Lance's 2027 Preseason Draft Prospect Rankings: RBs and LBs

Same little refresher from the QB/Edge article, but in case you didn't read that, here it is again. These articles are for draft eligible players only, obviously. These are not the same as the weekly top ten player rankings articles, though as the year progresses with those I will use them to add players to these boards. I update these specific ones every 4-ish weeks during the season. Also, without the Combine, this is only college production, so for the analysis I include for each position I will be sure to include if the athletic testing weighs into the Score more heavily than their statistical production or vice versa. Alright, let's dive in:

Analysis: Believe it or not, production weighs a whole lot more heavily into the score than athleticism, and more specifically, their final season of production, so A LOT could change this year. First thing you might notice is the big name missing from my list, Kewan Lacy. I think he's very talented, but he has two areas he needs to improve in (or he at least needs to improve in one) if he's going to move up my board: securing the football, and explosive plays. Isaac Brown and Ahmad Hardy also need to work on not fumbling, but the difference between them and Lacy is their explosive play rates, Brown's is over 20% and Hardy's is over 15.5%, meanwhile Lacy sits just below 12%. That's all I'll say on that for now, though I will add for Hardy specifically that I hope he's able to fully recover quickly. Cam Cook and Lendon Phillips Jr. both had terrific 2025 seasons but at lower levels of competition (Cook in the Group of 6, Phillips in the FCS), they are both making a jump to the Power 4, so they'll need to prove they can compete against the big boys if they're going to remain in my top ten. Hawkins was far from the lead runner for Tech last year, but he was very efficient with the touches he was given. With Kyron Drones gone and a new coaching staff you have to wonder if he'll be given full control of the backfield. The last player I want to highlight is Baugh. With the new coaching staff I think he'll be given the opportunity to be the bell-cow back in Florida this year. He certainly has the size for it, he just needs the chance to prove he can do it, and if he gets that, I think he'll fly up my board.

Analysis: College production over athletic testing when it comes to the score, but final season production versus career production is pretty even. Lots of players making a jump to the Power 4 level (and one group of 6 guy) sandwiched between some Power 4 vets. Roberts was a stud last year, but he was tucked away in Jacob Rodriguez's shadow, Rodriguez is gone, so it's Roberts' defense to shine in. The transfer to Texas is going to put Biles in the spotlight, if he keeps doing what he did at Pitt the last two years he could find himself in the first-round next spring. Like I said on the Edge Rusher top ten, Perkins is an undersized Edge Rusher for Ole Miss, so he'll probably be moved off-ball as a pro, I ran him through both boards just in case and he made the top ten on both. Sammy Brown has the talent to push himself up even higher. Last season was a great step in the right direction, if he improves on that he'll be in the conversation for the #1 Linebacker spot in next year's draft. And then there's the meat. Chambliss, Coney and Lampron are all moving from the Group of 6 to the Power 4, Allison and Seelman are making the jump from the FCS. All five were beasts for their last teams, and if they keep that up against a higher level of competition they won't be ignored. As it stands right now, the position is a bit light, I didn't have too many guys left that finished ranked decently high from my final weekly positional rankings of 2025, and I didn't find too many guys listed on other early 2027 prospect boards, so there could be lots of surprise additions by next February.