We’re about halfway done with the 2025 college football season, and it’s been an exciting, unpredictable year thus far. The fall of preseason favorites and the rise of atypical Power 4 contenders have made it a fun season to keep up with. That unpredictability figures to affect the 2026 NFL Draft.
Over the course of the college football season, players’ 2026 NFL Draft stock has fluctuated based on their play this year. A few players haven’t quite lived up to the hype, but we’re here to talk about the breakout stars of this year’s class. These are eight draft prospects who have helped their stock the most so far this season.
Arvell Reese, LB, Ohio State
Perhaps no player in college football has had as big of a breakout season as Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese. Through seven games, he has tallied 42 tackles, 5.5 sacks, 6.5 tackles for a loss, and two pass deflections. The 6’4″, 243-pounder has been a valuable piece for the Buckeyes’ defense with his ability to win as both an off-ball linebacker and as an edge rusher.
Reese has elite size for the linebacker position, with his frame bordering on edge rusher territory. He uses that size well, as his long arms and well-built frame help him take blocks head-on and give him a large tackling radius to work with. He’s also a tremendous athlete for his size, showcasing impressive straight-line speed and good lateral quickness in space.
Intelligent and physical in how he deconstructs blocks, Reese has elite pass-rushing value for an off-ball linebacker, which could potentially earn him looks as an edge rusher full-time in the NFL. With his passing down versatility, elite size, and impressive athleticism, he looks like a likely top-ten pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Dante Moore, QB, Oregon
Similar to last year’s class, the 2026 NFL Draft doesn’t really have a consensus top quarterback. Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza is my current top passer in this year’s group, but other preseason favorites like Clemson’s Cade Klubnik, Penn State’s Drew Allar, and LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier have fallen short of expectations. One player who’s risen into that conversation, though, is Dante Moore from Oregon.
A former five-star freshman at UCLA in 2022, Moore has been great in his first full year starting at Oregon after serving as Dillon Gabriel’s backup last season. In seven games, he’s thrown for 1,686 yards, 19 touchdowns, and four interceptions with a 72.3% completion rate. He has a loose arm with good velocity behind his throws and the elasticity to hit passes from difficult angles.
Additionally, he consistently makes good reads with the ball and has shown he can identify the checkdown. He’s a little skinny and can be inconsistent with touchdown the field, but Moore has shown NFL starter potential this season, which should make him a first-round pick if he declares for the 2026 NFL Draft.
Chris Bell, WR, Louisville
Coming off a solid season in 2024 with 737 yards, Chris Bell was already on the 2026 NFL Draft radar before the college football season starter. However, this year he’s been able to propel himself into superstardom. He’s almost surpassed his season-long production from last year in just six games in 2025; he currently has 44 catches for 638 yards and six touchdowns this year.
The allure with Bell as a draft prospect is obvious: he’s a 6’2″, 220-pound receiver with elite play strength for the wide receiver position and impressive speed for his size. He’s quick off the line of scrimmage and creative with the ball in his hands, combining with his contact balance to make him difficult to tackle.
He can win above the rim with his physicality and large catch radius, but he can also work his way open against zone coverage with subtle tempo adjustments through his stems. Bell’s route tree runs pretty thin currently, but if a team is willing to be patient with that, they could have a star on their hands.
Colton Hood, CB, Tennessee
Tennessee has been missing star cornerback Jermod McCoy so far this season. Though he’s a potential first-round pick in his own right, his absence has really allowed Colton Hood to shine. The transfer cornerback, who spent 2024 at Colorado and 2023 at Auburn, leads the SEC with seven pass deflections as of this writing. He’s slowly but surely working his way into becoming one of the top corner prospects in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Hood is a physical perimeter cornerback with a well-built frame at 6’0″ and 195 pounds. He maintains ideal hand activity in man coverage, competing to jam receivers near the line of scrimmage and sticking inside the receiver’s hip pocket through their stems. That physicality translates to his work as a tackler, where he demonstrates a high motor at the point of contact with good play strength to wrap up and bring down the ball-carrier.
In addition to his physicality, Hood plays with an aggressive mentality, attacking the ball in coverage. He processes well in underneath zone coverage, and he times his jump on a route well to get out in front and make a play on the ball. There are some instances when he’s a split second too late to process in off coverage, but when he’s closer to the line of scrimmage, he’s very tough to beat.
Ty Simpson, QB, Alabama
2025 is Ty Simpson’s first season as a collegiate starting quarterback, and as a redshirt junior, some questions circulated around how high the ceiling would be with an older player as a first-time starter. Needless to say, he’s taken Alabama’s offense to new heights after serving as Jalen Milroe’s backup last season.
While Milroe was more of a raw, toolsy prospect, Simpson is a lot more polished with a higher floor heading into the 2026 NFL Draft. I come away most impressed by his pocket presence, as he displays very good spatial awareness, quick feet to maneuver under pressure, and poise to make good decisions under duress. He has a good sense of timing behind his passes, hitting his receivers in stride with proper touch and anticipation.
Ty Simpson Drawing Joe Burrow Vibes
Todd McShay says Simpson’s tape this season “looks like Burrow’s.” 📈
Round 1 vibes ⚡️
pic.twitter.com/pNSnDgNl78— RotoLegends (@RotoLegends) October 24, 2025
Simpson has enough zip on his throws to hit his targets in tight windows, and he brings solid athleticism to the table. He won’t wow you in terms of his physical attributes, but I get Bo Nix vibes with how capable of a game-managing QB he is. Nix ended up going in the first round in 2024, and if Simpson declares for the 2026 NFL Draft, I could see him ending up in a similar range.
A’Mauri Washington, DT, Oregon
Listed as the No. 4 player on Bruce Feldman’s Freaks List this year, A’Mauri Washington was a known entity for his performance in the weight room and in athletic testing drills. As a backup behind future NFLers Derrick Harmon and Jamaree Caldwell at Oregon, though, he entered 2025 as an unproven commodity on the field. This year, he’s taken full advantage of his starting opportunity.
Washington is a thickly-built defensive tackle at 6’3″ and 330 pounds with long arms, giving him a prototypical frame to compete in the trenches in the pros. He packs a mean punch at the point of attack, and he has a sturdy anchor that helps him stand his ground and eat up gaps in run support. For such a heavy defensive lineman, he’s also pretty quick in how he fires out of his three-point stance rushing the passer.
Nobody’s going to mistake Washington for Aaron Donald out there, partially because the former doesn’t have elite agility for an interior defensive lineman or a super deep arsenal as a pass rusher yet. His processing and hand usage are a work in progress, but Washington has impressive physical attributes and has shown elite flashes of being a disruptor in the run game on tape. Should he declare for the 2026 NFL Draft, there’s a good chance he’ll be a top-50 selection based on his upside.
Olaivavega Ioane, OG, Penn State
It feels odd calling a player who was a second-team All-Big Ten player in 2024 a “breakout player” in 2025, but Olaivavega Ioane might be the biggest riser among offensive linemen eligible for the 2026 NFL Draft. He’s on pace for an All-American season, having allowed no sacks and just one hurry through his first six games.
When you watch Ioane’s tape, you see one of the better offensive line technicians you’ll find in college football right now. He uses his hands well, as he has the strike placement and timing needed to maintain proper leverage and get inside the frame of opposing defensive tackles. In particular, I love how he uses his snatch-trap technique with sheer violence and expert precision.
In addition, Ioane has good spatial awareness in pass protection and processes well against exotic rush looks. He’s a powerful guard with a sturdy anchor and heavy hands, and he brings good versatility as both a gap- and zone-run blocker. He might not wow you in a Combine setting, but he’s a great football player with a high floor and Day 1 starting ability in the NFL.
Damon Wilson II, EDGE, Missouri
A five-star recruit coming out of high school, Damon Wilson II transferred to Missouri after two seasons as a rotational defender at Georgia. The upside was there when you turned on his tape, but he didn’t have the collegiate production to match his recruiting pedigree. The change of scenery has been extremely beneficial to him, as he currently has 5.5 sacks through seven games, which is more than he had in his entire two years at Georgia.
The first thing you notice with Wilson is how athletic he is rushing off the edge. He has great first-step acceleration and brings impressive value as a backside run defender chasing in pursuit. He’s flexible turning the corner and using his bend at the top of his arc, and his combination of length and speed gives him plenty of range as a tackler. In 2025, he’s shown an intriguing arsenal of pass-rushing moves like rips, cross-chops, and even ghost moves to win at the line of scrimmage.
Wilson isn’t a tremendous power rusher off the edge, which is really the only thing holding him back from first-round consideration at this stage. He’s certainly a pass-rushing specialist at this stage, which could see him land on Day 2 if he declares for the 2026 NFL Draft. But the athleticism and finesse in his hands might make a team take a chance on him even earlier than that.
