Fitzgerald has managed to jump into the top ten and all the way up to 3 despite having missed time recently. Brauntae Johnson's missed time is starting to cost him little by little. Kingston Lopa might be the most intriguing of the bunch given his size and the ball-hawking he's shown this year.

Post-Week 4 Boards

Preseason Boards:
QB and Edge
RB and LB
WR and CB
TE and Safety
OL and DL