The NFL offseason is now in the league’s driver’s seat as we are just nine days removed from the Seattle Seahawks’ dismantling of the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 60. A key portion of that offseason, the NFL Draft, also approaches a pivotal moment in its respective timeline, with the NFL Combine set to begin on February 26.
The annual scouting, meeting, information-gathering, ever-important assembly will serve as another supporter or detractor of prospects throughout the remainder of the draft process.
Arizona State’s Max Iheanachor is rising rapidly
At this juncture, arguably, no prospect has ascended as quickly as Arizona State offensive tackle Max Iheanachor. ‘
And for good reason! Iheanachor didn’t even start playing the sport until 2021 at East Los Angeles College, a junior college in Southern California known primarily for its basketball program featured on the popular television show “Last Chance U.”
We just hit 1000 mocks/boards for the 2026 NFL Draft cycle, so I’m releasing our “Pre-Combine” data update a week early! We will be posting plenty of data nuggets from this latest release throughout the day. Our first is of our biggest riser over the last month! More to come. pic.twitter.com/J493rJVE0p
— Grinding the Mocks (@GrindingMocks) February 17, 2026
The Nigerian native was a basketball player first, who spent his first season of football at ELAC in 2021 as a redshirt. He would become a full-time starter for the Huskies the following season and sign with Arizona State following the 2022 season.
Iheanachor saw action in six games for the Sun Devils in 2023, starting five, before securing a permanent starting role at right tackle for his final two seasons.
He entered the 2025 campaign with mid-Day 2 grades and early-Day 3 grades from league scouting services National Football Scouting Inc. (NFS) and BLESTO, respectively. The former also measured Iheanachor at 6-foot-5-and-a-half, 322 pounds, with 34-and-a-quarter-inch arms.
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Following the 2025 season, Iheanachor accepted an invite to the Senior Bowl, college football’s premier all-star game, where his draft stock truly began to soar. He was a daily practice standout who parlayed his pre-game performances into a quality outing come game time.
Thus, there was a fast rise in the early stages of the draft process. Iheanachor possesses a package of quality measurables, functional athleticism, and a level of skill for a player with limited experience relative to his peers in this draft class, in conjunction with the aforementioned performance at the Senior Bowl, that suggests one of the highest ceilings amongst this offensive tackle class.
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It’s a group of tackles that seemingly doesn’t yield standard blue-chip prospects, which bodes well for a player like Iheanachor, who sits at the crosshairs of the intersection between supply and demand.
Hence why our own Alec Elijah pegged him as a first-round selection in his most recent seven-round mock draft. Our scouting team at PFSN also ranks Iheanachor as the fifth-best offensive tackle in the 2026 NFL Draft class.
